Fortune's Fool Read online

  And so this time, they came together slowly, with care, and fell into a rhythm of thrust and response and what she had thought was a fire before became a conflagration, a ravenous hunger that built and built until she thought she could not bear it, and then it exploded within her, making her world go white for a moment as it swept over her and carried her away. A moment later, he cried out as well, and the two of them shuddered, stiffened, and then collapsed, still entwined.

  Their breathing slowed. A breeze cooled the sweat on her body. His arms tightened around her.

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  “Marry me,” he said into her ear.

  “Of course,” she replied.

  He chuckled. “Good.”

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  By common consent, they elected not to talk about all the complications, the hows and the whens and the wheres. “We’ll talk about this—” she began.

  “Tomorrow,” he agreed, as if he had read her mind.

  “Or the next day. But not now.”

  They made love again, in the warm afternoon sunshine, then bathed in the stream, then ate, feeding each other little tidbits. They told each other stories of their childhoods, and laughed a great deal, and kissed a great deal more. He played and they both sang, and then suddenly in the middle of a song, he stopped and began laughing hysterically.

  She looked at him askance, as he bent over, shaking his head. Finally he got control of himself, and wiped his eyes on a napkin.

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  “The next verse is about the unicorn that follows Kalinka about,” he said, still wiping tears of merriment from his eyes. “That’s all very pretty in a song, but the reality is a plague—”

  Her eyes widened and she began to chuckle. “Oh, that is why you were so stiff when you saw the White Doe!”

  He nodded. “I thought it was another unicorn. I can’t get rid of them. They follow me everywh—”

  “Not anymore,” said a voice full of disgust from the place where the path entered the glade. They both looked up.

  A unicorn stood there, her lip curling, but her eyes wet. “Oh, Prince. How could you?” she cried. “And not even with a proper Princess after a proper wedding!”

  “I wouldn’t want a proper Princess,” Sasha replied.

  “I’m not sure what you would call a ‘proper’ wedding.

  And I’ve been your mascot for far too long. It is time I had my own life. Now go and find some good little farmer’s boy and bring some magic into his world, for he surely needs it.”

  With a snort, the unicorn turned and trotted back into the forest, every muscle expressing silent outrage.

  “Why am I not a proper Princess?” Katya wondered aloud, more amused than anything.

  “Because you are not pink, and white, and demure,”

  said Sasha, with a flip of his hand that said wordlessly how little he cared for pink, and white, and demure. “A proper Princess would not survive me. I should drive her mad in the first day.” He leaned over and kissed her, and 160

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  she answered the kiss with rising passion. “Now, now!”

  he cautioned, laughing, as he pulled away. “More of that and we will never get back to the inn.”

  She sighed. She really didn’t want to get back to the inn. She didn’t want to go back under the sea and be parted from him. But he was continuing. “I will bespeak the bigger room. There is no reason why we cannot share it, is there?” Now he looked anxiously at her. “You don’t need to be immersed in water every day do you? Or have to put on a fish skin?”

  He wanted her with him! More, he wanted her with him in public! Her heart bubbled over with happiness.

  “No, and I only need go down to the shore to make sure my father hasn’t sent any messages,” she assured him.

  “There is no reason why—” she blushed, and stammered out the last “—why we cannot be together.”

  But that was skirting perilously close to the subject that they had both agreed to avoid for a little, so she said nothing more, and he did not ask or comment.

  They packed up the pannier, saddled the horse, and he lifted her up onto the pillion. After a rueful look at the now-stained blanket, he folded it up so that the blood didn’t show, and tucked it in the top of the basket.

  “I can fix that,” she said quietly. For of course, she could.

  She need but leave it in the ocean for a little, and at her direction, almost invisible sea creatures would pick it clean.

  “Oh, I was just thinking that when my brother weds, they will display his sheets like a banner in the morning,”

  he replied, making a face. “A barbaric custom—”

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  “And rather difficult to manage in the sea,” she pointed out wryly. “Which may be why we set little store on that.”

  He had to laugh as he mounted the horse. “Then that is wise,” he replied. “Very wise. You will have to excuse our barbaric ways.”

  “Oh, we have barbaric ways enough of our own,” she replied, making a face. But she didn’t elaborate. Time enough later to warn him that he would have to fight a token battle to prove he was worthy of her hand. He was clever; he would find a way to do so even though he was no warrior. That came under the heading of all the things they would talk about on some other day.

  During the ride back to the inn, she kept her arms clasped about his waist and her cheek pillowed on his shoulder, reveling in the warmth and the scent of him.

  He was a very cleanly man. She had been around any number of unwashed Drylanders, and she was glad she had not fallen in love with one who scorned bathing.

  They reached the Inn of the Jolly Sturgeon at dusk, and he lifted her down from the saddle while the hostler came to take the horse. She had never actually been here before, although in the course of her duties, she had seen the insides of many taverns, inns, and the like. The outside was in fine repair, if a bit weather-beaten, made of wood that she suspected had to have been scavenged from shipwrecks. But that was to be expected in a place so near the sea. The Jolly Sturgeon herself was painted on either side of the door, and she did look very jolly indeed, which was odd considering how many of her kin 162

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  must have been brought here, split open for their eggs, and then made into soups and stews.

  Sasha led Katya by the hand straight up to a woman who was tidying the tables in an otherwise empty common room. She was a sturdy, though not at all stout, woman of middle age. A bit of dark blond hair peeked out from under her kerchief, and her cheeks were pink from the heat of the kitchen. “If it is not inconvenient, good hostess,” he said without any preamble, “I should like to bespeak a larger room.”

  The innkeeper’s wife eyed both of them with a frown.

  “I do not run a bawdy house, sir—” she began.

  “And I would not frequent one,” he replied. “This is my betrothed.”

  Her frown deepened, and Katya felt suddenly uneasy.

  “Prince,” the woman said, “for Prince we know you are—do you know what it is you hold by the hand and call your betrothed? It would not be wise to betray her.”

  At that moment, a chill seemed to fill the air, and Katya shivered. She could feel the magic of The Tradition suddenly looming over them like a wave about to break. And she felt her mouth go dry and her heart start to race. And she begged, silently, Oh don’t go making promises, Sasha! The Tradition is waiting for a promise! It is waiting for you to say “I will never betray her,” so it can make you do just that! This was precisely the sort of moment that tragedies were made of….

  But Sasha just smiled. “I know, good hostess,” he said softly. “And I will make no vows of undying love. Never Fortune’s Fool

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  and Forever are not words for mortals to use. But I will love her as truly as I can and as long as it is given to me to do so, and I hope I shall never hurt her, eit
her by accident nor deliberately,”

  The sense of portent faded. The feeling of great power looming turned into the feeling of great power shuffling off, disappointed. The innkeeper’s wife laughed. “Well said, Prince. We need no tragic spirits here. We were long in laying to rest the last one.” She smiled, and her eyebrows rose until they disappeared beneath the rim of her kerchief. “Now go take your sea-bride to the chamber next to yours and I will have Boyra bring your things to the new room.” She winked. “If you choose to anticipate the wedding, well, so has half this village. I think you will find the bed to your liking.”

  Katya found herself blushing, and in her confusion almost overlooked something. Then as Sasha started to turn, she blinked. “How do you know what I am?”

  she demanded.

  The innkeeper’s wife smiled. “And who do you think is the witch of this village? I know a seabride when I smell her. You have the scent of the ocean clinging to you, and always will.” She made a shooing motion. “Off with you, and I shall see to it that dinner is taken to you.

  I think you will not want to trouble yourselves with the stares of the company, who will suddenly see the lone minstrel with a lovely maiden that none of us know.”

  Laughing, Sasha tugged on Katya’s hand, and nothing loathe, she followed him.

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  He lit a spill at the lantern in the hall, and opened a door as a boy clattered up the stairs behind them.

  Holding the flame over his head, Sasha located the candle and went to light it as Katya stood just inside the door and to one side, waiting for her eyes to adjust.

  It was, by the standards of any inn she had ever been in, a good room. There was a large window, just now shuttered closed, two blanket chests, and a perfectly enormous curtained bed. A moment later the boy came clattering in—he was an extraordinarily noisy child—burdened with what must be Sasha’s things. There were two bulging saddlebags, the balalaika case, and what looked to be a flute box, plus a fine cloak and a rain hat made of oiled leather with a broad brim. He put all these things down atop one of the blanket chests and clattered out again. Before Katya could so much as breathe a word, one of the serving girls from below came up with a laden tray, her footsteps lighter than a sylph’s compared to the boy’s. This she set down on top of the other blanket chest, curtsied to Sasha, and slipped out again.

  Sasha closed the door and pulled the latch-string out.

  “Well,” he said. “This is certainly a step up from my old room. Our hostess must favor you, belochka.”

  She blushed at the word beloved and shook her head.

  “I think it’s you she favors,” she said instead, and unable to resist, sidled over to the bed.

  In all her life she had never slept in a bed like this one.

  With heavy curtains on three sides for privacy and warmth in winter, it would easily sleep four. It had a fine Fortune’s Fool

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  bearskin coverlet, four fat pillows, and the plumpness suggested a wonderful soft featherbed beneath the coverlet.

  “Hmm,” said Sasha, from behind her. “Our hostess has sent us things that are all good cold.” He came up behind her and put his arms around her. “So shall we test out the bed?” he breathed in her ear.

  “Perhaps.” She slipped out of his embrace. Then slowly, deliberately, she unfastened her wide leather belt and dropped it behind her. With a tantalizing smile, she plucked at the drawstring to her skirt and untied it, letting the skirt drop to pool around her ankles, until she kicked it aside. Pulling at the drawstring of the neck of her blouse and loosening it, a moment later it, too, followed the skirt to the floor, leaving her standing only in her shift.

  He stood quietly, arms crossed over his chest, a grin on his face. “What’s this then, seawench?” he asked.

  “You didn’t see much of what you were bargaining for,” she replied, with a sly smile. “I just want you to be sure you haven’t been cheated.” A quick pull of the drawstring of the neck of her shift, and it, too, fell to the floor, leaving her standing there wearing nothing but air.

  Pulling both the bows from her hair, she shook it loose from its braid, letting it fall about her, hanging to her knees. “Well,” she said, turning on one toe as she lifted her hair in both hands. “What do you think?”

  “I think you should have a look at your half of the bargain,” he replied, stripping off shirt, trews, and singlet, and tossing them all aside in a heap. He spread his arms wide. “Going to send me back to the market?”

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  She ran her gaze over him, slowly. He was not a tall man, but now that he was naked, she could see that there was nothing at all to be asked for in the way of strength. He was also not a particularly hairy man, which pleased her. Sculpted chest muscles and strong arms, a flat stomach—

  But her eyes would go no farther as she saw how ready he was for her.

  “I hardly think so,” she replied breathlessly.

  “Good!” He scooped her up and tossed her into the middle of the bed. “Because I have no intention of letting you.”

  He followed her into the bed, knelt between her legs, and looked down at her, greedily. “You are a tasty little morsel. Where shall I begin? Ah, I know—” He bent swiftly and took a nipple in his mouth, his hand cupping the other. The sensations of his tongue and gently nibbling teeth made her shiver and gasp, and the slightly roughened skin of his thumb on the other made her wild with desire. She threw her arms and her legs around him and drew him to her, arching her hips against his.

  His free hand cupped her buttocks and pulled her against him, and she stifled a cry of pure pleasure as he entered her.

  Then, maddeningly, he paused. “Slowly,” he murmured against her breast, then sucked gently on the nipple, moving against her in time with his mouth. She found herself nibbling his neck and his earlobes, caressing his back and squeezing his buttocks with her hands as the Fortune’s Fool

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  movement of hips and mouth quickened gradually, grew more urgent. He switched his attentions to the other breast, both hands now holding her to him, then, as pleasure began to overcome her and she drove her own hips against his, his hands tightened on her and the amble became a gallop, the pleasure became a screaming need, the need became all, and fire exploded inside them both.

  Somehow they didn’t get to that supper after all that night.

  It was three days later that the summons came.

  Katya went down to the sea as she always did, first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. But this time, there was someone waiting for her.

  It was one of the mer-folk, an earnest-looking young triton with a shock of jet-black hair and a worried expression. His eyes went from Katya to Sasha and back again.

  “Princess,” he said. “I have a message for you. Your father needs you with all speed.”

  She bit her lip, and glanced at Sasha herself. He was nodding, though he did not look happy. “We are the servants of our people and our fathers, belochka,” he said, firmly. “Duty comes first.”

  “With all speed,” repeated the triton, and dove into the sea.

  Sasha seized her by the shoulders and turned her toward himself. “Duty comes first,” he said. “But love follows. If you do not return in a reasonable time, I shall come looking for you, and I will find you.” He bent his head to give her 168

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  a hard, passionate kiss. “Now go! And remember that I am a Fortunate Fool, and I get what I want!”

  Not daring to answer with anything except a whispered “I love you!” she turned and dove into the waves, allowing the magic to melt her Drylander clothing away and give her back her armor.

  Ahead of her she could see the tail of the triton flashing as he flexed it in powerful pulses, dolphin-like, driving him at high speed into the depths. The fact that he had not waited for her made her feel cold. Whatever this was, it must surely be bad for he
r father to have put that much urgency into the triton’s head. She thought she knew this one; a youngster that her father was grooming for a high position of trust. Had he told the youngling what she was? What she did for him? If so, then that could very well account for the triton’s reticence.

  Especially if the matter really was grave.

  She turned her swim into the dolphin-kick herself.

  Although she had not got the advantage of flukes, the undulating swimming motion was much faster than any other form. As she swam, she “felt” for the magic of the sea, and asked it for help, and a moment later, a dolphin came shooting out of the distant waters. Though he wasn’t wearing a towing harness, she could, and did, still seize hold of his dorsal fin, and lay herself along his back. As soon as she had positioned herself, he put on his full speed, catching up with, then passing the triton.

  She released the dolphin with silent thanks at the edge of the Palace grounds and cast around for her father.

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  She spied him swimming toward her and knew then that this must be the most serious trouble he had ever yet needed her for.

  “There is a threat,” he said without preamble. “Do you know where the castle of the Katschei is?”

  She nodded. “Just over the border of Led Belarus, in the wilderness. But the Katschei is dead, father. He went to another land, thinking that since their Tradition did not know him, he could conquer it. But he did not reckon on the ways of a Godmother, and he was killed in the trying. The castle is empty even of his followers.”