Michael Manning - The Line of Illeniel

She watched me carefully, an expression of deep thought on her face. “I hadn’t thought about it like that before Mordecai. I guess you’re right… there’s no good reason why I should die with you, especially if you don’t love me anymore. All this time I just felt obligated, I was afraid to share my true feeling for Cyhan. It was just so shameful. But now I can start fresh, right?” Her voice was soft, with a hint of hope in it.

“That’s right Penny. You’re still my friend, no matter what else. If possible I’d like you to be happy,” I said carefully. I hadn’t expected her to react so rationally and I still half suspected she might be mocking me. Her acceptance hurt though, I had never thought she could let go so quickly.

“And you don’t mind?” she asked.

“Well I don’t want to die, but if there’s a chance for you to have a normal life I think you should take it.”

“And I can marry Cyhan?” her expression brightened.

“Well… yeah. If that’s what you want,” I almost choked on the words.

“Then it won’t matter if I marry him before you die either? I guess we could just go ahead and have it done later this week. So we don’t have to wait. You understand I’m sure.”

Confusion had me full in its grasp now, “What?”

“For the sex of course… I’d rather not have to wait. Really we wouldn’t need to get married either. It’s not as if I’m a virgin anymore, but Cyhan is very traditional. I’m sure he would insist on it. It’ll be a lot easier to deal with your loss if I’m already in the arms of my new lover. Don’t you think?”

I gaped at her, “What the hell is wrong with you Penny?”

“Nothing Mordecai! It’s quite simple. Since I’m obviously a great whore I should just face reality and do what I like, right? Maybe after I’m done with Cyhan I can have a run at Dorian and Marcus? I’m sure that would make me feel even better!” her eyes flashed angrily.

I turned my back on her and walked away, “I get it Penelope, no need to be an ass. I was just trying to offer a solution.”

She followed me and put her hand on my shoulder to turn me around, “No, I get it now Mort. Look at me…” She had my face between her hands. “No more stupid games, they hurt too much. I love you, and I always will. Don’t try to play martyr. You want me to live happily after you’re gone, but it doesn’t work that way. You’re not getting rid of me.”

I couldn’t take it anymore, my composure broke and I could feel my eyes watering. She was just so damn beautiful standing there, inches away. Even if she did have my face locked between her insanely strong arms. “Damn you,” I said sweetly, “I hate you sometimes.”

“I hate you too,” she answered and then she kissed me. Things got rather more interesting after that and we confessed our hate for one another several times more during the course of it.

A short time later we decided we needed to get back to the meeting. We were in various states of undress so we began putting ourselves back together when I heard a noise at the door. I had been so wrapped up in our ‘conversation’ I hadn’t been paying attention to my other senses and I realized that two men were standing outside my door, Dorian and Marc, naturally enough. Opening my mind a bit more I could tell they had their ears pressed against the wood.

Striding rapidly across the room I flung the door open. I was hoping they would fall on their asses but they caught their balance. “What the hell are you doing?” I demanded.

Dorian’s face was a picture of embarrassment but Marc was quicker on his feet, “Sorry Mort we were just talking and I had to confess something to Dorian here…,” he faced our large friend with an expression of mock seriousness, hands out to clasp his shoulders. “I hate you Dorian!”

Dorian finally caught on, “I hate you too Marcus!” He puckered up as if he were going to kiss.

“I hate you so much!” Marc exclaimed and kissed him soundly on the lips. That was a bit too much for Dorian and he jerked back.

“Ugh! You didn’t have to take it that far!” he declared, suddenly embarrassed. I could hear Penny giggling behind me and I couldn’t help but laugh myself.

“Where is everyone else? I’m surprised there aren’t more people out here enjoying the spectacle,” Penny said.

“Oh they were all here a little while ago!” Marcus said with enthusiasm. “But when you two starting up with all the hating in there Royce decided it was impolite of us to listen in.”

“So why are you two still here?” I asked.

“We snuck back up here. It was too good to miss,” Marc laughed.

“It was his idea,” Dorian hastily added.

“You two are unbelievable. I hate you sometimes,” I smiled at them holding my arms out widely.

“We hate you too!” Marc exclaimed and we all wound up in an embrace. Somehow Penny wound up in the middle of it.

“Hey! No need to hug my posterior… Dorian!” she cried in mock outrage. He jumped back with a look of shocked innocence.

“I didn’t!” he protested.

“Actually that was me,” Marc admitted.

“I thought you were a priest or some such now?” she rounded on him. “Isn’t that sort of behavior frowned upon?”

I growled in agreement with her, not that I was really mad.

“I’m sure the goddess will forgive me. After all your derriere is the best proof yet found that the gods are kind and just,” he replied clasping his hands together as if in prayer.

“You’re impossible!” I said and we began making our way down the corridor toward the stairs. Despite the constant tension of the last month it felt good to be among my friends. I couldn’t help but wonder how long it would last. The future looked grim.

“By the way Penny,” Marc started, “have you put on weight? I don’t remember you being quite so… ample.”

“Oooh!” she shrieked. That was followed by the sound of a large thump as Marc struck the wall. She had shoved him and it sounded as if he might get a bruise from that one.

The resolution of my differences with Penelope had taken a bit longer than they had anticipated so we had lunch before returning to the table. Actually that’s inaccurate; we had lunch before clearing the table and returning to business, since we were using the same table for both. Everyone seemed much more relaxed now that we had settled things between us.

“Where were we?” I said, starting the discussion again.

“I think we were at the part where we were trying to decide how we wanted to lose,” Marc joked. It wasn’t particularly funny since it was largely true, but it did set me to thinking.

“You’re right,” I agreed.

“So you’ve decided to see sense and join the king?” Cyhan asked.

“Nope, I just thought what Marc said was spot on. We’ve been going at this from the viewpoint of limiting our losses… planning our defeat. No war has ever been won that way,” I stated.

“You don’t honestly think there’s any hope of us winning do you?” he responded.

“I’m not sure, but I’m not giving up yet. We haven’t even finished listing our resources yet, which may be greater than we realize,” I returned.

“What else do we have?” Dorian asked.

“Money for one… we have a lot of money, and time to use it,” I said.

“Well that’s fine… if you’re planning to throw it at them,” Joe put in, “but all the money in the world won’t create an army out of thin air.”

“You’re right. There’s no way we can match their numbers, whatever they may be, but I have Rose Hightower back in the capital recruiting as many as she can find. It might be the case that she can find enough to keep us from being completely overrun,” I told them.