The Sorcerer's Bride 26 Asrar's Secre

Hazel had a naïve air about her. She talked in a way that left Zylvia with the impression of a romantic. As for physical appearances the word cute would sum her up pretty well. While she was a little taller than Fayre, she would still be considered pet.i.te, and she had thick brown hair and doe-like brown eyes.

She seemed a lot more relaxed now and almost used to the energetic queen. No one had brought up magic, of course. They had decided to let the girl settle in before that culture shock.

It was about time for dinner now, and Zylvia felt rather hungry. Luckily for her, Fayre seemed to think the same thing, "Why don't we go eat dinner now? After all Zylv hasn't eaten in the last few hours."

Zylvia shook her head helplessly, "Neither have you or the little princess."

"Well, yes, but I'm not there one who gets snappy if she doesn't eat regularly." Fayre laughed, "I don't really know about Hazel of course."

Hazel smiled at their friendly quipping as they left the room. Zylvia was not too surprised to see Hazel's knight, Asrar, waiting for them. He gave off the vibe of a devoted servant.

Hazel brightened up instantly upon seeing him, and her face lit up with a smile. She walked over to him and started chattering incessantly at him. Watching her, Zylvia had the strange feeling that the young princess had a bit of a crush on the stoic knight. The knight for his part listened to her with a humoring smile and occasionally interjected.

Jayesh joined them for dinner, and immediately wrapped an arm around his queen. As they were sitting they had Asrar join them at the table. Zylvia found it rather hard to get a reading on the quiet man. While Hazel was talkative and rather bubbly, he hardly spoke and seemed more reserved. Perhaps that was just how knights were trained in Amriel, though.

Zylvia's husband joined them a little later and sat beside of her, ruffling her hair with a smile as he did so. She noticed that he was starting to do that a lot, and also that she rather liked it.

She glanced at his plate and frowned. He had hardly grabbed anything. Standing up, she went and grabbed another plate, filling it up, and then sat back down. Kaldrek had a slightly confused look on his face now and opened his mouth to speak.

Using her fork, she stuffed a mouthful of food into his mouth, "Eat."

Kaldrek chewed and swallowed the food, "Zylv, I am perfectly capable of feeding myself."

She looked at his plate pointedly, "Apparently not."

Taking his fork he sc.r.a.ped about half of the food she had just gotten unto his plate, "There. Better?"

She tilted her head for a second, "Fine. I'll let you get by with that much."

As she turned away she noticed that everyone was staring at them. Both Jayesh and Fayre were grinning, Hazel's eyes had widened, and Asrar seemed totally unconcerned.

Before either of their two monarchs could say anything though, Hazel suddenly screamed and jumped out of her chair staring at the table. Everyone else was completely bewildered by her sudden frantic escape. Well, except for her knight who very calmly leaned over and slapped a hand onto the part of the table she was staring at.

"Is it dead?" Hazel was trembling uncontrollably.

"Yes, my princess."

Noticing how everyone was staring at her confused, the princess blushed. "Umm...sorry about that. Spider. I can't stand them." She sat back down, trying to hide her face.

"Well," Fayre said. "They do look pretty nasty, don't they?"

Hazel nodded, obviously relieved that no one was making fun of her. After that incident the rest of the meal went by smoothly.

After finis.h.i.+ng eating, Hazel yawned and decided to retire for the night. Her knight of course followed her.

"So what did you think of the princess?" Jayesh squeezed Fayre's shoulder.

"She seemed nice enough. I'm not so sure about her knight though, he's a little bit too quiet." Fayre frowned.

Kaldrek suddenly laughed, "Personally, I feel sorry for him."

Jayesh stared at his best friend with exasperation, "Kaldrek, why are you laughing? Is it really so amusing that he's a knight?"

"Of Amriel? Yes. Poor thing's a sorcerer. No wonder he's quiet, he is in a rather tricky situation after all." Kaldrek shook his head, "I wouldn't tell the princess of course, who knows how she would react."

"Yeah... that does seem like something that she might not handle well," Fayre shook her head.

Zylvia felt a little shocked to hear this. The guy didn't look like a sorcerer. Didn't sorcerer's have physical manifestations of there bloodline such as Kaldrek's ears. But he didn't unless...she remembered the knights eyes, the golden flecks in them. That might be it she supposed. She wondered though how Kaldrek had been able to recognize what he was.

She decided to ask Kaldrek about it as they were going to bed. "Hmm...oh, anyone with gold flecked eyes like that is definetely a sorcerer." Kaldrek yawned. "Its one of the possible signs of a fairly well doc.u.mented and old bloodline."

Zylvia looked at her sleepy husband. He seemed to be struggling to keep his eyes open, "You need rest. Sleep" She wrapped her arms around him and crooned a lullaby into his ear until he drifted off to sleep. After he was asleep she nestled closer to him and let his heartbeat lure her to sleep.