My Solemn Oath

Chapter 5

Anora

William passed down the corridor, his feet pounding the floor, and I watched him scowling as he descended the great stairs to the floor below. His guard went with him, both of them moving in haste so much that they ruffled the tapestries as they passed each one. I peeked down the dim passage where the king's chambers stood open, voices lofting out to greet me. My stepmother, Lady Catherine, cried; I could hear her sniffles over the warm baritone vibrations of my father's voice.

I tiptoed that direction, hoping to hear what they were speaking about, but knowing they kept their voices quiet so as not to allow for eavesdropping. When I approached the door and hovered, leaning against the cool stone wall, Catherine called, "You may come in, Anora. The plaith has told us what your father has is not contagious."

Startled that she knew I was there, I straightened my skirt, brushed my hair back and entered the room. Father lay on the bed beneath the covers, his head wrapped in a bandage, his eyes sunken in. I could hear him wheezing with each breath, and I ached to run and fall up on his chest.

The chambermaids busied themselves with cleaning around the room, leaving Catherine to sit by his bedside and comfort him. I rushed to his side, but I blinked back my tears.

"Papa, oh look at you." I sat on the edge of his bed opposite my stepmother and took his hand. "What happened? Are you okay?"

He squeezed my hand, though his grasp was weaker than normal. His eyes slowly drifted to Catherine's face then back to mine. I cast a worried glance at her. She'd always been kind and loving to me, the way a real mother would be, and only after I learned last winter that she was not my mother but in fact my stepmother, did she treat me differently--more like a sister or friend than a daughter.

"Your father has had a stroke. William has called for the healers again, but we fear the sickness might take him sooner than the plaith predicted." Catherine took a wet cloth from his forehead and exchanged it for one out of a dish, squeezing excess water back into the dish. She draped it across his forehead and sighed. "It's time to prepare for the worst, Anora."

I couldn't look away from his eyes, forlorn and melancholy. "Father, it's not true. You're not dying. You must stay here. We need you."

"When the Lord decides I must go, then that is my time, Anora. Not before. You be brave for me. You are a strong young woman." He coughed and wheezed, and Catherine covered his mouth with a cloth. When she pulled it away I saw blood peppered the white linen.

Determined to make sure my father lived, I reached into my pocket where I held the soap I purchased in the market. Kari had told me that it was for healthy living, that the one who used the soap would be healthier. It was worth trying. If every plaith and healer in the city couldn't cure him, perhaps Kari and her soaps and lotions could. I would stop at nothing to save him.

"What's this?" Father narrowed his eyes as I held out the small package.

"It's soap, Papa. I had my chambermaid buy it in the market."

"It smells heavenly," Catherin cooed, taking it out of my hand. She held it to her nose and smiled. "Like honey and basil--" she sniffed again "--and a hint of peppermint."

I nodded. "I've used her hair growth shampoo and it really works." I bit my lip and winced as Catherine turned toward me. I'd wrestled with whether to let them know the soaps had a purpose, but the only way to be sure he tried it was to convince him that it could heal him. "I know what you're thinking, but I promise it works." I couldn't tell them of the aphrodisiac soap. It worked better than all the rest, but if I told them they'd ask me who had used it on me, or on whom I used it. I wasn't prepared for that conversation.

"And this one?" Father reached for it, taking it and holding it to his nose a moment. "What does it do?"

"The woman at the market told me it has healing properties. It is supposed to boost your immune system." I held my breath waiting for the lecture. Father was not someone to trifle with when it came to new things or mysterious things. I felt guilty sitting next to him just knowing I was searching for the witch.

"This woman, what did she look like?" Catherine took the soap back, untying the thread around it and unfolding the paper. She smelled it again, her brow knit.

"Oh, I don't know. She was just an old woman." I shrugged. I remembered vividly what she looked like. Those brilliant purple eyes and the way she had such beauty even though she was older. I'd found myself slightly attracted to her at the time, but I chalked that up to being upset with Isabel after the startling revelation that she had slept with that man.

"Yes, well, we can try it." Father smiled softly. "Run along now. You should have Isabel turn down your bed. We have a lot of preparation for the carnival. You'll need to sew your dress, and--" A coughing fit took him over, Catherine at the ready with the handkerchief. I waited until he was calm, then stood and pressed my lips to his forehead.

"I love you, Papa. We are not letting you die. We will find a way." I slipped out, but once in the hallway I hovered, listening to Catherine's voice as she spoke to him.

"It has to be."

"You shall not speak her name in this room. Do you hear me?"

"But William, she could save you." I heard emotions in Catherine's tone, sadness, but I heard anger in my fathers.

"That witch will never set foot in my castle again."

I wondered what he could mean. Kari wasn't a witch. She was an old woman who made soaps. I pondered the accusation while I walked back to my room. My mind got lost in a forest of thoughts, sprouting up like threes that branched out into other thoughts. When I shut the door behind me in my room, I was so distracted I hardly noticed Isabel standing there. She cleared her throat and I looked straight at her, noticing her naked body.

"It's been a while..." She smirked but the more I stared at her blankly, the more her smirk faded. "Is everything okay?"

I shook my head, pushing away from the door and walking to my vanity. I sat on the small, cushioned seat, staring into the mirror. Isabel came behind me and set a vial of lotion on the right side of the vanity. I tried to untie my gown but the laces got lost in a tangle of my hair and Isabel was there, sorting it out for me.

"What happened?" she asked, untying the laces to my dress. She folded the back open and pushed it forward over my shoulders so I could pull my arms out. I loved that she felt so comfortable being nude around me, but I wasn't in the mood to be with her in that way right now. Not only was my father taking a turn for the worse, but now I believed that I may have found the witch inadvertently and lost my chance to ask her about healing my father.

"Nothing." I didn't want Isabel to know. She would impose her own opinion on my thoughts and right now I was already overwhelmed as it was.

"Well I'm here to help you." I felt the strings to my corset loosen and her fingers smooth the rough material away from my skin. She kissed the top of my bare shoulder and pushed my dress down farther in front. When she was aggressive like this, there was no denying her, and part of me wanted to find comfort in her arms.

"The door..." My eyes flicked to the door I'd left unlocked. It was far too dangerous that she was even naked in my room, let alone leave the door unlocked while we frolicked. Especially with able-bodied Catherine just down the hall.

Isabel tiptoed to the door and slid the bolt across the latch, effectively locking the door. Her body was pure, unstained by scars or markings. Not like mine. The creaminess of her complexion was interrupted only by the pink of her nipples and the deepening redness between her legs. She turned and offered a seductive look as she walked back to me.

"I will lie with you because you desire it, but I'm not in the mood." I turned on the velvet cushion and faced her. The dress hung around my waist, the front of my corset hanging low to expose my breasts.

"Then I will use the lotion I purchased for us. It will help you." She picked up the vial and uncorked it, tipping it up to tap a dollop out onto her palm. She settled on her knees between my legs as she placed the vial back on the vanity. The way her dark hair draped over her shoulders hiding her breasts from me was attractive.

"My father is dying, Isabel, and I'm breaking his laws. More than one of them." My heart gave a pang as she rubbed her hands together, spreading the lotion on both palms, the placed her palms on my chest. She rubbed the lotion around, down over my breasts, squeezing and twisting my nipples and playfully biting her lip.

"Your father's laws are controlling and overbearing. The very magic he wants to stop is what could save his life. It's what will save his life."

"And this--" I pointed at her then myself "--what is this?"

"This is love, and it is freedom. It is enjoyment and relaxation, and it is most of all a right that all women should have."

She cupped my breast, the lotion absorbed into my skin, and then lowered her mouth to it, taking my nipple in her mouth. She bit down gently and I hissed, grabbing her shoulders. The way she drew circles around my nipple made electricity sizzle across my skin. I shuddered, feeling the lotion's effects already taking hold. My groin ached, and I clenched instinctively. The arousal lotion and soap seemed to work every time... like magic.

I wanted to dive into that thought, pursue it until I had decided whether I thought Kari was really the witch, but Isabel's hand slid between my body and my garments, pushing them lower. She stood, taking my hand, and tugged at the material until it was stuck around my waist. So I helped her with pushing it down to the floor. I stepped out of it, leaving my shoes beneath the pile, and followed her to the bed she'd already turned down.

"You believe women should have this right. To be open about their love." She climbed on the bed and pulled me after her and we tumbled to the mattress.

"I believe it should not be for any man anywhere to decide whom I love and whom I choose to pleasure." Her fingers traced over the peak of my breast, across my naval to the moisture between my legs. They found the nub where all of my nerves came to an apex, screaming to be touched, and she massaged it, drawing her fingers in a circle. "I believe, I want to pleasure you, and for you to do the same to me."

I nodded. Though I had entered this room with nothing of the sort on my mind, the lotion had done its job and now my body would not be satisfied until she brought me to climax. I kissed her hard, tangling my tongue around hers in a wicked dance. She pushed me down onto the bed but I fought back, groping her breast and spreading my legs for her to touch me. When she straddled my right leg and lifted my left, I felt our moisture meet in an electrifying intensity, her lips pressed against mine.

The heat of her body smearing against mine made the ache inside of me worse. I wanted her inside of me somehow, to be filled and to feel release. The way she ground her nether region against mine was exquisite; her juices smeared around mine puddling and making a mess between us until I was so stirred up I thought I might scream.

"Gods be praised, Isa, I want release... I want to feel good."

Isabel smirked at me and lifted her leg up, turning her arse toward my face and backing up. She bent low and kissed my thigh, trailing kisses upward until her tongue sank between my lips. I groaned, grabbing her thighs and pulling her backward until my face was buried in her valley. She tasted like sweet nectar and salty caramel. I pushed my tongue into her body, drawing it along her slit and drinking her in.

Every cell in my being was alive with arousal. My privates burned and demanded satisfaction. I licked her harder, faster, raking my teeth across her lips and pulling her thighs apart to enjoy her more fully. Her hole dripped with more goodness which I sucked off of her before plunging my tongue into it again and again.

"Oh god... in me... put something I me," she panted, backing up against me then returning her mouth to my pleasure zone. I felt her fingers thrust into me and I whimpered. I was close to reaching climax and I could barely concentrate on what I was doing.

My uncoordinated movements had me pushing fingers into her body, she groaned against my flesh, and when my body started to spasm, clenching around her fingers, I pushed harder with mine, realizing I sank them into her arse. She screamed as I pushed them in and then instant met me in release. I sucked her furiously as my fingers stretched her back hole, and she plunged more fingers into my source of moisture until I felt the whole world could hear our lovemaking.

Damp with sweat and my body still very tender and aroused, she climbed off of me. I drew my arm across my face, wiping away the evidence of her sex on my chin, and she lay down next to me, knowing I wasn't finished. "You liked it, didn't you?" She snuggled up close, pressing her body against the length of mine. Her breast brushed mine and sent a shockwave of desire through me. When she used the lotion, once was never enough for me.

I nodded, leaning up to kiss her. I tasted myself and her together on her tongue and groaned as her hand slid over my mound and two fingers hooked inside my valley. Her fingers worked methodically between my legs as her lips devoured my moans. Each thrust made me hungrier, the way she found the tiny spot inside me that needed touched every single time.

"It's happening... oh god be praised... do it again." I felt the spasms build low in my groin and reach out across my stomach until I was grunting into her mouth. She swallowed my screams and pushed her fingers into me so deep I thought she would touch my unborn children. I bucked and writhed, but her hand stayed fixed to my body until the waves of climax slowed, and my heartrate began to steady.

"Now, tell me that is wrong... that your father's law should be obeyed above what you feel." She kissed me again, licking a morsel of her own moisture from my cheek. Isabel relaxed into the bed next to me and lay down, pulling the quilt up over us.

"Stay with me." I turned to face her, tangling our legs together.

"Oh, you know I can't do that. If I did, and your brother happened to collect the key from your father or the chief rolt, you'd be found out. We'd both have our heads--"

"Enough." I heaved a sigh. I hated my father's laws. "I understand. Just promise me you're not going to have stew tonight."

Isabel looked irritated and scowled at me. "What I eat for dinner when I am away from the castle is my business." Her face softened, and she kissed me gently. "But you've already satisfied that need. Thank you."

She dressed and left quickly, leaving me to dress myself and put out my own candles. At times I thought to ask my father for a new chambermaid, one who would do their duty and not make me do everything. But I'd be lost without Isabel.

I curled up in the darkness and pulled the quilt over my shoulders. The room was cold without a warm body in bed with me.

Chapter 6

Winter

I didn't have to open my eyes to know the tea hadn't helped Harvard relax a bit. I felt the full coat of fur on his body beneath the covers and sighed. When I blinked my eyes open and they adjusted to the light, I saw his elongated nose, canine teeth protruding from a raised lip. He whimpered, growling and twitching in his sleep as if he were dreaming. He'd been agitated all night, tossing and turning. I had to get another blanket from the chest just to cover myself. His sharp claws had torn a hole right down the middle of this one.

I folded the blanket back and slipped out of bed, padding softly to where my pantaloons and dressing gown lay. I felt refreshed and renewed, but my body ached in places that shouldn't ache, courtesy of Harvard's knot and the rough way he penetrated me last night. Yawning, I tugged my dress on over my head and tied the string, then looked into my mirror to do something with my hair. I shocked myself, forgetting that I had allowed my true appearance to return.

Bold purple eyes stared back at me, a smile that reached them stretching across my face. The silver hair that had crowned my head had weathered many a day, split ends and breakage that caused my younger appearance to look less groomed than it had when the aging spell was in place. I would remedy that later with a quick trim, and the raven color would return soon enough.

I tied my hair back, plaiting it and using a leather cord to tie it off, then stepped into my shoes and tiptoed out, letting Harvard continue sleeping. If I awakened him now, he'd demand to be satisfied. I knew how he was. When the beast in him came out the visceral need for dominance and satisfaction grew worse. The tea tempered that, leaving him with a normal sex drive, but the shift made it impossible for him to control it. He became as a wild animal, and I was the only method of release for him.

Knowing this, I headed to the pantry and to collect a basket and a knife. His tea wasn't strong enough. It was time to increase the dosage, and I would need more supplies from the garden to do that. The basket was hidden away behind a silver pothos plant, left on the shelf when I harvested its leaves for my silver tincture which I used in my healing soaps. Each plant had a purpose and a reason, but the ones I needed weren't in my house.

I listened for a moment before stepping out the front door. I heard his yips and snores and knew he was still dreaming. It was only a matter of time before he awakened and the closer I was to having the tea finished, the better.

It was a chilly morning. Dew clung to blades of grass and spiders' webs, glistening in the sun that peaked through the trees. I hugged my arms over my chest, wishing I'd brought my wrap with me to maintain my body heat. As I strolled toward the garden, I noticed the bathing trough was full, likely because Harvard assumed I would like a bath when I got home yesterday, but I'd stopped by the stream to wash. I would have to thank him for that kindness. I stooped by the trough and snapped my fingers, bringing a flame to life that kissed the tinder there and ignited the oak logs. By the time I was finished collecting my herbs and setting my tea, the bath would be warm enough to wash up.

I passed the pasture where Jarek was grazing. He nickered at me and snorted as I passed, and I winked at him. "Not today, old friend." He snorted playfully, clawing at the earth with a hoof, and I rolled my eyes at him. Every male of their species was so needy; the damn horse was no different.

A breeze kicked up, knocking a few leaves loose from the tree. Sturgeon Moon was nearly complete, and we'd enter Full Corn Moon soon. The rains would come, and the landscape would appear barren for a time. My journeys to the city would be limited then, and life would slow down until the first shoots of tender grass poked through the blanket of snow left by Mother Nature on the mountain side. I sighed, nearing the garden's edge. I wasn't ready to be shut into my cabin for moons at a time.

Rounding the corner to enter my garden, I noticed Harvard had been at work, weeding and clearing the rows of plants out to make room for me to work. He was thoughtful like that. It was one way that he served me in exchange for me taking care of him. I stooped to pince a wilted leaf off a tomato plant and smiled at how our care for each other resembled an old married couple. Anyone who happened up on our house thought as much, though we both knew how different we were.

I knelt next to the thyme, snipping several stalks and placing them in my basket. Then I made my way to the sunnier side of the garden where my tea plants grew in full sun, the dew mostly dried off of them now. I harvested several handfuls of tea leaves, placing them in the basket with the thyme. In the far corner of the garden, a hundred paces or more away, grew my fruit trees, pomegranate and apple, both the active agents to maintaining the shift. Thyme, apple, pomegranate, combined with my source of power were the governor to Harvard's curse. They tempered most magic when combined correctly.