Darling by Claudia D. Christian Page A

them. She shivered before steam quickly appeared to take the
chill off the stone floor. Cassandra’s bare toes wiggled in
appreciation. Stopping at the bathing pool’s edge, she waited
for Lenore to finish preparing the bath.

    “Did Lord
Constantine appear in good health?”

    “Of course,
Mistress. As if our lord could appear any other way.”

    Although sharp,
Lenore’s words lacked bite. Cassandra ducked her head
regardless. “I meant…did he appear…content?”
She held her arms out so Lenore could slip off her dressing gown.
“Did he…”

    “You will be
pleased to see your lord, Mistress Cassandra.” She removed the
much younger girl’s fine underclothing with fingers as deft as
the words cutting into Cassandra’s graceless query.

    “I am so happy
Lord Constantine is here.” She clasped her hands over her bosom
and made her way into the pool. “I wonder if he will stay
long.”

    “How can he
resist his Beloved?”

    “Not yet,”
Cassandra stopped and corrected with frown. Petulance tugged at her
full mouth. “I am not his Beloved yet.”

    “Officially.
Everyone in the kingdom knows you are to be his.”

    Pleasure dusted her
cheeks. Cassandra met Lenore’s eerie obsidian stare. “I
am so very lucky, aren’t I?”

    “That you are.
Lord Constantine is a fine choice, Mistress. A very fine choice
indeed.” Lenore nudged Cassandra forward. “We must hurry,
Mistress. Time is flowing now and we do not want to keep your lord
waiting any more than we need.”

    Cassandra placed her
fingertips on Lenore’s arm for support and sat down.
Automatically leaning forward, she gave into the soothing strokes of
Lenore’s strong hand on her back. Her speech momentarily lost
its formal edge, rushing forward in a girlish peal of excitement.

    “I can’t
wait to see him. It’s been so long and yet not long at all. I
can’t imagine what time must feel like in the human world.”

    “It is a much
darker place than here. Time moves too quickly, turning pretty things
like yourself into dust. Tragic.”

    Cassandra glanced at
the window. Stretching from floor to ceiling, it gave her a
magnificent view of Constantine’s glittering kingdom. “Have
you ever been there, Lenore?”

    She scrubbed one arm
and then the other before answering. “I have.”

    “Is it as
beautiful as this?”

    “No. Too much
light. Lift your leg, Mistress. That’s a good girl.”

    “I cannot
imagine losing the moonlight for even a moment.” Cassandra
scrambled out the pool, ignoring Lenore’s stern commands to
return. She pressed against the glass, ignorant to the immodesty of
her impetuous actions. “I never want to go back there. I love
this world, I love you, and I love Lord Constantine! I love you all!”

    “Mistress
Cassandra! What would your lord say at seeing your behavior? Anyone
with a mind could see you naked as the day you were given to Lord
Constantine.” Lenore firmly took hold of Cassandra’s
raised arm, careful to keep from bruising it unintentionally.

    “Forgive me. I
do not know what came over me.” She giggled once before
dutifully suppressing it. The other woman’s heavy frowns made
Cassandra feel quite the imp. She looked over her shoulder while
Lenore led her back to the bath and tried to imagine a dimension
trapped by broken night. It was terrible.

    “Lenore?”

    She waited until
Cassandra re-entered the pool before answering. “Yes,
Mistress?” Unsure if her charge would bolt again, Lenore
summoned a water stream and thoroughly doused Cassandra’s dark
hair.

    “I will never
have to go back there, will I?”

    Long, capable
fingers paused in the midst of massaging Cassandra’s scalp.
“You are Lord Constantine’s Beloved. You will be the
mother of his Half-Blood children. Your place is here.”

    “Do you think
he will ever send me away?”

    “Mistress,
your fears are unfounded.” She piled the sudsy mass up high on
top of Cassandra’s head before cleaning her dainty ears.