Seductive Witch and a Young Knight

Gail brought the jars out of the sack and handed them to the Queen, who looked at them, the accompanying instructions, and then handed them to the King's healers. "Here, take these jars, read the directions carefully and see to the King. I would speak with sir Johan and the Witch of the Wood." The healers rushed the ointment to the King and the remaining attendants left the room. The Queen first addressed Johan.

"Well done, sir Knight. You have fulfilled your oath and have my personal gratitude. The King and I will discuss your service to this realm in great detail when he is feeling better. I want you to know, I greatly appreciate your aid and will look to call on you for additional tasks which you have demonstrated your reliability and suitability to complete."

"Thank you, your majesty." Johan said politely, bowing his head and looking down at the floor.

"Now please wait outside the chambers, and when I am done speaking with the Witch of the Wood, I want you to escort her back to her woods and then you may consider yourself on leave, by my authority, for a month before you must return to your Order."

Johan again bowed to his Queen, this time deeply but just as politely as before. He turned on his heel and left, but as he turned, ever so quickly, he glanced at the witch with what may have been a hint of a smile.

When Johan left, and the door shut behind him, the Queen looked at the witch with an arched eyebrow and a questioning look on her face. "Took your time, didn't you?! I can smell it on you and on him; seems like you had a hell of a good time, while my husband was wrestling with some kind of possession."

The witch looked sheepish, but didn't look away from her sister, the Queen's hazel-eyed gaze. The Queen was only slightly less fair of skin than the people of the Northern realm, and her hair was a bright red, and she wore it in long tight braids, to better hide the inclination toward unruly curls that her hair shared with that of her sister, the witch's.

"He has the most amazing shoulders," Gail answered, "they're so broad and muscular, I couldn't help it..." She said, holding up her hands in a 'What can you do?' gesture.

The Queen shook her head, "You've helped it for quite awhile, why him? And why now?" She asked, then paused, looked deeper into her sister's yellow eyes and inhaled the air around her slowly and carefully. "You're on your cycle now, aren't you?" She asked, then gasped and put a hand to the witch's lower abdomen, just above her womb. "Oh my..."

The witch smiled back at her sister. "What, are you the only one who gets to bed one of these strong, silent, well-hung Northern men? Tutt-tutt, sister, at least I was humble enough to be happy with a mere knight; you had to take the King of the whole realm!"

The Queen snorted derisively and rolled her eyes, but she also smiled before answering. "I didn't plan to become the Queen, and he wasn't the King then; he was the Prince, at the head of that army that destroyed those fucking dead-things that burned down our last forest. I didn't know he was the one, until I met him. I never had your gifts." The Queen said the last part, poutingly.

"Well, I knew of Johan's name and his past deeds from our chats; very few people of note bandied about court that are so humble, and I like that in a man. But I knew it was going to be him the minute I smelled him from the other side of my door."

"What do you mean, you 'knew it was going to be him'?" The Queen asked.

"I mean he's the one, the man to whom the Goddess paired me. He's my handsome, brave young Knight whose seed my womb demands and whose face I think of kissing every time I see him. My heart beats for him,... and for our daughter."

"Well, this will make for an interesting combination. I'm going to advise his Preceptor that the King will want to select sir Johan to serve as a Paladin. Assuming that he survives the holy oath ceremony, and I think we both know he will, he'll have to travel far and wide, fighting on behalf of his order and the King; are you going to let him go, or go along with him?"

"Of course I'll go with him." The witch said simply, and gently patted the area of her abdomen over her womb and winking at her sister. "We're not done yet."