chapter 1, part 2

“If you’re giving up…” Greldedor let her sentence trail off into the night air, but the implication was clear.

“No,” Sylvia said immediately. Without standing up, she stretched one arm out to grab the cake, but it was out of reach. Greldedor gestured with her magic focus – a small, intricately carved wand – and the platter slid across the table on its own.

Maya shifted uncomfortably in her chair as she watched Sylvia eat. Some hot feeling – embarrassment, she supposed – was creeping up inside her. She shouldn’t be making her guard do this, but… well, she wasn’t going to do it herself! She was a woman of the court. Certainly she was the illegitimate daughter of a noble and had no real standing, but she was a mage – well educated and of royal blood. She wasn’t going to give in to the demands of a deranged witch!

Sylvia ate the cake almost mechanically, not bothering to slice it, instead just digging her spoon into it directly and popping increasingly small bites into her mouth. By the time she reached the last quarter of the thing, she was barely scraping the thing with her utensil.

Frustrated and annoyed by the feeling inside her, Maya snapped, “Can’t you feed yourself any faster?”

“No, milady, I cannot,” Sylvia snapped back in her best imitation of a pompous court accent, “for I am afeard that I’m about to burst.”

Maya let out a huff. “Let me help you.”

Sylvia’s face relaxed into relief, which vanished when it became clear that Maya didn’t intend to eat the cake herself. The mage dug the spoon into the cake and held the large bite up in front of Sylvia’s mouth. “Open up and let’s get this over with.”

Sylvia glanced over to Greldedor, who’s hands were clasped together in glee – at the humiliation the knight was experiencing or at the prospect of feeding her dragon, Sylvia couldn’t tell, so she closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and let Maya feed her, promising herself that it would all be over with soon.

Soon, it was. Sylvia chewed and swallowed one bite, feeling her overtaxed gut flinched as more of the sweet, dense cake was forced into it, and opened her mouth in anticipation of the next bit of punishment, only for it to never arrive. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

“Well,” Greldedor said, “that certainly was an enlightening exploration of your interpersonal dynamics, wasn’t it? I think that’s enough for the night, though. Let’s all go to bed.” She gestured at the two women with her wand. It was enough of a threat; both had seen the power of the small piece of wood already.

Maya got up quickly. She refused to look at Sylvia as the other woman sluggishly pushed her chair back from the table.

“Yes,” the mage said tersely, “let’s go to bed.”