The fire crackled and roared in the large, stone fireplace taking some of the chill from the early morning. The slate floor was warmed more by the heavy tapestries hung around the room. Velvet curtains were tied back, opening the different living areas of the vast chamber into one space. The sunken tub in the corner steamed and bubbled gently while she soaked herself, trying in vain to banish the cares and worries that tormented her mind.
She'd been up all night yet again pouring over charts and drawings, spells and incantations, old stories and wisdoms yet she was still without hope of breaking the enchantment that held her enthralled. She was a strong woman and had never succumbed to this sort of torture before. She'd never allowed herself to be controlled by anyone, however benign the influence was intended to be. On the contrary, she was the one responsible for the bewitching of those whom she chose to be near, though not always intentionally. She dragged her fingers gently across the surface of her bath water, tracing the bubbles and trying to focus on their shape rather than the knot she felt growing in her stomach.
Her hair, dampened by the steam from her bath hung around her face, framing it gently. The air in her chambers, though warmed by the fire was still cool and through the tower window she could see the moon beginning its slow decent into the west, signaling the end of another sleepless night. He'd be here soon as he always was, and she would drift into a spiraling seductive dance with him, powerless to stop it and, at the same time, grateful to let it happen. She felt the knot in her stomach grow as she remembered his dark eyes piercing her and her pulse quickened. And then she had a thought.
She sprang from the tub still dripping and not caring to dry as she flung the silk robe around her shoulders and shoved her arms into it. She tied the knot roughly around her waist as the fabric clung to her dripping, lithe body. She made her way across the stones of her chamber floor to the table nearest the fire, covered in scrolls and her gazing ball. Her fingers dragged across the ball's surface more from habit than from a specific need and the fog held within it swirled about. She pulled out an old chart she'd nearly forgotten and smoothed it across the surface of the table. The symbols and lines connected in the circle on the center of the page began to shimmer as she looked at it, almost as if they were taunting her with the answer she could not see. It had been a long time since she'd read a chart like this and she scolded herself silently for forgetting to use such a rudimentary tool.
A drop of water lazily rolled down her cheek, pausing on her chin as if afraid to fall away from her pale, soft skin. It glistened in the full moonlight that spilled across the table top, unobstructed by the candlelight keeping the rest of the room aglow. As it fell, she looked up. A chill ran across her skin and her chest ached; her heart could not decide if it should beat faster or simply stop altogether. The droplet seemed to fall in slow motion, smearing the old ink as it landed on the chart. She couldn't worry about that now though for the chamber door was creaking slowly open. He'd arrived.
She wanted to move, wanted to turn to face him or find a way out of the room, anything but stand motionless where she was now, yet she could not will the muscles in her body to move.
His footsteps were inaudible. He must have drifted across the chamber floor, held aloft by some magic she'd not yet discovered and then he was there, at her back, touching her shoulder with his hands gently. The silk, still clinging to her wet body, slid across her shoulder pushed away by his soft touch. Her pulse quickened…
