Prompt: The Queens Of Gehrlia, Part 3

…Continued from Part 2

Behnrel swung Isrehna by her ankles, upside down like a clock’s pendulum. Her straight white hair trailed the ground, and she laughed even as her face turned red. “More,” she cried. 

Behnrel grunted and lowered her down with a twist so that she ducked her head and curled into a tumble, jumping to her feet to face him. He taught her as many fighting moves as he could without tipping his hand.

“Tell us a story,” Isrehna demanded. With her hands balled on her hips, he saw the same tattoos he could trace blindfolded on her mother’s wrists. Behnrel blinked away the memories of Diehlen and bowed a courtier’s bow, but on the wrong leg, a long-standing joke with Isrehna. She tossed her hair and skipped over to the pillows and furs and handmaidens piled in front of the deep fireplace. Behnrel followed and sat cross-legged at their side.

Few other than Behnrel still remembered the hidden stone in the back corner of the fireplace, and the passage that led down deep beneath the keep and far outside its walls.  He’d only used it one, the night Diehlen had brought him and Isrehna into the keep. The night she left to begin her sworn service to Sweet Madra. When she’d begged the goddess to spare her daughter’s life, she had neglected to ask that Isrehna would live with her. It did not do to question the will of a goddess, so Behnrel hid his feelings and swore instead to protect Isrehna in Diehlen’s stead.

Diehlen’s father, the former king of Gehrlia, had welcomed his granddaughter and her guard. His young wife, not so much. She must have a special sixth sense, for whenever Diehlen’s name was mentioned, she appeared as if by magic to divert Isrehna’s attention and direct Behnrel to some particularly menial and odious task. He dared not refuse or offend her, for she would not hesitate to banish him for the slightest offense. And so they played at stalemate, excruciatingly formal and polite on the surface, while neither was blind to the other’s loathing.

Continued in Part 4…

Dogs in House	Brindle, Houdini
Time writing	~45 minutes
March word count	7,789