WARNING: nudity. I debated whether or not to make this "R," but plenty of PG-13 movies are just a little too revealing, so ... I don't know. If you think it's too much, I'll change the rating, but if you want to be technical, I don't show any more than a movie would.
As for the elusive, non-existant Caelun, he's not really that important. He's background. On top of that, his duty (bodyguard of the queen) entails silence and watchfulness, so besides hardly ever talking, he doesn't do much except follow her, either. I'm sorry you don't remember him, but he hasn't got a lot to be remembered for. ^^;
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Daeun waited until the J’engar were safely holed up in their rooms, and his nightly reports read through, before attempting the promised conversation with Ianna. He slipped quietly inside her room, listening for the small click that promised a sealed area in which talking could be done freely—a courtesy of Gavin—before venturing further inside. It was empty, her clothes dashed carelessly onto the bed, but within the bathing room he could hear the small sounds of water splashing.
“Majesty,” Daeun murmured, and the sounds hesitated briefly.
“Come in,” Ianna’s voice said calmly, and despite his misgivings about the impropriety of it all, Daeun obeyed her. She sat naked in the metal tub, a cake of soap resting in her hands, looking at him as if there were nothing at all unusual taking place. “The room is well protected,” she greeted him, brown eyes nearly black, a sure sign that she was pleased. “We may speak freely now.”
He eased himself down onto a nearby stool, resting his elbows on his knees and folding his hands neatly before him. He studiously avoided looking at her, training his eyes on the floor. “Gavin’s wards are always excellent. Even Oiden would have trouble seeing through them.”
“I do not know this Oiden,” Ianna said, amused, “nor of Gavin’s warding abilities, for I was speaking of my own protections.”
“Oh,” Daeun said, chancing a small glance at her and managing—somehow—to meet her eyes without them straying lower. “Very well then. You are not one to argue with, my lady, and your promise of trust has weakened my resolve. I do not break my vows of silence lightly; were you anyone else, I would never chance it.” He shook his head, looking suddenly very old, worn far beyond his years. “As you may have guessed, I am the leader of the Resistance, a role I inherited from my father, and him from his father before him. We are a long line of freedom fighters, born to betray our native land. Unlike my father, and my grandfather, I have managed—somehow—to build up the ranks until a coup may very well be possible.” He glanced at her again, then away, because this gaze had not been so accurate as the first. “At least, we believed it was until Agulin began acting up. And Anull—as if he were not enough, that thrice damned magician of his—Oiden—is adept at halting our forward motion as Agulin.”
Ianna considered this, running the soap over her skin as she thought. “Oiden is not so powerful, or I would have felt him. I will send Taejon to kill him. Anull will be easy to assassinate; Agulin we can crush with the J’engar armies.”
Daeun’s head snapped around to stare at her. “What?”
“The solution to your problems,” Ianna explained gently, giving him a brilliant smile that made her—somehow—almost angelically beautiful. “Taejon will kill Oiden, I will kill Anull, and my cousins will take care of Agulin.”
“What?—just like that? No negotiations, no struggles, just—that?” Daeun shook his head, perplexed, her nakedness forgotten in light of this new turn of events.
“Of course,” Ianna replied, scooping water up in her hands and pouring it down her sides. “It has been months since I have bathed in water. Cleansings and dips into the wet sand are not the same.”
Daeun opened his mouth to demand—loudly—what she was talking about, his mind still on the rebellion; but then his eyes traveled down, over her body, and back up to her face. A deep blush suffused over his cheekbones, making his eyes seem over-bright. “Hum,” Daeun said, looking highly uncomfortable. “Majesty, I must ask—is this appropriate?”
“No,” Ianna said, dashing his hopes out of the water. “If we were in J’engar, you would be killed for seeing me thus.”
“Then—then why—”
“Stop stuttering,” Ianna ordered. She lifted a hand out of the water, beckoning him closer, and he did not have it within to resist; a moment later he stood over the tub, blushing like a schoolboy. She snagged his shirtfront, tugging him lower, and gave a fierce grin before capturing his lips with hers.
Something like an explosion occurred in the back of Daeun’s head, propelling him forward and crushing Ianna backward against the wall of the tub. She made a pleased sound, a sort of primal groan, a sound that set his blood on fire and let loose a beast Daeun hadn’t even realized existed. Very suddenly he was wet, for he was in the tub with her, his hands skimming across her skin without care for her status, his lips crushed against hers.
When he took a moment to breathe, looking into Ianna’s eyes, he gave a start to see they were the deepest black, empty of all color—a black so deep it was impossible to imagine her with eyes of gold. She laughed at him. “Don’t stop now,” she said, and while it sounded distinctly like an order, Daeun understood it to be a question, and took no time at all giving her his answer.
Caelun took pride in his ability to fall into a sort of half-slumber that allowed him to rejuvenate himself without missing any activity. It was his specialty, one that others were hard-pressed to learn; it was one of the reasons he had been chosen to guard Queen Ianna. Besides his utter adoration for her, of course.
It was this ability that caused him to awaken, suddenly, from his post down the hall from Ianna’s room, when her door creaked open. From the shadows within a shadow crept outward, not inward, taking the form of a tousled Daeun, who gave a dashing grin to whoever was inside before turning and making his way to his own room. Puzzled, Caelun’s eyes probed the darkness, finding a shape that was curved like that of a woman’s body; as it turned, it hesitated, and a moment later, golden eyes flashed out of the darkness.
“Sleep,” Ianna’s voice hissed, and Caelun, too shocked to contemplate the meaning of such a thing, immediately closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber.
