3 Dreamweaver (2/2)

Lehan's eyes turned to slits, ”Your sister is not the beauty promised in her portrait. She has struck me and you are lying.”

She felt a blush rise to her cheeks and angry tears build behind her eyes. She doubted that the real Lehan would take the time to read whatever she would write. She swallowed forcing the tears back. Do not let them see you cry. You've done quite enough of that for today, she thought. She peeked back at the stranger from the garden, he was focused on her, his arms had dropped to his side, his form tense.

Lehan had turned completely away from her and returned to the desk, ”What is the meaning of this deception, Argia?”

She looked back and forth between the two princes. Deception, she thought, but everyone knows what I am. Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. She felt nauseous and cold the truth finally catching up to her. He never read my letters. Everything he wrote was a lie. He probably didn't write me anything at all.

Her brother smiled, ”We have a great desire to make peace with your kingdom. This war has gone on for far too long.”

”None of your pretty words, get to the point. I dislike being tricked,” Lehan snarled showing his teeth. She could feel the energy drawing around him, a sudden sunken filling in the pit of her stomach, a metallic taste in the air. She felt one of the pieces of the vase crunch under her heel as she stepped back.

Argia sighed, ”She is the only Princess of marriage age in our kingdom. I'm afraid my other sisters are babes still in nurseries or crones near the death bed. My father has only recently taken a new wife. Her affliction is unfortunate but harmless.”

”Harmless? You said the girl was a mute. This is something else. My patience is wearing thin,” Lehan snarled.

”We may have been less than forthcoming with that information. Isilla is a dreamweaver,” he said, a soft smile on his face.

Lehan sat back in his chair, ”What is that?”

”Really, it's a bonus. She lives half in the dream world. Out here, she has no powers to speak of but where her voice is, in dreams, she can do anything she wants. Anything you want.”

”Why would you send something like that here?” Lehan asked, eyes slits in suspension but there was something else, an interest that Argia could sense, forming in the prince's mind.

”Why not? We want to make sure you were pleased and though she isn't much to look at, this woman can give you your wildest fantasies. And when she is awake, she is perfect silence. At all times. She cannot make any sound. She cannot speak, you can't hear breathe or her heartbeat. She can't play instruments or even ring bells. And if you touch her, for as long as you maintain contact, the same extends to you. She'll be the only person that can hear you.”

The Crown Prince leaned forward on his desk, a flicker of interest in his eyes. After a moment he stood up, ”I cannot marry something like this, treaty or no. And I dislike being tricked.”

The sword appeared out of thin air slammed into Argia's chest. His eyes went wide for a moment before closing, his form slumping over in the chair, lifeless.