"Of Light" - 39+40/45
Title: Of Light
Author: Rissy James
Rating: M (overall)
Pairing: Cain/DG, eventual Jeb/Az
Summary: The Emerald must be returned to its guardian, and DG is left behind. When a generations-old threat resurfaces, she must gather more than her courage to save her sister, and to find Wyatt Cain.
Extras: "Of Light" trailer on youtube; Cast Pictures on Livejournal
Warning: Thar be smut on the horizon.
Of Light
Chapter Thirty Nine
She was alone in the Central City palace; she realized it made her unhappy to be there. She found that, of all the homes she knew, this one she liked the least.
Her feet began to walk a path that her heart seemed to know, but her head didn't. What compulsion drove her, she didn't know. She only knew that she must climb; Alta Torretta, the highest tower.
When she reached the rooftop, the doors magically slid open to reveal the arboretum; her heart cried out in pain at the sight of the dead trees, skeletal branches tangled high above her head.
She sensed him before she saw him, able to turn to him as he stepped out of the darkness. He walked with her, as she was still walking. A brick path led under the tunnel of trees, the twin moons shining in from above the glass dome, illuminating the way.
“Remember, Doll,” he said. The zipper cutting through his crown gaped open. His hair was fantastically wild. “I got us lost, but then we found him.” He slowed, fell back, and away. She walked forward... somewhere in the haze, the twinkling glass dome became cloudy dark sky; the bricks beneath her feet became the worn paths of the Pa-pay fields.
The wind picked up, the dead branches scraping, calling.
Her second companion fell into step beside her, materializing from the darkness, steps timid and careful, so light he made no sound. “DG must think. Must feel. Must endure.”
When she turned to him, he stopped moving; her feet carried her forward as the path began to wind. He watched her curiously as she left him behind.
The sound of swift paws padding the ground began to follow her. She looked down to see him, looking up at her with beady eyes. His head cocked to one side, and he barked; once, twice... with a whimper, he looked in the direction she walked, but did not follow.
It called to her like a beacon, the life in the middle of the field of death. The tree... her tree. It glowed for her.
He was standing underneath, leaning against the trunk. His stance was casual, but she knew it was not as it seemed. He'd drawn his duster back, and his hand rested easily on his holster; under the brim of the hat, she knew alert, cool eyes watched, knew then that he'd already seen her. He waited for her.
“Stay sharp, Darlin'. We're bein' watched.”
“Runners?” Her voice was fearful. She looked around, but heard nothing. Everything was heartbreakingly silent; even the wind and the creaking of the trees had died away.
“No. Dark eyes,” he said, and lifted his head to look at her; his familiar smirk put her at ease. “Can't say from where just yet. I'll keep an eye out, you just figure out what we're supposed to do.”
“I don't think I can,” she whispered.
“Oh, you will. We can just walk the Old Road. It always finds you, eventually.”
She woke then, because someone was talking out loud. She peeked one eye open when she realized she recognized the voice, but she saw no one in the direction she faced. Opening both eyes, she lifted up on her elbows. Immediately, the speaker stopped mid-sentence, and she found herself being stared at by two very curious pairs of eyes.
“Finally,” said the person who'd been speaking - Glitch. She'd never been so happy to see his pale face, and her own broke into a grin at the sight of him. “We thought you were gonna sleep another day away.”
Raw shook his head disapprovingly at his companion. “Needed sleep. DG fight great battle.”
“I just had the weirdest dream,” she muttered, her head tipping to the side, eyes lifting to the ceiling. “I was... here, and then in the Pa-pay fields. And... you were there.” She nodded at Glitch, and then towards Raw. “And you. And -” She looked to the doorway, the last place she'd seen Cain; her eyes popped to see that he wasn't there, wasn't anywhere. Her gaze, now fierce, shot back towards Glitch.
“Where is he?”
Glitch grimaced under the ferocity of her glare; for a fraction of a second, he thought he might of seen her eyes spark. “I don't know!” he exclaimed; she knew he'd been expecting her to ask.
Raw cut in before she could speak. “Cain go on search for answers. Will return home soon. His heart in Central City.”
DG deflated a little; she pushed herself fully sitting, she looked around. She vaguely remembered waking long enough to walk herself up here, but it was too cloudy to make out much... someone's arm securely around her... a tearful embrace from her mother... and a glimpse of white light?
“He left this for you,” Glitch said hopefully, handing her a piece of stiff paper, folded over twice.
DG leaned over to snatch the paper from him. She glared at him again. “Did you read it?”
The advisor looked scandalized. “I would never!”
Raw spoke up, gruff. “Glitch does not lie to DG. Tempted, but he did not read.”
Glitch frowned. “See?” he said, looking disheartened. “Fuzzy here knows. I was hoping maybe you might, I dunno, read it out loud.” His tone lilted hopefully again.
DG unfolded the note, and turned away from her friends. She read the note quickly, then heaved a sigh. His note was as stiff and formal as the paper it was written on. “'I have things to take care of. Be back in a few days; W.C.'” She turned the paper over, but found nothing. Well, that sucks, she thought to herself. It made perfect sense, even to her brain that was still warming up, but still... she read it again. He told her why he'd gone, and that he would be back. That was important enough in and of itself, and she could probably take comfort in that... when the sting went away.
“Well,” Glitch said, “that was cold and empty. Very Cain.”
The corner of DG's mouth turned up a bit. “When did he leave?” she asked, looking over the paper inquiringly at her friend.
“Last time I saw him was yesterday, right before he left for the city HQ. Reports and paperwork, I've got a copy of some of it on my desk right now.”
DG's curious gaze intensified. “Yesterday? What day is it?”
“Its Monday.”
“You let me sleep an entire day?”
Glitch snorted. “Let you? We all tried to wake you up to eat. Azka-Dee even used her magic to conjure up some pajamas for you, and you still didn't wake up.”
DG looked down at herself; sure enough, she was dressed in a plain white t-shirt; she lifted the blanket to see matching pants of the same soft, gauzy material. That explained the white light in her hazy recollections of the night before... yesterday morning. Go, Az, DG thought, pleased with her sister. Then it hit her. “Where is Az?” she asked.
“Fulfilling duty,” Raw said softly. “Wants to be with sister; will return, Raw thinks.”
DG fell back onto her pillows to pout. “So thats where Mother and Ahamo are? They're otherwise preoccupied?”
Glitch nodded sadly. “Your mother is at a meeting with her generals discussing the current Longcoat threats. Your father is presiding over trade negotiations between the Southern and Eastern guilds.”
“He does stuff like that?”
Glitch shook his head. “No, not normally. Your mom is swamped, though, so he's doing his best to help out. He likes the ankle-biters, he thinks they're funny.”
DG laughed at that, remembering all too well ferocious Munchkins dropping from trees. “And why aren't you working, too, Ambrose?” DG asked.
Her friend chuckled, and nodded towards a table on the opposite side of the room from where he sat with Raw. The table was stacked with books and papers and a few strange looking models, crafted of metal and wood. “I get to bring my work with me,” the advisor said, with a weak smile. “I'd just be sitting in my office doing it anyway.”
She found herself smiling. Good old Glitch, he always managed to get her to smile. Still... already, she missed Cain, like an ache in her chest. She refused to cry, her head knowing, her heart disbelieving. She was angry at him for leaving, angrier than she knew she should be... but she couldn't help it. She knew it only hurt because he hadn't said goodbye, but the hurt was strong and fiery, and she couldn't swallow it away.
“You okay, DG?” Glitch asked.
DG shook her head, unwilling to speak of the way she felt to Glitch... or to anyone... she could get along just fine, she told herself. She had to talk to her mother about what she'd learned from the Gale, she needed to track down Tutor and have some things explained. As she stood, her head gave an almighty spin, and she swayed. She sat down hard... oh yeah, she was going to need to eat.
“Hungry,” she mumbled. “Lets go down to the kitchen.”
Glitch's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and she sent him another unappreciative glower. “DG,” he said slowly, “this isn't like Finaqua. You can't just march into the kitchen.”
“Why not?” she demanded. She wondered if she could manage to fall asleep again, because being awake was beginning to piss her off.
“Well, for one, you're a princess and this palace is your mother's most influential seat of power, you're not gonna be able to run around in your bare feet.” DG glared at her friend, a bit of her arrival coming back to her... Cain's amusement with her footwear situation. “And, two,” Glitch continued, “they are insanely busy downstairs, you'd just be in the way.”
“I hate it here,” she grumbled childishly.
Glitch snickered. “You've always hated it here.”
His reaction surprised her. She still wasn't used to the fact that he was remembering too, and some of his memories included her as a small child, so small that she couldn't possibly remember what life had been like. It seemed to her an unfair advantage.
“Why did I hate it here?” she asked. If he truly was the smartest man in the O.Z., answer her that!
Glitch's face, however, slid away from interest and into pallid control. She wondered when he would stop slipping between Ambrose and Glitch and become some happy medium.
“They are your memories, DG. Why did you hate it here?”
Oh, no fair, she thought, Ambrose thinks he's a psychiatrist. However, she willingly closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she tried to grab onto the lonely ache in her chest, the thought of floors and floors of palace above and below. The memory came skipping to her like a child across a grassy field, innocent and eternal, calling out in the voice of her four-year-old self, so sad it almost broke her heart.
Az, please play with me! Az, please?
“I'm always alone here,” she said, her eyes snapping open. “Mother and Father were always busy when we spent a season in the city, and Az... Az was always in lessons.” Glitch/Ambrose nodded at her as if he knew what she was talking about, and she rolled her eyes at him. When she did, his face split back again into a glitchy grin.
“You've got us, DG. And trust me, there's going to be plenty of stuff to keep you busy.”
Pfft. “Like what?” she asked him, more than a little skeptical.
“Well, there's a state dinner tonight in the Grand Hall. And there are your etiquette lessons, in addition to your magical training, and I think,” he said, tapping these things off on his fingers, “that you've got a public speaking engagement on Wednesday, which is the day after tomorrow,” he pointed out, as if she'd somehow managed to forget the days of the week.
A public speaking engagement? “On what?” she exclaimed, incredulous.
“The importance of the citizens of Central City to give to the Reconstruction fund.”
“Oh.” That was important; she wanted to point out how unfair all of this was, but her mother and sister were already back into the grind of their lives and they'd been imprisoned, too. Abused and terrorized and taken advantage of. “So,” she said slowly, changing the subject. “If I can't go down to the kitchen, who do I need to talk to to get me something to eat?”
The rest of the day passed in the most boring, blue-wall haze DG had ever experienced. It was like being back in the Witch's tower, it was like being held in the underground complex; a prison was a prison.
She found Professor Lyman to be an unpleasant experience. He was restrained and distant, and didn't find her in the least bit funny. She could see him judging every sentence that came out of her mouth, carefully searching for lies or sarcasm or insanity. Every time he entered her room, he asked her a series of obscure questions, about history or the names of the major ranges in the West and North.
After the third such round of questions, ending with answers being patiently given to her and her grumpy demand of how she was supposed to know what year Central City was founded, she asked him if he got any delight in watching her squirm under his interrogation. The huff he left the room in was the most satisfying thing she'd experienced since her return.
It was another night and half a day before she was free. The time since she'd woken up had been full of small triumphs; she'd fought her mother into allowing her to take the smallest set of rooms she could find, on the condition that they were on the same floor as Azkadellia. Magic lessons wouldn't begin until next week, after Tutor arrived from Finaqua and had time to settle in. She'd also managed to work out of Ambrose that Jeb worked inside the palace... meaning it wouldn't be as hard to track him down as she'd thought it would be.
Freedom, however, was not as crystal cut as she'd imagined it would be. She'd argued her mother into letting her wear a pair of black slacks, the trade of being a lace blouse and camisole, ugly black boots. She'd somehow managed to divert everyone's attention, assuring both Glitch and Az and her father that someone else was going to be with her for the afternoon. Her Round-Robin fabrication had worked - everyone else thought another was showing her to her room, and she couldn't help feeling impressed with her skills.
She stopped being pleased with herself when she opened the door and saw Corporal Hass standing on the other side.
Her smile faltered. “Corporal!” she exclaimed in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“I've been temporarily assigned to your guard, Your Highness.”
DG sighed, her head dropping into her hands. She had been this close...
She hadn't expected to come against the problem of a bodyguard so fast, but someone was making sure she didn't even have to brave the walk to her suite alone, unprotected - or unsupervised.
“Who assigned you?” she asked. When he didn't answer, she frowned. Her money was on her mother. “Well, then, I'm going to the library.” She figured somewhere inside she knew where the library was, so when she entered the elevator, she picked a random floor and began the search.
Three different random floors, a mix up in back tracking, and a stroke of luck with an accidental left turn later, she found the library. Hass had begun to grumble his doubt in her ability after an incident with a dead end on the second floor they'd tried, so she grinned at him triumphantly.
The library was huge, and completely devoid of anyone else. There was evidence of slow cleaning, that the room was being reestablished, but most of the books were still on the shelves. DG spent the next hour gathering volumes from boxes and from the dusty shelves, history and geography and an interesting looking bestiary.
Her new shadow, she found, worked exceedingly well as a pack-horse. With his arms stacked full of books, she was free to start reading as she found her way to her suite - another adventure, this one shorter as she knew which floor it was on.
She read in her sitting room until the first sun went down and she was forced to get up to turn on some lights. As she settled back down into an armchair with another book, she wondered who was going to come and find her first. She'd chased Hass out into the hallway, and her room was entirely, blissfully quiet. Another hour had passed, and the second sun was down, when there was a knock on her door.
“Come in,” she called out, expecting to see Glitch, or maybe her sister, but was surprised to see her old teacher peek his head in.
“Am I actually being invited into your presence?” he asked her with a teasing grin.
“Yes,” she said, and she smiled fondly at him. “Toto, how are you?”
When he came into the room, she saw that he held a box in his hands. He handed it to her as soon as she stood up. “I am fine, DG, thank you for asking. I was asked to deliver this to you, and told that it was important.” When she looked curiously at him for more information, he only shrugged, non-committal.
DG tossed her book aside, her heart leaping. She sat down with the box in her lap. “You're here early, aren't you?” She looked up at him, and motioned for him to take a seat.
Tutor sat down on a chair that matched hers. His posture was proper and perfect, his back completely straight. DG grinned at the sight of him, before turning her attention back to the box. When she lifted the lid, she saw something lumpy was wrapped in a large piece of cloth. A note sat on top. “Ooh,” she said happily, plucking out the note.
“No, DG, my arrival was scheduled for Tuesday night. I'm not early.”
She turned to him, her grin turning sheepish. “Sorry. I've kinda lost track of the days.”
Tutor smiled forgivingly. “Thats all right, DG. In your situation its to be expected. And, on that subject...”
The man continued to talk, but DG's attention was lost. She unfolded the note and with a sigh, recognized the handwriting.
I thought you might want these. I'll see you tomorrow. W.C.
She read the note a second time, wishing he'd given her more. Ten words; even with a pen, he didn't have much to say. Unceremoniously, she dumped the contents of the box into her lap; the feeling of it made her eyebrows shoot up in surprise.
He didn't... she thought, as she unwrapped the cloth from around... her sneakers.
DG started to laugh. Really laugh. Whatever her tutor was saying, he stopped to watch her as if she'd gone insane. When he saw her stuffing her feet eagerly into the familiar shoes, he sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“I was told by Mr. Cain that it was something of the utmost importance.”
DG was still giggling. “Oh, it is important,” she said, her lonely and quiet day fading away, a strangely happy feeling replacing the sadness. I knew there was a reason I loved him,she thought, and though she wanted to feel guilty for it, she found she couldn't possibly make herself. Cain, even from wherever he was, was finding a way to think of her.
“When was Cain in Finaqua?” she asked her teacher.
Tutor sighed, his lips settling into an unhappy line. “He passed through there last night. There were things he and I discussed, and then I do believe he bribed your ladies' maid into retrieving those for him.”
“Aww,” she said; okay, she didn't have socks on, but the soft, comfortable feel of her sneakers and the fact that he'd thought she would need them had her soaring over the freaking rainbow. With a geeky sigh, she turned her attention back - finally, politely - to her teacher.
“You scared for our lessons?” she asked, with a quirk of her eyebrow.
Tutor cleared his throat. “You sound very confident.”
“I do?” she asked, her face falling slightly. “I don't feel that way. But I need to know. And I need to learn. Control, because I seem to burn everything. And I can't keep it up for very long. I need to work on that.”
“You burn everything?” Tutor asked.
“Well, when Az uses her power, she's got complete sway over it. Mine's full of bangs and flashes and everything ends up scorched.”
Tutor smiled. “Yes, and the exact reason for that is control, DG. I'm glad you've been able to pinpoint that fact yourself.”
There was another knock at the door, this one soft. DG called out for the person to enter, and jumped to her feet when she saw her mother. Tutor, also, stood respectfully, and bowed when the Queen addressed him.
“I'm glad to see you've arrived, old friend,” the Queen said, a kind smile on her face. “Tomorrow, you will meet with my daughter and I. There are things she has brought to my attention that need to be discussed.”
DG's good mood began to dissipate immediately with the mention of this. When she'd tried to talk to her mother about what had happened inside, and outside, the royal crypt, her mother had waved her off, citing that DG needed rest, and such things needed a safer place to be discussed than an open room in the palace infirmary.
“We can't do it tomorrow,” DG said. She'd thought about this. It was time she would start putting her foot down. If she was being tested, if these things were in her hands and her hands alone, then she was going to make sure she was in change from the get-go.
The Queen turned to her daughter, puzzled. “Why not, my Angel?”
“We have to wait for W-” she started, but immediately stopped herself. “I mean, Mr. Cain.”
The Queen shook her head. “DG, we have all of the captain's reports, and he's out of the city, with no telling when he'll be back. This cannot wait.”
DG straightened her shoulders. “Yes, it can, Mother. Even if its for a few days. I won't do this without Cain.”
“Darling, you must -”
“No!” DG said firmly. Her mother's mouth snapped shut in surprise, and DG wondered how often her mother was interrupted. She probably got a lot of it from Az, in the years after the Witch took over Az's body, she chastised herself sharply. With a sigh, she was immediately contrite. “I'm sorry, Mother. But I'm serious. Cain will be back, and I'm waiting for him. You can't do this without me, and I won't do this without him.”
Chapter Forty
DG was going to make a list of all the things she was never going to do again, and then she was going to bully Ambrose into making sure she got her way. At the very top would be public speaking. Never again would she do it, no matter what the cause, no matter the benefit to the country. She'd stand up and look pretty, she'd smile for cameras, she'd sit through anything they forced her to, but she would never, ever speak publicly again.
“It didn't go so bad,” Ambrose was assuring her when she returned to the palace.
DG was practically in tears. “I sounded like I had no idea what I was talking about. You just shoved the speech at me, I had no time to prepare for it. And I mispronounced almost everything. Who names things in this stupid country? I'm not doing that again. Ever.” She punctuated her last sentence emphatically by whirling around and pointing a finger straight into his chest.
Ambrose was startled to come up against her after following her all the way from the car, up the steps of the private family entrance, and towards the elevator. It was here, in front of the lift, that she'd turned on him.
“DG, you should calm down,” he said gently. “You did fine, everyone loved you.”
The princess rolled her eyes. She turned away from him to jab at the button of the elevator. The pumps on her feet pinched her toes, and the waist-cincher she wore seemed to be tightening on its own. “Everyone wasn't supposed to love me, they're supposed to want to donate to the Reconstruction fund.”
Glitch's dark eyes focused onto hers. “DG, it was your first public appearance, and moreover, it was your first public appearance by yourself. You did fine, stop worrying.”
“I can't stop worrying with so many pairs of eyes on me,” she muttered sadly. “I'm going to see Az.”
“Do you want company?”
DG's shoulders fell as the lift doors slid open. “No, thanks, I want to enjoy the last few minutes before my shadow finds me.” All day she'd been trying to give Corporal Hass the slip, and she always managed, but he always managed to find her again, with increasingly accuracy and speed.
Her father had assigned her a bodyguard, and had meant him to be a deterrent; instead, DG saw him as a challenge. She used her magic to be a better hider than Hass was a seeker. Although, after a small amount of time she'd usually have to put herself in his way for him to 'find' her, because otherwise he'd have to blow the whistle on her. It made her a little sad that the most she'd ever been able to shake Cain was less than ten minutes. But he tried, Hass... he tried.
She got off on the twenty-eighth level and took the servants passage to the stairs. Two flights, and when she came through the doorway, she automatically made for Az's room. Though... not to see her sister.
Jeb was standing outside of Az's door.
“Jeb!” she said happily as she approached him.
“I'm not telling you a thing.” He was smirking at her. Smirking.
“I didn't ask you for anything,” she said defensively. All right, this plan is a fail, she thought; she could tell as soon as she laid on that smirk, and its creepy similarity to someone very close to them both.
“The Princess Royal is sleeping,” Jeb said pointedly, “so you'd better get out of here before the corporal comes looking for you.” Jeb nodded back the way she'd come. “You should cut the poor guy a break. Not everyone can keep up with you.” The smile he gave her was genuine.
Where can I go? What would I like to see, alone... she asked herself, and it came to her quickly. The view from the rooftop Az had mentioned. She had an hour before she had to start getting ready for another formal dinner, and her shadow would never find her on the roof.
However, when the elevator doors slid open, her spine shimmied at the sight of the ghostly arboretum. Every tree here was dead, the floor scattered with dead leaves and needles, so much so that her steps crunched beneath her. She was remembering her dream, and its smooth, cool shift to the Pa-pay fields; but the true life Pa-pay fields bloomed with life now, the land healing, the cloak of darkness lifted. Problem solved.
No, so not problem solved, she thought. She reached the glass dome and walked along it until she found a door. It was locked, but her magic was an easy enough solution for that. The blast of cool air after the damp, stagnant smell of the arboretum helped to clear her head, even if it was tinged with smoke.
I have until the anniversary of the Eclipse, she told herself, trying and failing to comfort. It was a little over ten months. She could study, and she could learn, so that she wouldn't come up as so inexperienced in this new world. She could stop herself being taken advantage of.
Az had been right about the view, it was breathtaking. The light of the hazy suns glinted off the towers and spires of the city. From her bedroom's view on the thirtieth level, the tower's position at the center of the city, the spread of buildings seemed to go on forever. But here, on the roof... she could see forests, and the mountains beyond. Somewhere to the West, she knew, was the Sorceress's tower, and to the North, the frozen realms of the Northern Guild, and the Ice Palace, where her family had yet to return.
You can't let them get involved, she thought, thinking of her family. Az was going to be Queen, and the pressure was on to start adjusting everyone to that fact. Ambrose wanted DG to lend him her memories, to put onto discs, so that the events on the Witch's balcony could be shown to the entire country. She had a feeling he was going to ask Cain, as well.
Cain... guh. No, she didn't have much beyond that. It was late afternoon, and the suns had begun their lazy descent. She imagined dinner guests would be arriving soon.
His note said 'tomorrow'. Today is tomorrow... why aren't you here yet? She knew she was petulant, impatient, and whining like a girl. Luckily, she didn't have to worry about her dignity in her own head, and could let go. I wonder if I'd miss him so much if I wasn't so lonely, she mused idly as she walked back through the arboretum to the elevator. But she knew she'd miss him wherever she was, no matter what.
When the lift stopped on the thirtieth level, she found herself face to face with her shadow, as he waited to get into the elevator. He didn't look in the slightest surprised to see her. “Don't you have a life?” she asked him, a bit cruelly, as she marched straight past him. He turned on his heel and followed her.
“Yes, but I also have a job. That would be you.” His voice perked with amusement. She'd argued with him over forms of address, and she'd finally driven it into his head that if he wasn't going to call her DG then he shouldn't call her anything at all. Thankfully, he hadn't seemed to have a problem with it.
“Are you having fun yet, Corporal?” she asked him when she reached the door of her suite.
“Oh, tons. I'm beginning to see why the Captain was hesitant about this.”
DG blinked. Shapeshifter bodyguard say what?
“What do you mean?” she asked carefully. Her hand slipped from the doorknob as she turned around to face him.
“I told you I'm only temporary. I was informed I'm holding this position for Captain Cain, but I heard the Queen's advisor say they're still trying to convince him,” Hass told her without batting an eyelash.
DG's jaw dropped. Something inside of her flared, and she actually felt the magic coursing through her with the emotional spike. Ya know, for that, you get to stay in the hallway, she thought bitterly as she slammed the door in his face. Two minutes later, he was joined by a maid, booted out unceremoniously by the overwhelmed princess.
DG ran her own bath, and slid into the water, hoping to relax; she washed, but noticed the water was getting hotter. Calm down, it could just be gossip. But as much as the arrival of her shoes had managed to quell some of her unhappiness, she knew she was angry at him by the way her hands shook, by the way she was slowly boiling to death. She got out of the water with a frustrated sigh.
She was toweling off when Az arrived with her dinner dress. It was baby blue, and beaded, and came with another damn matching waist-cincher. She put it on behind the dressing screen, then held her hair out of the way as her sister cinched her up. DG had just begun to rummage around for a hairbrush when she turned around to find herself faced with Az's hands.
“Hold still.”
DG felt the magic come at her, felt the roots of her hair grow warm for the briefest moment before the hair hanging down her back seemed to disappear. Touching the top of her head tentatively, her hair was loosely wrapped in a knot and gathered at the base of her neck with a clip that threatened to overbalance her.
“I know you don't like it too complicated,” Az said with a small smile. DG gave her sister a hug. “I can teach you how to do all these little tricks. Tutor thinks them a waste of magic, but Mother taught me them, and then... well, she wasn't very patient.” DG didn't have to ask who she was, only gave Az a comforting smile.
Together, the two sisters walked down to dinner, which, in DG's mind, was too ridiculously long, and the Mayor of Central City was an asshole. She noticed her father always took the first opportunity to fly from these types of things, and that both her mother and sister tackled them with a strange, detached enthusiasm. And she... she stayed quiet.
After dinner, she was faced with temptation and took it. No, that wasn't entirely true. She created a tempting circumstance for herself, and then threw herself headlong into whatever fray she ended up finding. She was... testing her limits, learning her boundaries... and the boundaries of those around her.
Hass, she knew, would eventually learn to stop listening to her when she told him to stand in the hallway. Especially when she entered a room with more than one exit. She let her hair down and sat through an hour of listening to her mother and Ambrose go over plans for the disassembling of the machine contained within the Tower, and the distribution of the materials; when they were completely distracted, and neither one of them had laid eyes on her for over fifteen minutes, she quietly got up from her chair and walked serenely along the bookshelf, browsing... and then casually slipped out the door at the far end.
Impulsiveness is a failing, something in her brain called out... she told it to shut up. She didn't even quite know what she was doing, or where she was going, she was just... following her feet. She felt like a child, sneaking through the palace in the dark, and it was fun. She made her way silently to her room, ducking into shadow when she came across anyone.
Often, in Kansas, she'd sneak out of the house, out her window and off the roof; it was easy and it was some semblance of freedom from perfect parents who'd wanted to smother her with their love and affection and mighty aspirations. The freedom of wind and grass and endless sky. Suddenly thirsty for just that, her dress was on the floor and she was shoving her legs into pants, sliding her feet into her sneakers. A shirt and a coat, and she was on her way, throwing open the door to the hallway, and -
“Where d'ya think you're goin', Kid?”
This close...
Cain was leaning against the wall opposite the door to her suite, wearing his traveling clothes; her knees nearly buckled at the sight of his hat, which tipped upwards to reveal blue eyes that pierced into her; the smirk on his face was too much. She took a step back, and then another. She was angry with him, and she didn't want to forget it by falling into those endless eyes. She continued walking backwards as he stepped into the room; he turned around to lock the door, and when he faced her again, he found a wisp bouncing accusingly in his face.
“You left.”
“And I came back,” he pointed out. The little light jerked back and forth in his face, an inch from his nose. “As fast as I could. Now, tell me again, where did you think you were goin'?”
“Where do you think? I was going to find you. You said you'd be back today.”
Cain chuckled at her, and tried to wave off her insistent little wisp. “And here I am, DG. Why're you so angry?”
DG glared at him, hard. She wasn't going to let her resolve falter just because he smiled, and pretended nothing was wrong. “You left,” she repeated. “And you're not going to stay with me. You turned down the position they offered you.”
Cain exhaled loudly, slowly, shrugging off his duster. He laid it over the back of a chair before he spoke. The little light followed him, whirling in steady circles around his head. “DG, can you call this thing off?” he asked in a tight voice, jerking his head towards the wisp.
She sighed, and she felt herself fall apart a little bit. The light skipped haltingly across the space between them, and hovered above her head, ready to attack him again if need be. Cain was now eying her warily, and she watched him expectantly. When it became obvious that he wasn't going to say anything, she felt tears begin to prickle at the corners of her eyes.
“Why did you turn it down?”
“Princess, I will tell you everything if you'd just put that thing away,” he said firmly.
DG growled at him, but held out her palm; the wisp did an odd little dive and disappeared.
“You ducked your guard,” Cain observed, looking suspicious of her. She rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, he's not like you. He trusts me too much. Someone should really warn him.”
Cain raised his scarred eyebrow. “DG, I trust you.”
“No, you don't,” she said, deflating a little.
“Okay, let me rephrase that.” He took his hat off and laid it on top of his duster. He walked over to her, never taking his eyes off of hers. A foot away, he stopped. DG swallowed hard. “DG, I know when to trust you.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Don't start that. You haven't told me why you left.”
“That's more talkin' than I want to do right now,” he said, stepping closer to her. “I'd like to work on the fact that you're angry with me.” His lips brushed against her temple, a hand ghosting up her back to entangle in the hair at the base of her neck. “How long until your guard notices you missin'?”
“Shift change is in an hour,” she whispered; he was too close, the hand on the back of her neck was heavy, steady, distracting. “They'll notice then, and come looking for me.” An hour was a lot more time than they'd ever been given. Both seemed to realize it at once; Cain jerked her towards him, his free hand snaking around to cup her ass, pressing their hips firmly together. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her nails dragging along the collar of his shirt, digging into the skin just above.
She was still angry, and he knew it; his entire body seemed to flare at the thought of how beautiful she was when incensed, how her blue eyes flashed torrents. When their eyes met, her voice was ragged. “You still haven't told me why you turned down the position.”
His fierce grip on her neck relaxed. “Darlin', you prove too much a distraction for me to guard you.”
Her eyebrows knit together, her head cocking to the side. “Thats not true, and you know it, Wyatt,” she said, her words soft. In this new place, when every wind that swept across the plains of the O.Z. seemed to want to sweep her away, he could anchor her. “Are you still running from me?” she asked; if he continued to run, trapped by duty in the palace, she wouldn't be able to chase him.
Instead of answering her, his mouth found hers in a searing kiss. His tongue immediately sought entrance to her mouth; she melted underneath of him, moaning as she gripped at the collar of his shirt, pulling herself up to him; when he broke away, it was too soon. “There are things I've got to do right now, DG. You need to be patient.”
“For how long?” she demanded. Her hands were still on his collar, and she shook him slightly, yanking his body towards hers and causing his arm to tighten instinctively around her.
“Not long,” he growled, his voice a deep reverberation through his chest that shook her enough to loosen the grip on his collar. When he felt her pulling away, he quickly grabbed her by the thighs and lifted her up; his arms braced her against him as he looked up at her. Her dark hair falling around them shadowed their faces, but blue to blue, their eyes burned. “Not long, and I'm all yours, Kiddo.”
All mine, she thought. DG was smiling even as she fused her mouth over his; vaguely she pointed in the direction of the bedroom. When they crossed the threshold, he kicked the door shut and she locked it with her magic. She found herself dropped down on the bed, and when she righted herself, he was standing over her, unbuckling his gun-belt. He'd already removed the gun from the holster and put it on the nightstand, where he might easily reach it even when he was... Impatient, she reached out and began to untuck his shirt from his pants.
“Remember we were talkin' about patience?” he asked her with a smirk, as he stepped backwards, away from her hands. With a growl, she fell back onto the mattress to lean up on her elbows. He smiled when he realized she was watching him.
Finally, he tossed the belt and empty holster onto a chair; he came to the bed in an instant, kneeling one leg down on the mattress directly between her thighs. She gasped as his knee pressed up, as he leaned down to kiss her. He tried soft brushes of his lips, but she met him every time with fierce passion. His hands were on the side of her face, in her hair; hers fumbled with the buttons of his vest. When she'd managed them, she moved directly to the smaller buttons of his shirt; she sought the warm flesh hidden underneath, the burn of his skin against her palms.
“Easy there, Darlin',” he muttered against her mouth. He tried to still her hands, but she swatted him away.
“No time, Tin Man,” she said in a rushed whisper. She tried to push both articles of clothing off his shoulders at once; with an amused grunt, Cain straightened so he could rid himself of the vest, then shirt, and watched as DG scooted up properly on the bed to lay her head upon the pillows.
Gazing down, he toed off his boots before sitting on the edge of the bed. She was breathing deep and uneven, her breasts rising and falling enticingly. Reaching over, he pulled the sneakers and socks off her feet. His hand ran over the bare arch of her foot, over her ankle, up inside her pant leg to grip at her calf. Frustrated, she pushed at his hand with her free foot.
“Get up here,” she demanded. Moving up the bed to straddle her hips, he braced himself with one arm to lean down and press a kiss into her neck, as his other hand yanked at the fastening of her pants. Undone, unimpeded, he pulled the material off. “No fair,” she muttered, realizing that he was going to undress her before he touched her. She sat up between his legs, her hands immediately on his abdomen, her mouth closing on his ribs. He groaned as he reached down to yank her shirt up over her head; she lifted her arms to allow him before going back to her assault of his chest. Her hands were at the button of his pants, desperately seeking to release what she felt straining against the material.
DG's hands stilled when Wyatt grabbed her chin in his hand, forcing her to look up at him. The hazy light filtering in through the windows did little to illuminate his face; a low growl emitted from him as he bent over to kiss her, to fiercely possess her mouth and body with his own. Her hands flew to his shoulders, holding herself to him as he lowered them both to the bed.
He stretched out beside her, a hand sliding fluidly down her body to slip inside her underwear, pressing his index finger between her folds to gently rub her clit. She pulled his lip between her teeth and nipped him before breaking away from him. “You're still wearing pants,” she complained breathlessly.
Cain chuckled at her impatience. With a grin, he hooked her leg over his hip and rolled onto his back, so she was sprawled out over top of him. Immediately she slid down, working the button and zipper quickly; she hooked both his pants and his shorts with her fingers, and as he lifted his hips to allow her to pull them down, she came to the curious realization that she'd yet to... see Cain naked. She hesitated.
Sensing the lull in the fire that she'd been pouring over him, he pulled her flush against his chest, her hands trapped between them. His arms wrapped around her back, and he stared up into her eyes. “Feels a little bit more like the first time?” he whispered huskily.
Swallowing, she nodded. Her head was spinning, but there was no way she could back out of this, not when she'd waited days for him and wanted him so badly. She didn't think she'd ever wanted anything as much as him, now. She kissed him softly, returning the tender caresses he'd offered her before. She fought her hands back from between them, and cupped his face between her hands, bracing herself against his hard chest.
“I love you,” she breathed, the words falling out without thought, and without, she found, regret. Still, she dropped her head into the crook of his neck and hid there. Cain sighed, before putting a hand on the back of her neck to guide her up to look at him again.
“I love you, too, DG.”
The princess kissed him then, because it was the only thing she knew was right to do. Their mouths locked, his tongue entering her mouth and spreading his familiar taste into her. He rolled them back over, his hips driving hers firmly into the bed. Her hands left his neck to shove his pants and shorts off his waist and down until she could hook them with her feet; she had them past his knees when he kicked them off.
He was braced up on one arm as his free hand began to explore her body in earnest. He stroked her heavily, dragging along her naked skin; when he met the obstruction of her bra, she helped him by unfastening it. After he pulled the lace away, he hadn't even dropped it before his mouth closed around her breast, gently tugging at her nipple, flicking over it with his tongue. DG moaned, bucking her hips up towards him, earning herself a groan from the Tin Man. His erection was rubbing over the wet fabric of her underwear, and when she pressed herself up into him again, his hand left her breast to grip her hip and push her into the bedspread.
“Please,” she whimpered as she found his eyes. Cain lowered his head to her shoulder, his mouth sucking at her neck as he pushed her panties to the side; positioning himself before her, he hooked her knee over the crook of his elbow and drove into her. His first thrusts were erratic, before he found a rhythm that she tried her best to follow, lifting against him, trying to pull him deeper every time he pushed back into her. His mouth continued its assault of her neck as her head fell back, her throat straining before him.
When she began to pant, he pushed at her free leg to straighten it, and then rolled them into their sides. The shift in position made DG cry out, as did the change in pace as he rocked his hips against her. It began to build low between her legs, and he felt her as her muscles began to tighten around him.
“Yes,” he hissed as her hand closed around his arm, fingernails digging into his bicep. “Come for me, DG.” Even at his words, it began to wash over her, as he rolled her onto her back again, yanking her leg up to drive deep. One more thrust and she was over the edge, clinging and shaking against him. His release came moments later, a shuddering cry and then a strangled whisper against her hair that might have been her name. Most of his weight pressed down on her, but she didn't care; her body was hot and sweaty and he covered all of her. When he lifted himself away and fell to the bed beside her, he was trembling.
“You're gonna be the death of me, Kid,” he groaned with a chuckle, as his hand slid over her stomach and grabbed her hip to pull her against him. She snuggled into his chest, ignoring the tickle on her nose against the hair under her cheek. He didn't say anymore to her, as he tried to regain his breath. His heart pounded to the point where she could almost feel it beating against his ribs with her fingertips.
“Did you really mean what you said?” she asked him, worried after a while that he'd fallen asleep.
He grunted a response. “You're gonna have to be a little more specific, Darlin'.”
She lifted up on an elbow to look at him. “That when you're finished doing what you need to do, you're all mine.”
Wyatt's blue eyes opened to lock onto hers. “'Course I meant that, DG, or else I wouldn't of said it.”
She was hesitant to ask her next question, and it took a moment for the words to form. The fingers of her free hand traced idly on his stomach. “Does that mean you'll be my bodyguard, and go with me wherever I go?”
Cain sighed, and reached out to take her fidgety hand. He entangled their fingers, squeezing slightly. “I'd like to be a lot more than that to you, Princess. And you know I'm always goin' where you go, as long as you're honest with me about what you know.”
He meant the Emerald; he meant the fight with the lieutenant on the ridge; he meant the fact that she'd let outlander go without telling him why. She was asking so much from him, and she hadn't yet found the time to tell him why she needed him. But... in her defense, he'd left before she really could.
“I can be honest if you are, too,” she whispered. Cain nodded at her, his gaze boring deep into her. In those cool eyes she could see the reaches of his devotion for her, and it frightened her, but she didn't pull away, look away.
“Go get cleaned up, Sweetheart,” he said softly. “Take a bath, I'll wait for you in the sitting room. I'm startin' to wonder where that bodyguard of yours is.”
DG found herself laughing. “I told you, he's no match for me. Just think, I was able to sneak away and was accosted by a stranger, and ravaged,” she said teasingly. “Such lax security around the princess.” She clucked her tongue disapprovingly.
Cain grunted as he sat up, cocking an eyebrow at her as he went. “Get into the tub, DG. As amazin' as the sight of you naked is, you need to get cleaned up. We can talk when you're done.”
She moaned as she rolled away from him, tossing him his pants when she reached the edge of the bed. “But what if I like smelling like you, Tin Man?”
Cain growled low in his throat. “Not the way I'd like people to find out about us, DG.” He stood up as he put his pants back on. She stood as well, and peeled off the soaked underwear she still wore. She'd have to take them to the bathroom and give them a rinse before she let the laundry have them.
Damn, she thought with a smirk, I need to get him out of those pants more often. Turning away before she got anymore brilliant ideas, she sauntered naked to the bathroom, knowing without looking back that he watched every step she took.
Table of Contents:
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