So anyone with the title of lord is a good match. From there, you have several mages who would also be good. Some powerful with coveted abilities, some rich that don’t have or don’t want a lordship.”
“I’ll just go find a healer since I can’t seem to heal myself. That would make a fine mating. We can spend our days growing old in perfect condition.”
“No healer will want you,” Lotis replied, missing the flippancy in Amelie’s tone.
Amelie drew her eyebrows together. “Why not? I can heal just as well as the next mage, half human or not.”
“Because a mating is a joining of powers. After you go through the magical binding ceremony of marriage, you take on one another’s power when you mate. A healer would gain little since he already heals. He’d only gain your lesser power.”
Amelie bit her lip. Healing was her lesser power. She didn’t know how many people beyond the White Guard and the queen knew of her persuasive powers.
Lotis sighed. “That’s why I’m not allowed to mate. The joining of powers strengthens the mages but when the power is used, both mages feel it. Soulguards are forbidden to mate since using the power means killing your mate as well as sacrificing yourself. A soulguard may be willing to give up her own soul, but not her mate’s. They were letting their charges die.”
“That’s terrible!” Amelie exclaimed and immediately thought about her mother. The more time she spent learning about mage ways, the more she understood her mother. What helplessness she must have felt serving Princess Elmeda. No wonder she was always obsessed with power, determined to give her daughter what she was denied.
“It’s all right with me,” Lotis assured her, smiling shyly. “We still fall in love. We just never go through the binding ceremony. But you will mate well. Word is more mages are attending the White Court Ball than ever. And I know it’s because they want to see the half human for themselves. We’ll find you a wealthy, powerful, unattached mage. Mark my words.”
Amelie turned, interrupting Lotis in her work. “Like Simon.”
The idea came to her suddenly and lifted her spirits. She was already in love with Simon in the eyes of everyone around her. She could suffer through these dinners next to him while working out a plan to get out of this mess. They didn’t actually have to mate.
Lotis mistook the gleam in Amelie’s eye for infatuation with the gatekeeper.
“Oh, you are smitten,” she said, giggling. “He is a good looking mage. Women have been trying to land him for years but he’s determined to remain unmated. It will be a feat if you finally break his rogue ways.”
Amelie’s eyebrows rose in surprise. This was news to her. Yes, she had noted his age when she first arrived in this realm. In her own kingdom a man of his maturity was already settled by now, even the soldiers who were often the last to do so. However, she hadn’t thought to question it. Everything had been too new, too sudden, there was too much information to absorb.
“Indeed,” Amelie murmured in response. “Indeed it will.”
Chapter 14
Talon
Talon fingered the brown curl, inspecting the hair as if it might produce a name. Remnants of ale still clouded his mind. With a small sigh, he dropped it back onto her bare shoulder. The action caused her to stir and she turned her sleepy face to look up at him.
“Hmmm,” she purred. “You’re up.”
He managed a smile. “That I am.”
“If you still have some more of that milkseed drink, we can continue what we had last night.”
“It was the last of my supply,” Talon lied. “And since you and I only just met, it would be unwise to risk bringing a child into this world together.”
She laughed lazily. “I don’t know. You are very handsome.”
So the ale still had its effect on her as well, it seemed.
“A beautiful child is still a lot of work and dedication,” Talon replied dryly, pushing up from the bed. She
“I’ll just go find a healer since I can’t seem to heal myself. That would make a fine mating. We can spend our days growing old in perfect condition.”
“No healer will want you,” Lotis replied, missing the flippancy in Amelie’s tone.
Amelie drew her eyebrows together. “Why not? I can heal just as well as the next mage, half human or not.”
“Because a mating is a joining of powers. After you go through the magical binding ceremony of marriage, you take on one another’s power when you mate. A healer would gain little since he already heals. He’d only gain your lesser power.”
Amelie bit her lip. Healing was her lesser power. She didn’t know how many people beyond the White Guard and the queen knew of her persuasive powers.
Lotis sighed. “That’s why I’m not allowed to mate. The joining of powers strengthens the mages but when the power is used, both mages feel it. Soulguards are forbidden to mate since using the power means killing your mate as well as sacrificing yourself. A soulguard may be willing to give up her own soul, but not her mate’s. They were letting their charges die.”
“That’s terrible!” Amelie exclaimed and immediately thought about her mother. The more time she spent learning about mage ways, the more she understood her mother. What helplessness she must have felt serving Princess Elmeda. No wonder she was always obsessed with power, determined to give her daughter what she was denied.
“It’s all right with me,” Lotis assured her, smiling shyly. “We still fall in love. We just never go through the binding ceremony. But you will mate well. Word is more mages are attending the White Court Ball than ever. And I know it’s because they want to see the half human for themselves. We’ll find you a wealthy, powerful, unattached mage. Mark my words.”
Amelie turned, interrupting Lotis in her work. “Like Simon.”
The idea came to her suddenly and lifted her spirits. She was already in love with Simon in the eyes of everyone around her. She could suffer through these dinners next to him while working out a plan to get out of this mess. They didn’t actually have to mate.
Lotis mistook the gleam in Amelie’s eye for infatuation with the gatekeeper.
“Oh, you are smitten,” she said, giggling. “He is a good looking mage. Women have been trying to land him for years but he’s determined to remain unmated. It will be a feat if you finally break his rogue ways.”
Amelie’s eyebrows rose in surprise. This was news to her. Yes, she had noted his age when she first arrived in this realm. In her own kingdom a man of his maturity was already settled by now, even the soldiers who were often the last to do so. However, she hadn’t thought to question it. Everything had been too new, too sudden, there was too much information to absorb.
“Indeed,” Amelie murmured in response. “Indeed it will.”
Chapter 14
Talon
Talon fingered the brown curl, inspecting the hair as if it might produce a name. Remnants of ale still clouded his mind. With a small sigh, he dropped it back onto her bare shoulder. The action caused her to stir and she turned her sleepy face to look up at him.
“Hmmm,” she purred. “You’re up.”
He managed a smile. “That I am.”
“If you still have some more of that milkseed drink, we can continue what we had last night.”
“It was the last of my supply,” Talon lied. “And since you and I only just met, it would be unwise to risk bringing a child into this world together.”
She laughed lazily. “I don’t know. You are very handsome.”
So the ale still had its effect on her as well, it seemed.
“A beautiful child is still a lot of work and dedication,” Talon replied dryly, pushing up from the bed. She
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