A Dragon's Tale Ch. 57

Selene cocked her head to the side. "How so."

Agent Benson opened her mouth, then stopped as her watch beeped. "Shit, I have to go." She said with a grimace after looking at it. "Remember, don't tell anyone I was here." Then she opened the door and slipped out.

Selene let out a slightly strangled groan. Why couldn't the watch have waited ten more seconds! Still, Yvonne's assessment had given her something to think about.

* * *

Fiona followed Lord Delmar -- her fiancé -- back down the stairs into the castle, not quite believing what had just happened. She couldn't decide which was more shocking: that she was now engaged to Lord Delmar or that her now-fiancé had compared her to Lady Helene. She supposed that some women would feel insulted at being compared to their intended's deceased wife, but she didn't; she felt honored.

She took another deep breath as it hit her again that before long, she would be the First Lady of Narlotten: Lady Fiona Delmar. She had been focusing so much on the personal aspects of marrying the Lord Delmar that she hadn't given much thought to what it would actually be like being the First Lady.

What was she thinking?

She didn't know how to be a lady.

Well, not a right and proper noble lady.

"Milord." She said, trying to keep her nerves out of her voice but not entirely successfully.

He stopped and turned to face her. "Yes?"

"I'm not knowing how to be a proper lady." She admitted. "Not a noble one anyway."

"You need not concern yourself with that unless you wish to." He replied. "Those skills can be taught and your primary function will be to bear an heir. You may have more involvement beyond that if you wish, but it will not be forced upon you."

"How romantic." She replied wryly, but nodded. She knew he wasn't marrying her for romance.

"I endeavored to be clear that our marriage was not to be a romantic one, but a practical one." He replied.

"I'm knowing that." She replied. "I'm just... hearing it said that plainly was surprising me a bit."

"You have previously indicated that you prefer the truth to fiction."

"I'm still preferring it milord."

"Then come." He turned and led her back to his office door but didn't enter. Instead, he spoke to one of his errand boys, who was sitting outside on a bench there just for them. "Tell Marge that Fiona will not be returning to the kitchens today."

"Yes Lord Delmar!" The boy jumped up and took off with a large grin on his face.

He turned to the other errand boy. "Fetch Nurse Belcosta and bring her here directly."

"Yes Lord Delmar!" The other boy nodded his head respectfully and then took off.

Lord Delmar turned to Fiona. "She will watch Conner while you and I attend to some business."

Fiona took a deep breath. "You're sure you can be trusting her?"

"Yes." He replied. "Nurse Belcosta was Rachel's caretaker until she was three. There are few women more knowledgeable about children or more trustworthy in the castle. Helene, myself, and several others including a telepath vetted her thoroughly. I recently had her thoroughly vetted again in preparation for your acceptance."

"Okay." She hesitated, wondering if the telepath that had been mentioned was Lady Ekthros.

Her trepidation must've showed though because Lord Delmar spoke. "Speak your mind."

"I'm hoping that the telepath wasn't..." She glanced at the guards. "You know who."

"It was not." Lord Delmar replied. "I am aware of your personal dislike of Lady Ekthros and thus to avoid complication, I did not involve her in any of these preparations, nor even inform her of them.

"Thank you milord." Fiona gave him a small smile. Lady Ekthros excepted, he seemed to have excellent judgment about people and she was trusting him with her son.

About two minutes later, a woman who looked to be in her fifties followed Lord Delmar's errand boy around the corner. Fiona instantly took a liking to her. She seemed like the sort of person who could seamlessly slip into the role of grandmother for anyone younger than she was. She had a youthful energy about her too and the few lines on her face looked to mostly be from laughing.

"You summoned me Lord Delmar?" The woman said; even her voice sounded kind

"This is the woman of whom we spoke." He said, then indicated Fiona. "She has accepted."

"Pleased to meet you my lady." Nurse Belcosta smiled at her. "I promise I'll take good care of your son whenever you need me to. And I'm well-trained in healing, such as it won't leave even a trace of a scar for when he acquires the bumps and scrapes that boys are notorious for attracting."

"It's good to be hearing that." Fiona smiled.

"She is in need of your services now." Lord Delmar said.

"I guessed." Nurse Belcosta smiled, then looked at Fiona. "I promise I'll take good care of him, and can do so in your room in the dormitories until you have more official lodgings."

"That'll be fine, thank you." The copper-haired woman said.

She gently slipped Conner out of the cloth wrap that held him to her chest while he slowly woke from the nap he'd been taking. Of course, that made him start fussing. Nurse Belcosta held her arms out and after a moment of hesitation wherein she reminded herself that Lord Delmar had thoroughly vetted the woman, Fiona handed Conner off to his new nurse.

"Oh, it's alright there." Nurse Belcosta said kindly and started gently rocking him in her arms.

He quieted down almost at once.

Fiona stared. "How are you doing that? It's taking me forever to get him to calm down sometimes."

"I'll tell you all my secrets when you have more time." The other woman replied with a smile.

Lord Delmar looked at Fiona. "Do you know where the council room is?"

"Aye milord."

"I will eat my breakfast and then meet you there. If anyone questions your presence, tell them that you are there on my orders."

"Aye milord."

Without another word, he entered his office and closed the door behind him.

"I'll take him to your room at the dormitories." Nurse Belcosta said with a smile. "We'll be there when you're done."

"Okay." Fiona swallowed, trying to remind herself that Conner would be okay.

The nurse held Conner against her hip and started walking away while Fiona watched her son until he rounded the corner. She knew he should be fine. She got a good feeling from Nurse Belcosta and Lord Delmar had thoroughly vetted her.

Conner would be fine.

Fiona took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Right; the council chambers."

She looked up and noticed the two guards outside the lord's officer. Both glanced at the office where he was and gave her knowing smiles, but neither said anything. They wouldn't, but she supposed that it would be all over the castle soon anyway.

She walked to the council chamber slowly, feeling no desire to be there without Lord Delmar... her fiancé. What a strange thought that was. It occurred to her as she was walking that she wanted to send a letter to her family so they found out from her instead of at the same time as everyone else. She wanted to let Sarah and Amy know as well. She wondered if the Lord Delmar would be willing to send riders to inform them.

She thought he might.

She was lost in thought and didn't realize that until she had arrived at the council chambers. There were two guards outside the doors just like Lord Delmar's office, and she recognized the men as ones who also occasionally guarded Lord Delmar's officer. Perhaps there was a rotation?

"Lord Delmar was telling me to go into the council chambers." She said to them, hoping they would believe her since they had seen her before.

The two guards looked at each other, knowing looks and suppressed smiles on their faces before one of them spoke up. "He said he might send you here sometime in the next few days. You may enter." He waved towards the door.

She wasn't sure how the Lord Delmar had known, but apparently he had. Come to think of it, he had been predicting rather a lot concerning her and she wasn't sure what to think about that. He had never done anything to make her distrust him so she wasn't bothered, but it was strange.

She took a deep breath and walked through the doors.

It wasn't what she had expected.

The room was smaller than she had thought it would be and also lacked decoration of any kind. Well, unless you counted the iron candlesticks and chandelier. On one wall, there was a large map showing the whole of the Ten Kingdoms as well as much of the lands beyond them. Another wall had several large windows for light and yet another wall had a large wall-to-wall shelf that was filled with books and scrolls.

In the middle of the room was a large round table with a map of Narlotten painted on it. There were a dozen chairs evenly spaced around it, though one of them was larger than the others and the chair immediately to its left was smaller than the rest, somewhat more feminine in design, and had a cushion, which the others lacked. It looked well cared for, but judging by the lack of wear, it also looked like it hadn't been used for a long time; years probably.

She cocked her head to one side.

Perhaps seventeen years?

Mage Weston and Sir Warrick were already there looking at the large map of the Ten Kingdoms, though both looked her way when she entered.

"Miss McWilliams." The latter said with a smile that was growing wider by the moment. "Did Lord Delmar send you to join us?"

"Aye." She nodded.

Mage Weston laughed and held his hand out palm up toward Sir Warrick. "That'll be five coppers."

"Gladly paid." Sir Warrick said with a laugh as he fished a few coins out of his pocket and dropped them into the mage's hand as he addressed her. "If you had waited one more day, this would be going my direction... Lady Fiona."

"I'm not a lady." She replied while resisting the urge to wring her hands together.

"Not yet." Mage Weston smiled. "But you might want to get used to the title."

"Indeed, don't be coy." Mage Westin chided gently. "You know as well as I do that Lord Delmar would not invite anyone into this room that didn't hold a high office in Narlotten. Your presence is confirmation that you and Lord Delmar are now engaged to be married."

She hesitated a moment and then nodded. "Aye."

"Nervous?" The mage asked.

"Aye." She said with more than a little vehemence in her tone.

"Good." He smiled. "A woman who wasn't nervous about suddenly being thrust into your position would make a poor First Lady indeed. Just remember, Lord Delmar doesn't need a lady of perfect refinement or courtly manners; he needs someone who is genuinely kind and cares about others. That will likely help with that 'stick up his rear end' as Lady Ekthros once put it."

Sir Warrick laughed. "She might be a scary old broad, but she is funny."

That comment reminded Fiona that she knew something about Lady Ekthros that no one else here would know. She didn't want to bring it up with them, but as she thought about it, she realized that she needed to bring it up with Lord Delmar.

Soon.

She wasn't looking forward to that.

* * *

Alana had been vaguely aware of Ethan getting up earlier and she wanted to get up with him. However, after he'd told them to stay and Rachel had pulled her closer, she decided that obeying her husband was absolutely the right thing to do. Now she was waking up again enveloped in Rachel's arms and felt like her heart was so full it could burst. Rachel had actually kissed her in front of everyone last night and that was just... just...

She sighed.

"You too?" Rachel said softly.

Alana opened her eyes to see the beautiful pale blue eyes of her best friend looking back at her adoringly. "Were you watching me sleep?"

The redhead nodded sheepishly. "I didn't think you would mind."

"I don't." She beamed.

Rachel sighed.

"You're getting less self-conscious." Alana pointed out.

She nodded.

"I mean a lot and very recently." Alana continued. "Is there a reason?"

Rachel bit her lip.

"There is?"

Rachel nodded.

"What?"

The redhead looked into her eyes for a moment. "Promise you won't laugh?"

"Never."

"It's... I think it's what happened with my father." She averted her eyes for a moment. "I've spent a long time thinking that he didn't care about me and was disappointed in me." She swallowed hard. "He might still be disappointed in me, but now I know that he cares. He might be working with demons, but he cares about me and I..." She took a deep breath. "I can't describe how that feels."

"You don't need to." Alana smiled widely. "I just met my father recently after thinking my parents had given me up because they didn't care. Then I found out that he had been watching over me my whole life and that they had been forced to sedate my mother because she tried so hard to keep me."

"I remember." Rachel had a small smile on her face that was nonetheless utterly resplendent.

"So I do get it; I understand." She hesitated. "And I like this new, more confident side of you. It's good to see."

"I like it too. It's hard, but..." Rachel looked into her eyes for a moment. "...it's not as hard when you and Ethan are there. With you two, I feel like... like..."

"Like you're so happy you could burst?"

Rachel nodded and then she bit her lip. "I... I want to do something this morning."

"What?"

"Well, you know how my brain is, and when I saw that we had the room to ourselves, I... I got to thinking..." She bit her lip again.

Alana looked around to see that they did indeed have the room to themselves. Apparently, Ethan and their fellow wives had already gotten up for the day.

"What?" The brunette asked.

Rachel glanced down, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Is... is it okay if I... If I lower the sheet a bit?" She blushed scarlet.

Alana blinked. "Really?"

Rachel nodded slowly, her cheeks getting even redder and the red flush beginning to travel down her neck and onto her upper chest. They were snuggled facing each other and laying mostly on their sides but also a little on their backs. The sheet was currently doing a reasonable job of keeping Rachel's ample assets covered, but if she pulled it down a little more it wouldn't.

"I would love that." Alana beamed. "Are you sure you want to?"

The redhead nodded, her pale cheeks getting even redder.

Rachel moved her arm a bit as if she was going to start moving the sheet, but she seemed to freeze. She hesitated for a moment and then whispered in a slightly hoarse tone. "Could you?"

"I would love to." Alana beamed, then got a sly grin on her face. "But you have to ask me specifically what you want me to do and more importantly, tell me why you want me to do it..." She let that hang in the air for a moment for effect, then added. "...or do it yourself."

Rachel bit her lip as she went redder.

She opened her mouth, went redder still, worked it for a moment, and then closed it. "You're horrible."

Alana subtly shook her head. "No, I'm just not letting you take the easy way out; I love you too much for that."

Rachel's blush spread a little lower onto her upper chest as her smile reached deep into her eyes. "I love you too Sweetie."

"You called me 'sweetie'." Alana grinned. "You haven't done that in ages."

"I know." Rachel replied. "I... After I realized that I liked you, saying it felt... different. It wasn't just a friendly endearment, it was..."

"More?"

Rachel nodded.

The wood elf beamed. "Are you okay with 'more'?"

Rachel bit her lip. "Can I say what I'm thinking and you not laugh at me?"

"I can't promise that I won't laugh -- your cuteness is often laugh-worthy -- but I can promise that I'll never make fun of you."

Rachel nodded slowly. "I'm jealous of Ethan's other wives, including you."

"Why?"

The redhead took a deep breath. "Um, when we come unto the bedroom you all take your clothes off and it doesn't bother you. When we're all... um, 'in bed together', you all are happy to 'play' with each other and I'm... I'm not."

"Do you want to be?" Alana asked, intentionally setting aside her desire to introduce Rachel to everything she knew about making love to a woman.

The redheaded teen hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded. "But... but more than I want that with them, I want it... I want..."

She swallowed.

Hard.

"You want... what?" Alana asked with bated breath, hoping that Rachel wanted to say what Alana wanted her to say. She thought it was possible, even likely, and yearned to hear it.

"I..." She took a deep breath. "More than I want it with them, I want it... with..." She swallowed. "I want it more with... with you."

Alana felt like her heart would burst her ribcage, then the captain's cabin, then the whole Ten Kingdoms. She grinned, possibly wider than she had ever grinned before.

"I want that too." She finally said when she had found her voice. "Like, a lot."

Rachel was beet red at this point, and the red extended down her neck and onto her upper chest. If the point sticking up into the bedsheet right over her right breast was any indication, she liked the idea as much as Alana herself did.

"That's... That's why." Rachel took a deep breath, then raised her hand and hooked a finger over the top of the sheet. She bit her lip again, and then inched the sheet down an bit.

Alana smiled. "You know, I've seen your beautiful breasts before, when we woke up the morning after your wedding night."

"You think they're beautiful?"

The brunette nodded. "Gorgeous, just like the rest of you."

Rachel froze for a moment and then made the face that she usually made right before her mouth ran ahead of her brain, only this time she didn't speak.

She moved.

They were lying on their sides facing each other and their heads were facing the door and their feet were facing the rear wall of the captain's cabin. In one fluid motion, Rachel tucked up her legs and sort of half-rolled, half-slid off the bed, then she stood up.

Naked.

She stood up completely naked.

That lasted for almost a whole second before her eyes went wide like she'd realized what she'd done, and then she dived down so the bed was between her body and the brunette's eyes.

Alana laughed as she rolled onto her stomach, but she didn't scooch forward in order to let the redhead hide herself. Rachel's head poked up enough that Alana could see her. She had gone even redder, if that was possible.

"You promised you wouldn't make fun." She said, sounding almost hurt.

"I'm not making fun." She chuckled. "And I said that sometimes your cuteness is too adorable not to laugh."

"Oh." Rachel got a nervous smile on her face at that reassurance.

"Rachel, you are a beautiful woman." Alana continued. "And I realize that I'm biased and probably objectively wrong, but I think you're more beautiful than Selene, Myla, or Victoria."

"Really?" Rachel's smile got both wider and more embarrassed.

"Yes." The wood elf supported her head with her hands as she lay on her stomach beaming at her best friend who was also more than just a best friend. "And given what I just saw, I can say that with confidence, biased though my opinion is."

"Okay." Rachel nodded. "Even with..." She looked at the one shoulder with the subtle burn scar she'd gotten from their fight with Gonorran. It wasn't a bad scar and it wasn't even particularly noticeable, but it was there.

"Even with." Alana nodded. "It doesn't even figure in."

Rachel bit her lip and slowly nodded. "Not at all?"

"Not even a little."

Rachel took a deep breath and then started to rise slightly, but stopped before Alana could see more than her shoulders. "Promise?"

"As Illuminar lives, I don't care."

Rachel nodded and then slowly stood up. Her blush was as present as ever and covered much of her torso at this point, but she was still doing it. She was still standing up so Alana could see her, and she was doing it completely and utterly naked.