"2565-86" - читать интересную книгу автора (Warlady 1 - 2565 Ad Book 2)2565 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Book Two Chapter Forty Three I carefully adjusted Black Lady's dual fuel injectors on the eight cylinder engine as one of Darlanis' own warrioresses watched the dual vacuum gauges there on the instrument panel for me. The plane being carefully tied down to stakes driven into the ground as the engine roared out at full power before me, the whirling deadly propeller only a foot from my hip blowing my hair out like a flag and whipping up a tornado of dust that rose like a mist there over the bay. Two other warrioresses were posted close by to keep the idle curious away. The fact that I was a "Queen" who would "get her hands dirty" astounded everyone! Dar- lanis was now off making another political speech somewhere, the beautiful regal Empress of California greatly enjoying the adora- tion of the crowds that now instantly gathered wherever she went. Our original mission to fly to Dularn and bring an end to the warfare between the Empire and Dularn had been momentarily for- gotten in the excitement of Sarn's new unbelievable "Revolution"! I had adjusted the timing, cleaned the fuel system out, and had installed a "belly" tank below the fuselage that now in- creased the range of the plane by fifty percent. And now that I had gotten the fuel injection finally adjusted properly, my range had increased to an awesome eighteen hundred miles in theory, al- though I would never attempt to make such a long flight in prac- tice. It is said that there are "bold" pilots and "old" pilots. I tend to be as a rule to be numbered among the latter. (Most of the time anyway!) I now actually had enough "fuel capacity" to fly the length of the Empire itself without needing to refuel! I made a quick chopping motion with my hand to the warrio- ress there in the cockpit, the woman staring at me for a second before she realized that I wanted her to push the throttle back in to an idle! While Darlanis' fighting women were brave enough in battle, I had encountered a bit of trouble in getting one to sit in the cockpit and monitor the instrument panel while I worked on the engine. The first woman I had tried had simply sat there terrified and had been utterly useless to me. This one, however, at least was willing to carry out my orders, although I don't think she really thought too much of the idea either. Per- haps fearing with good reason that the ropes might possibly break and she could end up flying up into the air all by herself! "That's it," I told the woman, pulling the packing out of my ears that I had used to stand the noise of the engine, reaching in and turning off the key and then placing it in my pouch fixed to my weapons belt. While it wasn't too likely that anyone would have been able to get the engine started, even so I was careful to take precautions against anything happening. Three armed war- rioresses being stationed at all times by it to keep anyone from tampering with it! Princess Tara might yet just be around! We thought she had now fled the area, but one can never be too sure! "There is much magic here, your majesty," the woman said, her voice showing a bit of the awe she felt towards me. While she was of high caste, being of the Warrioresses, still actually sitting in an airplane must have been the sort of experience that she would be telling her children for years to come. The glit- tering gold of her neck chain there just above her chain mail left little doubt that she was doubtlessly a mother. There are few childless "career" women in the 26th Century. Motherhood is generally considered the proper status for all married women af- ter they wear the gold chain of a wife of more than three years. "Science, not magic," I smiled back. There is a difference. "There is a trio of ships from Trelandar, your majesty!" the warrioress announced, now a bit out of breath from her run as I cleaned my hands of the grease. I had rather expected that there would be. I had sent the fastest ship we had to Trella. "Two big galleys and a schooner, a big one!" I expected that one of the galleys was the Janis, and the big schooner would be the Squala. No doubt the other galley was Sarnian Lady now being re- turned to Darlanis by my request. It was, after all, her ship. "Have someone find Darlanis and tell her to expect guests," I answered with a smile. I was sure that she would want to know! "I heard of your latest exploit," Jon said to me as I wel- comed him with open arms. "Standing off an entire Imperial Le- gion!" The handsome dark haired naval officer being the sort of a man that any red-blooded woman would be happy to married to. As my Prince-Consort he had been helping Sanda and Gayle run things in Trelandar while I helped Darlanis here in Sarn. I had merely taken a copy of the Trelandarian Constitution and changed "Trelandar" to "Sarn" where needed for Sarn's new Constitution. "All I had to do was bluff Tara," I smiled back in his arms. It much pleased me to be so held. To be "his woman" before all. Little Mara and Ta-she-ra were there watching. I was very close to Ta-she-ra, but Mara still seemed a bit "distant" from me at times. I suspected that she remembered Lana. It would take time for me to break down those "barriers". Become part of her life. "And you certainly did it from what I hear!" he laughed in return, sweeping me up in his arms and giving me a good kiss be- fore everyone. "You are really some woman!" Later I would tell him how scared I had been then, but this wasn't the time for it. "I had to tell Sharon the truth about Darlanis," Jon said to me as we laid together, his fingertip gently caressing my nipple. "She had been hearing too many rumors there in Trella for me to lie about what had happened there fifteen years ago," he added, his dark eyes looking into mine as I nodded in reply, understand- ing what it must have been like for him to tell her the truth!!! "I hope she took it well," I answered, concerned as to how she had reacted. Darlanis was not the "fantasy heroine" that my stepdaughter had tried to make her out to be. She was a woman of the 26th Century. A "barbarian" by 20th Century standards. It would have been a hard blow for Sharon to realize that Darlanis "was" the same woman who had ordered the deaths of innocent women and children in the conquest of Trelandar fifteen years ago! On the other hand Darlanis certainly wasn't any worse than those in the Vietnam war who had called down "air strikes" on villages when they received hostile fire from those same villages. War is not "civilized". I hoped that Jon had been able to explain that! "She said that she had `a lot of questions' for Darlanis to answer and that Darlanis `had better have some answers for them too'," Jon said, giving me a smile. He didn't care that much for the Empress anyway and I suspected that Darlanis was "sweating" a little right now trying to explain things to her Imperial Prin- cess! I hoped Sharon would realize that Darlanis loved her dear- ly and she, Sharon, shouldn't expect Darlanis to be "perfect" in every respect. Gayle knew of my experience with the crossbowman, although it didn't seem to bother her any, Gayle being of course a girl of the 26th Century and well used to hearing such tales! "Were all women of the 20th Century as `good in bed' as you are?" Jon asked me, changing the subject , feeling the touch of my hand. I was "in the mood". Hard to "satisfy". Sometimes I get that way. It is, I think, a "nervous reaction" of some sort. "The average woman of the 20th Century was a lot like the average Dularnian woman," I told him with a smile. They have a reputation for being "frigid". That is why Californian women are so popular in Dularn as slave girls. On the other hand many men of California prefer a Dularnian if she is properly collared and has felt the lash a few times across her bare back and buttocks. "I'm glad you're not 'the average 20th Century woman' then," Jon said to me with a smile, reaching down, touching me, feeling of my "heat" and wetness. The "need" there strong in my slim muscular body. He had not "touched" me for a week. It had seemed longer perhaps for both of us. No doubt Yvette had been "neglected". Jon claims that I am "better", although I don't see how that can be possible knowing what I do about that slave girl! "You sure do bring back a lot of memories," Jon smiled as Mrs. Jon Richards in her fitted black silk evening gown and crown made sure that he was properly "presentable" for being the con- sort of the Queen of Trelandar. I had sent Yvette "packing", preferring to do such things myself. It is perhaps a trait that I have. I don't think that Jon minds my "fussing" a bit over him at times. He brushes my hair. Touches me. Makes me feel "mar- ried". I like feeling that way. Jack never laid a hand on me unless he wanted sex. He made me feel "used" after it was over. That I was just something like a slave girl that he kept around for his "convenience". Jon on the other hands finds me "fasci- nating" (that is his word for me) and in private often playfully pats me on the rump and in other ways keeps me well aware of the fact that I am to him a desirable and attractive woman. Natural- ly I am highly responsive in turn, Jon laughing and saying that we probably should sell Yvette as I am just too "demanding" a wife for my poor slave girl to get "hers" as a slave girl should! I don't think that Yvette suffers too much, as I do have an ample number of strong lusty warriors around, and they all seem to "ap- preciate" a girl like Yvette too! Such is the life of the Queen of Trelandar. Here I am happy, content. At "peace" with myself. "Good ones, I hope," I smiled. I knew he had been married before, and that his wife had looked somewhat like I did. That was something I had already accepted. We were both widowed. We were both people with "memories". Both of us accepted that as a part of our lives. Alexis had been better looking in the face, although we both had perhaps pretty much the same sort of physi- cal builds. Princess Tara had commanded the forces that took the Island of Flowers. Darlanis had been her commander in chief. "With you it is always good," he answered, kissing me light- ly on the lips. My mouth was heavily glossed, my eyes made up. My hair brushed and set, my face "painted" to conceal my age. I am perhaps reasonably attractive when so made up. I try to be in any case. It is important for a Queen to be attractive to those who come see her. I have in any case a beautiful Princess with two more coming on the way up. Ta-she-ra will be a lovely girl, as will Mara when she grows up in another ten or fifteen years. "Pretty good for a `jumped up slave girl'," Gayle said to me as Jon and I came down the stairs to the brightly lit throne room, her diamond studded gold tiara and fitted blue silk evening gown making her truly look like the beautiful Princess that she was. But her comment was almost like a sudden violent blow to me as I instantly recalled just "who" had said exactly just that in- sult to her! And what my own unthinking reaction had been to it also! I had gone running after Sharon, while Gayle had been the one hurt! How could I ever have been so utterly thoughtless! I had been thinking too much of Sharon, and too little of my Gayle! "We have to talk, and now," I answered, taking Gayle by the arm. Jon stopping me, telling me that Darlanis was expecting us. The Empress of California even striding over towards us, followed by a troupe of men and women dressed in the finery of Californian aristocracy. With them Lady Tirana and Sanda Talen, along with Sharon, the Imperial Princess. She who had once been mine before Darlanis took her away from me. I hoped Sharon had gotten an earful of what Darlanis was truly like. What had happened there in Trelandar. Maybe then she'd understand a bit more about life! "Tell her what you can, but this is far more important than her damm politics!" I snapped back, my grip on Gayle's arm no doubt painfully tight as the golden haired Princess of Trelandar stood there at my side. "Tell I need ten minutes, no more," I added, turning, pulling Gayle with me into a small anteroom off the big throne room. Closing the door behind me, looking about for a way to lock it. I had no wish to be disturbed. Not by Darlanis, not by any body! We had to talk! Work this out! Gayle turning to face me in the dimly lit room. Standing there. "I know, I understand," I said to Gayle, taking her in my arms, stroking her golden hair. "I know everything." I under- stood how Gayle must have felt seeing me go running after Sharon when Darlanis had reprimanded her for her thoughtless cruel com- ment. And I had been thinking how "superior" I was to Darlanis! "And I never realized at all what I did to you," I said, holding her, my eyes blurring with tears of shame for what I had done to my lovely Gayle. My lovely golden Dularnian maiden. And I could understand now how that fight had started in Thistle. And I had no doubt that the newspapers in Trella had found out by now that Gayle had been a slave girl. That she had once been my property! "There was a time when I wished the pirates had killed her," Gayle said to me softly. "A time when I wished you'd not been in time to save her." I had no doubt as to who "her" was either! I remembered all too vividly how Sharon had stood beside Darlanis and sneered at Gayle, cutting her to the quick with her comment about how she had "risen" from slavery to become a "Princess". I remembered too Darlanis' reaction. At least she had understood! "I was told by the High Priestess of Thistle that I would someday have to `pay' for my sins," I answered, weeping now, "But I never dreamed that it would be you who would have to pay the price for what I did," I answered, her face blurring before me. "Lorraine, why aren't you ---?" Darlanis asked as she opened the door and entered the room, closing the door behind herself, the surprise showing on her beautiful face as she saw the tears in my eyes. Darlanis quickly bracing her body against the door so that it could not be opened without first forcing her aside! "We are having a private conversation, your majesty," Gayle said to Darlanis, who nodded, her azure eyes glowing as I wiped at my own eyes. I knew my eye makeup had run. That I would have to "fix my face" before I could appear again in public to face all the Imperial aristocrats. All of those bastards and bitches out there who would no doubt get a perverse pleasure in seeing the suffering of others. "Send for Yvette, not one of yours." Gayle said to Darlanis. I had to smile a bit at that. Yvette would keep her mouth "shut". She was "trustworthy". The same could not be always guaranteed with one of Darlanis' own wenches. "You're pretty competent," I whispered, regarding Gayle. Darlanis taking her leave of us. No doubt she would post a guard so that we would not be disturbed. Darlanis is "quick-witted". "I would not wish to see my Queen embarrassed," Gayle smiled back. "Especially when I love her as much as I do," she added, giving me a smile. Taking a cloth and dabbing at my face as I stood there before her. "And I know now that I am truly yours." 2565 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Book Two Chapter Forty Three I carefully adjusted Black Lady's dual fuel injectors on the eight cylinder engine as one of Darlanis' own warrioresses watched the dual vacuum gauges there on the instrument panel for me. The plane being carefully tied down to stakes driven into the ground as the engine roared out at full power before me, the whirling deadly propeller only a foot from my hip blowing my hair out like a flag and whipping up a tornado of dust that rose like a mist there over the bay. Two other warrioresses were posted close by to keep the idle curious away. The fact that I was a "Queen" who would "get her hands dirty" astounded everyone! Dar- lanis was now off making another political speech somewhere, the beautiful regal Empress of California greatly enjoying the adora- tion of the crowds that now instantly gathered wherever she went. Our original mission to fly to Dularn and bring an end to the warfare between the Empire and Dularn had been momentarily for- gotten in the excitement of Sarn's new unbelievable "Revolution"! I had adjusted the timing, cleaned the fuel system out, and had installed a "belly" tank below the fuselage that now in- creased the range of the plane by fifty percent. And now that I had gotten the fuel injection finally adjusted properly, my range had increased to an awesome eighteen hundred miles in theory, al- though I would never attempt to make such a long flight in prac- tice. It is said that there are "bold" pilots and "old" pilots. I tend to be as a rule to be numbered among the latter. (Most of the time anyway!) I now actually had enough "fuel capacity" to fly the length of the Empire itself without needing to refuel! I made a quick chopping motion with my hand to the warrio- ress there in the cockpit, the woman staring at me for a second before she realized that I wanted her to push the throttle back in to an idle! While Darlanis' fighting women were brave enough in battle, I had encountered a bit of trouble in getting one to sit in the cockpit and monitor the instrument panel while I worked on the engine. The first woman I had tried had simply sat there terrified and had been utterly useless to me. This one, however, at least was willing to carry out my orders, although I don't think she really thought too much of the idea either. Per- haps fearing with good reason that the ropes might possibly break and she could end up flying up into the air all by herself! "That's it," I told the woman, pulling the packing out of my ears that I had used to stand the noise of the engine, reaching in and turning off the key and then placing it in my pouch fixed to my weapons belt. While it wasn't too likely that anyone would have been able to get the engine started, even so I was careful to take precautions against anything happening. Three armed war- rioresses being stationed at all times by it to keep anyone from tampering with it! Princess Tara might yet just be around! We thought she had now fled the area, but one can never be too sure! "There is much magic here, your majesty," the woman said, her voice showing a bit of the awe she felt towards me. While she was of high caste, being of the Warrioresses, still actually sitting in an airplane must have been the sort of experience that she would be telling her children for years to come. The glit- tering gold of her neck chain there just above her chain mail left little doubt that she was doubtlessly a mother. There are few childless "career" women in the 26th Century. Motherhood is generally considered the proper status for all married women af- ter they wear the gold chain of a wife of more than three years. "Science, not magic," I smiled back. There is a difference. "There is a trio of ships from Trelandar, your majesty!" the warrioress announced, now a bit out of breath from her run as I cleaned my hands of the grease. I had rather expected that there would be. I had sent the fastest ship we had to Trella. "Two big galleys and a schooner, a big one!" I expected that one of the galleys was the Janis, and the big schooner would be the Squala. No doubt the other galley was Sarnian Lady now being re- turned to Darlanis by my request. It was, after all, her ship. "Have someone find Darlanis and tell her to expect guests," I answered with a smile. I was sure that she would want to know! "I heard of your latest exploit," Jon said to me as I wel- comed him with open arms. "Standing off an entire Imperial Le- gion!" The handsome dark haired naval officer being the sort of a man that any red-blooded woman would be happy to married to. As my Prince-Consort he had been helping Sanda and Gayle run things in Trelandar while I helped Darlanis here in Sarn. I had merely taken a copy of the Trelandarian Constitution and changed "Trelandar" to "Sarn" where needed for Sarn's new Constitution. "All I had to do was bluff Tara," I smiled back in his arms. It much pleased me to be so held. To be "his woman" before all. Little Mara and Ta-she-ra were there watching. I was very close to Ta-she-ra, but Mara still seemed a bit "distant" from me at times. I suspected that she remembered Lana. It would take time for me to break down those "barriers". Become part of her life. "And you certainly did it from what I hear!" he laughed in return, sweeping me up in his arms and giving me a good kiss be- fore everyone. "You are really some woman!" Later I would tell him how scared I had been then, but this wasn't the time for it. "I had to tell Sharon the truth about Darlanis," Jon said to me as we laid together, his fingertip gently caressing my nipple. "She had been hearing too many rumors there in Trella for me to lie about what had happened there fifteen years ago," he added, his dark eyes looking into mine as I nodded in reply, understand- ing what it must have been like for him to tell her the truth!!! "I hope she took it well," I answered, concerned as to how she had reacted. Darlanis was not the "fantasy heroine" that my stepdaughter had tried to make her out to be. She was a woman of the 26th Century. A "barbarian" by 20th Century standards. It would have been a hard blow for Sharon to realize that Darlanis "was" the same woman who had ordered the deaths of innocent women and children in the conquest of Trelandar fifteen years ago! On the other hand Darlanis certainly wasn't any worse than those in the Vietnam war who had called down "air strikes" on villages when they received hostile fire from those same villages. War is not "civilized". I hoped that Jon had been able to explain that! "She said that she had `a lot of questions' for Darlanis to answer and that Darlanis `had better have some answers for them too'," Jon said, giving me a smile. He didn't care that much for the Empress anyway and I suspected that Darlanis was "sweating" a little right now trying to explain things to her Imperial Prin- cess! I hoped Sharon would realize that Darlanis loved her dear- ly and she, Sharon, shouldn't expect Darlanis to be "perfect" in every respect. Gayle knew of my experience with the crossbowman, although it didn't seem to bother her any, Gayle being of course a girl of the 26th Century and well used to hearing such tales! "Were all women of the 20th Century as `good in bed' as you are?" Jon asked me, changing the subject , feeling the touch of my hand. I was "in the mood". Hard to "satisfy". Sometimes I get that way. It is, I think, a "nervous reaction" of some sort. "The average woman of the 20th Century was a lot like the average Dularnian woman," I told him with a smile. They have a reputation for being "frigid". That is why Californian women are so popular in Dularn as slave girls. On the other hand many men of California prefer a Dularnian if she is properly collared and has felt the lash a few times across her bare back and buttocks. "I'm glad you're not 'the average 20th Century woman' then," Jon said to me with a smile, reaching down, touching me, feeling of my "heat" and wetness. The "need" there strong in my slim muscular body. He had not "touched" me for a week. It had seemed longer perhaps for both of us. No doubt Yvette had been "neglected". Jon claims that I am "better", although I don't see how that can be possible knowing what I do about that slave girl! "You sure do bring back a lot of memories," Jon smiled as Mrs. Jon Richards in her fitted black silk evening gown and crown made sure that he was properly "presentable" for being the con- sort of the Queen of Trelandar. I had sent Yvette "packing", preferring to do such things myself. It is perhaps a trait that I have. I don't think that Jon minds my "fussing" a bit over him at times. He brushes my hair. Touches me. Makes me feel "mar- ried". I like feeling that way. Jack never laid a hand on me unless he wanted sex. He made me feel "used" after it was over. That I was just something like a slave girl that he kept around for his "convenience". Jon on the other hands finds me "fasci- nating" (that is his word for me) and in private often playfully pats me on the rump and in other ways keeps me well aware of the fact that I am to him a desirable and attractive woman. Natural- ly I am highly responsive in turn, Jon laughing and saying that we probably should sell Yvette as I am just too "demanding" a wife for my poor slave girl to get "hers" as a slave girl should! I don't think that Yvette suffers too much, as I do have an ample number of strong lusty warriors around, and they all seem to "ap- preciate" a girl like Yvette too! Such is the life of the Queen of Trelandar. Here I am happy, content. At "peace" with myself. "Good ones, I hope," I smiled. I knew he had been married before, and that his wife had looked somewhat like I did. That was something I had already accepted. We were both widowed. We were both people with "memories". Both of us accepted that as a part of our lives. Alexis had been better looking in the face, although we both had perhaps pretty much the same sort of physi- cal builds. Princess Tara had commanded the forces that took the Island of Flowers. Darlanis had been her commander in chief. "With you it is always good," he answered, kissing me light- ly on the lips. My mouth was heavily glossed, my eyes made up. My hair brushed and set, my face "painted" to conceal my age. I am perhaps reasonably attractive when so made up. I try to be in any case. It is important for a Queen to be attractive to those who come see her. I have in any case a beautiful Princess with two more coming on the way up. Ta-she-ra will be a lovely girl, as will Mara when she grows up in another ten or fifteen years. "Pretty good for a `jumped up slave girl'," Gayle said to me as Jon and I came down the stairs to the brightly lit throne room, her diamond studded gold tiara and fitted blue silk evening gown making her truly look like the beautiful Princess that she was. But her comment was almost like a sudden violent blow to me as I instantly recalled just "who" had said exactly just that in- sult to her! And what my own unthinking reaction had been to it also! I had gone running after Sharon, while Gayle had been the one hurt! How could I ever have been so utterly thoughtless! I had been thinking too much of Sharon, and too little of my Gayle! "We have to talk, and now," I answered, taking Gayle by the arm. Jon stopping me, telling me that Darlanis was expecting us. The Empress of California even striding over towards us, followed by a troupe of men and women dressed in the finery of Californian aristocracy. With them Lady Tirana and Sanda Talen, along with Sharon, the Imperial Princess. She who had once been mine before Darlanis took her away from me. I hoped Sharon had gotten an earful of what Darlanis was truly like. What had happened there in Trelandar. Maybe then she'd understand a bit more about life! "Tell her what you can, but this is far more important than her damm politics!" I snapped back, my grip on Gayle's arm no doubt painfully tight as the golden haired Princess of Trelandar stood there at my side. "Tell I need ten minutes, no more," I added, turning, pulling Gayle with me into a small anteroom off the big throne room. Closing the door behind me, looking about for a way to lock it. I had no wish to be disturbed. Not by Darlanis, not by any body! We had to talk! Work this out! Gayle turning to face me in the dimly lit room. Standing there. "I know, I understand," I said to Gayle, taking her in my arms, stroking her golden hair. "I know everything." I under- stood how Gayle must have felt seeing me go running after Sharon when Darlanis had reprimanded her for her thoughtless cruel com- ment. And I had been thinking how "superior" I was to Darlanis! "And I never realized at all what I did to you," I said, holding her, my eyes blurring with tears of shame for what I had done to my lovely Gayle. My lovely golden Dularnian maiden. And I could understand now how that fight had started in Thistle. And I had no doubt that the newspapers in Trella had found out by now that Gayle had been a slave girl. That she had once been my property! "There was a time when I wished the pirates had killed her," Gayle said to me softly. "A time when I wished you'd not been in time to save her." I had no doubt as to who "her" was either! I remembered all too vividly how Sharon had stood beside Darlanis and sneered at Gayle, cutting her to the quick with her comment about how she had "risen" from slavery to become a "Princess". I remembered too Darlanis' reaction. At least she had understood! "I was told by the High Priestess of Thistle that I would someday have to `pay' for my sins," I answered, weeping now, "But I never dreamed that it would be you who would have to pay the price for what I did," I answered, her face blurring before me. "Lorraine, why aren't you ---?" Darlanis asked as she opened the door and entered the room, closing the door behind herself, the surprise showing on her beautiful face as she saw the tears in my eyes. Darlanis quickly bracing her body against the door so that it could not be opened without first forcing her aside! "We are having a private conversation, your majesty," Gayle said to Darlanis, who nodded, her azure eyes glowing as I wiped at my own eyes. I knew my eye makeup had run. That I would have to "fix my face" before I could appear again in public to face all the Imperial aristocrats. All of those bastards and bitches out there who would no doubt get a perverse pleasure in seeing the suffering of others. "Send for Yvette, not one of yours." Gayle said to Darlanis. I had to smile a bit at that. Yvette would keep her mouth "shut". She was "trustworthy". The same could not be always guaranteed with one of Darlanis' own wenches. "You're pretty competent," I whispered, regarding Gayle. Darlanis taking her leave of us. No doubt she would post a guard so that we would not be disturbed. Darlanis is "quick-witted". "I would not wish to see my Queen embarrassed," Gayle smiled back. "Especially when I love her as much as I do," she added, giving me a smile. Taking a cloth and dabbing at my face as I stood there before her. "And I know now that I am truly yours." |
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