by John Daulton
Orli beamed, and the Queen nodded approvingly, smiling as if her job was done. “I’ll leave you two a moment’s peace,” she said. “Having the Queen hanging around has to be worse than having one of your parents sitting here.” She paused long enough to cup a hand on Orli’s cheek. “You look beautiful, my dear. The jewel of Earth. Your people must be proud.” She didn’t wait for Orli’s reply, turning instead and barking at the Earl of Vorvington who had just gone staggering by. “Don’t you run from me, Vorvington. Where’s my six thousand crowns?”
Apparently the earl had not expected the Queen to be loitering amongst the crowd. Before the Queen moved to chase the indebted earl down, she paused long enough to add, “Altin, make sure you and Aderbury come see me in the next day or two. You boys have a lot of work to do.” And with that she was gone.
At last they were alone.
“Well, do you want to dance again?” he asked.
“Do you?” Something in her eyes suggested that she already knew the truth.
“I would walk across the Lava Seas of String if that’s what you wanted me to do.”
“Well, I hope my dancing’s not that bad.”
“No, no,” he stammered. “That’s not what I meant at all.”
She laughed. “I know, silly. I’m teasing you.” Her expression softened. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t do that to you. Your people are so different than mine. Your people seem to say what they really mean.”
He shrugged. “Some of us do. Not all. I expect our two peoples are very much alike, even where we’re different.”
She nodded and took another sip of wine. “Ohh,” she gasped suddenly. “Who is that Roberto is dancing with? Wow. She’s gorgeous.”
Altin followed the direction of Orli’s eyes out onto the floor where he saw Roberto whirling about gracefully with the buxom Lena in his grasp. Both dancers seemed rapturous, laughing as they spun, twirling and weaving amongst the other couples like a pair of feathers bobbing on a breeze. Altin grimaced but followed it with a laugh. “Oh dear,” he said. “That’s Lena Foxglove. Roberto’s got his hands full with that one.”
Orli laughed back. “I’m sure that’s exactly what he has in mind.”
The twinkle in her eyes made Altin reach once more for the concealment of his wine. Perhaps Lena and Roberto were perfectly suited for one another after all. As a means of escape to more comfortable conversational ground, he observed, “Roberto’s been here for barely a week and he already dances better than half the people in Crown.”
Orli smiled, seeing that it was true. “Yes, he’s got great rhythm. Ask him and he’ll tell you that dancing is the gift of his Spanish heritage.”
“While I do not know precisely what that is, I can see no reason to dispute the claim. He is amazing.”
She laughed and let her eyes follow Roberto and the lovely Lena as they whirled through the center of the room. Altin just watched Orli. There was nothing else to see.
He could tell as he regarded her that she was tired, her breathing still quick from the exercise of a long night on the floor, and perspiration glistened on her bosom as her chest heaved intoxicatingly with every indrawn breath. The delicate bones and soft curves of pale flesh were highlighted by the glow of the chandeliers above, stirring his desire.
His palms grew moist and his heart began to thump against his chest as a daring plan came into his mind. He sent a thought to Taot, wanting to find out exactly where the dragon was. He learned that the dragon was just finishing off a fat and juicy elk.
Altin grinned inwardly, and placed his hand on Orli’s warm, damp arm. “Have you ever ridden a dragon?” he asked.
She stared blankly at him for a moment, and then her eyes widened as she grasped what his question implied. She blinked at him, hope and disbelief mixing with raw emotion to set her perfect face aglow. He gazed back, his pulse racing as he sensed something opening in the depths of those limpid blue gems, something deep beneath, allowing him inside as if the last tissue of restraint was torn away. A purely sensual expression came upon her face. “I’d love to.”
They snuck out together, hand and hand, giggling and darting from column to column like giddy thieves skulking through the night until they found a shadow safe enough to allow Altin time to cast. A few moments later found them in the moonlit meadows not far outside of Calico Castle’s ancient walls. Taot was still crunching on a bone.
Ignoring the shockingly lewd assumptions Taot’s thoughts imparted as Altin communicated his desire for the dragon to take him and Orli for a ride, he arranged for conveyance with little trouble at all. Well fed, the dragon was happy to oblige.
Soon they were soaring along the treetops of the Great Forest’s endless canopy, just barely above, and so close that the tip of Taot’s tail dipped occasionally into the uppermost branches, slapping noisily at the broad leaves as they glided by. Orli screamed with delight at first, her face thrust into the wind until tears ran from the corners of her eyes into her slowly unraveling coiffure. At no point in her life had she ever been so rapturous as this.
Altin was euphoric too. Orli’s slender body was pressed against him with her arms clutched tightly about his waist and her breasts pressed firmly into his back. She felt so real to him finally. So alive. Not just a person in his dreams. He could feel her breath upon his neck, warm as she snuggled into him, wriggling close to him for protection from the chill that came with the dragon’s speed. He felt her sigh with contentment against his skin. “I love you,” she whispered.
His smile nearly touched his ears. “I love you too.”
With the slightest pressure of his knee, he urged Taot into a graceful, gliding arc that turned them directly into the light of the luminous crimson moon. Luria in her quarter phase, the red phase known as the Lovers’ Kiss.
The End
Table of Contents
Title
ISBN
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Map
Magic_Circle
Chapter_1
Chapter_2
Chapter_3
Chapter_4
Chapter_5
Chapter_6
Chapter_7
Chapter_8
Chapter_9
Chapter_10
Chapter_11
Chapter_12
Chapter_13
Chapter_14
Chapter_15
Chapter_16
Chapter_17
Chapter_18
Chapter_19
Chapter_20
Chapter_21
Chapter_22
Chapter_23
Chapter_24
Chapter_25
Chapter_26
Chapter_27
Chapter_28
Chapter_29
Chapter_30
Chapter_31
Chapter_32
Chapter_33
Chapter_34
Chapter_35
Chapter_36
Chapter_37
Chapter_38
Chapter_39
Chapter_40
Chapter_41
Chapter_42
Chapter_43
Chapter_44
Chapter_45
Chapter_46