The Seer's Curse

Chapter 3- Rewind

Tate was sure her ears were working. She felt the electricity seem to flow through them both, as if no one else was in the room. Starring up into the most powerful eyes of the kingdom, she felt compelled to do whatever he wanted in that moment. Almost as if one of his powers was of persuasion. His own desires became hers, although she wasn’t exactly sure how to do what he wanted. She wasn’t concerned about his teaching skills.

“Follow me…” The sneaky king led them out through a secret door hidden behind one of the more boring tapestries. They slinked down a forgotten hallway, and ended up at the entrance to the royal suites. They continued their quiet approach to Tate’s room as not to draw any attention, but when she stopped at her room Cal just laughed and drug her to his own room. “Don’t even think about it.” He pulled her in tightly to his chest, while spinning into his room and locking his door. “You are mine, and I think I’ve waited long enough.”

Not that Tate disagreed, but she couldn’t let him not work a little harder to win her over completely. “Is that so?” She prodded and he just nodded while devouring her neck and breasts. “What if I say no?” Almost as if Cal had never heard that word, he stared into Tate’s sparkling eyes. They still read playful to him and that eased his mind.

“I would comply, of course… but you aren’t saying no, are you?” He was holding so still that he could hear Tate’s heartbeat.

“Maybe… maybe not. What would my king do for such a large favor?” Tate was blushing with all this talk and needed a short distraction to prepare herself mentally for what was to come next.

“I’ve made you my Queen, what else does the lady desire?” Cal had never needed to do anything but ask for basically any woman to pleasure him however, whenever, and where ever he desired. This was a new feeling, and he wasn’t sure what to do with it.

“Answer a question truthfully.” Tate had an idea and was hoping he’d go along with it.

“Anything…” It had been a long few months of being celibate, but he was ready to whatever she wanted.

“Tell me something important about yourself that no one else would ever know, your deepest darkest secret.” This was to be an ice breaker for her to tell him about herself later on. Cal was clueless as to the long-term plan behind the question, but thought his words through carefully. They both sat down on the bed when he began to talk.

“When my mother was sick, my father didn’t want anyone to see her towards her end, including me. I would creep through a secret passage way to see her at night. She would sing to me almost every time, even on her last night. I was with her when she died.” Cal had laid his head in Tate’s lap, while sharing. “I’ll never forget her telling me how much she loved me as she ran her fingers through my hair, just as you are doing now.” This was more than the simple delay Tate was hoping for, Cal poured out his heart to her and eased any fears she might have had.

“Thank you for sharing… I’m really not sure how I got lucky enough to have you spy on me that morning.” Tate continued to caress Cal’s face while teasing him just enough. She couldn’t resist any longer and leaned over to kiss his perfect lips. Cal took advantage of his position and buried his face in the exposed portion of her breasts. Tate was enjoying the attention and found herself un-doing the ties holding her lace corset in place. As soon as her top was loose, Cal rolled them over in the bed, almost tearing the lace to completely remove it.

“I’m the lucky one… have you seen your breasts? They are absolutely divine!” Cal was worshiping her upper body and sending shivers to her core. “Please tell me I can make you mine now…” His begging was cute, and Tate no longer had reservations.

“I’m yours… but…” She was struggling with telling him that she had no idea what to do next.

“Shhh… I will show you everything.” He leaned back on his knees, removing his shirt and began removing her skirt. All that was left were the strings of his chosen undergarments. “I see you wore my gift?” He began kissing Tate’s legs and worked his way up to the strings, untying them with his teeth, and continuing the kisses all the way to her mouth. His fingers found their way to her core, and gently parted the folds exploring her innocence and teasing her sweet spot.

Their kisses became more desperate. Tate was biting his lips and tugging, demanding more, and he was ready to give it. Stepping back slightly they worked together to remove his pants, and got right back to the skin contact they both craved. “Are you ready for this? It will probably hurt at first, but I promise to go slow.” He said between panting breaths.

“Yes!” She shouted as she pulled his hips to hers, almost sealing the deal quicker than Cal had planned. He managed to line his member up to her entrance and began to slowly breach her barrier. It was all too much for Tate, and she thrust her pelvis up fast to finish the job. “You don’t need to go that slow, I wont break.” Her aggressive move made Cal elated and he started to show her how much she meant to him by giving her pleasure at every angle he could ever imagine. This was no one sided event either, Tate caught on to the general idea and made sure to implement her own moves. They reached too many highs to count that night, and were utterly exhausted.

If there were any doubts about these two being made for each other, the passion they shared washed every bit of it away. Just before they succumbed to sleep, Cal noticed Tate’s eyes glowing. “Tate, I don’t want to alarm you… but your eyes are glowing…”

“Really? So are yours, what could cause that?” Tate had never experience feelings like this, and part of her knew that must have something to do with it.

“Mine glow sometimes because of my magic… but that doesn’t explain you…” It was as if he was connecting the dots, but failed to finish before they were asleep. It was the best rest either of them had ever had.

Waking up mid-morning in the arms of your lover is something special, but for Tate and Cal it was something even more. It was as if making love had strengthened their powers. They both felt it, but only Cal admitted it “I am pretty sure you have made me stronger my Queen.”

Blushing slightly at that, Tate questioned him, “How so my love?” The last little bit was a slip of the tongue, but it was how she truly felt.

“I think I better show you… my love.” As he repeated her slip up, she knew he meant it as well. They kissed momentarily as Cal rolled Tate on top of chest. “Hold on,” he had them levitating off the bed and Tate was squealing with joy.

“Cal! This is amazing! I didn’t know you could do this indoors…” She thought it was only something he could do outside, where he could manipulate the elements to move him as he willed.

“I don’t think I could until now… now I feel like I could do just about anything I put my mind to.” He sat upright while Tate still straddled him mid-air. With only minor adjustments, his excited member found its way home once again, and he quickly had Tate screaming out his name. This added another dimension to all the different angles the young lovers couldn’t wait to try.

A knock at the door had them falling back to the bed and scrambling to pull themselves together. Cal covered Tate, who was hiding beside him, kissing her head to reassure her. “Your Majesty, may I come in?” It was Jack, and the fact that he didn’t want to be interrupting the couple was obvious.

“Yes, please come in.” Cal was sitting up now, shielding Tate even more. No one was allowed to see her this exposed, no one but him of course.

“Your Majesty, my Queen….” He bowed respectfully, also hiding the smirk that crossed his lips. “Your advisors are requesting your presence with urgent business.”

“Alright, I’ll be down shortly.” The duties of a king cannot wait, even for mind blowing s*x mid-air.

“Also, my Queen, your parents were looking for you…” If she wasn’t embarrassed enough to be caught in the Kings bed by his right hand, now it was clear her parents knew she hadn’t slept in her room either. They had never openly discussed what a lady should and shouldn’t do, but it was common knowledge among the village girls. She shouldn’t be messing around before marriage, but this was the king, so surely there were exceptions.

After Jack excused himself, Cal walked Tate to the door to her chambers that was linked to his. Just inside her room he showed her a hidden key. “If you ever need anything, this key will let you in here to me. No one else is allowed to bother me, but I will always have time for you.” He kissed her head again sweetly and left her to get prepared for the day.

Clare joined Tate just a few moments later, as if she had been waiting for her arrival all morning. Tate tried not to show her embarrassment too much, but it was hard after she had told Clare she wasn’t planning on giving in to the Kings desires so early. As if Clare could read her mind. “Don’t look so guilty… you’re the first to ever get this room, so he must think you are extra special.” Tate didn’t have much else to say after that. She was quiet in her thoughts and more than a little excited to hear that no other girls stayed here.

Tate found her mother waiting for her at brunch. She didn’t question her, but did give a bit of devious smile indicating that Tate couldn’t hide anything from her. They shared more innocent conversation and spent the early afternoon wandering the gardens, and meeting a few of the staff and some other noble women.

From a distance Tate saw Cal talking with a group of what looked to be other nobles. One of them turned to look right at her. He had salt and pepper hair, was tall, and if it wasn’t for the scowl on his face, she would think him handsome. She felt a tug in her chest and walked away before he recognized that she was looking at him. It was a strange feeling, but she thought he might have noticed her resemblance to her birth mother. Whatever it was, she had a bad feeling about that man, and made a mental note to ask Cal about him later.

The rest of the afternoon was more of the same. Places to see, people to meet. There was no big dinner planned, just a small family gathering. Tate was glad of that, she was hoping Cal could get to know her parents more, and she was also looking forward to spending another night with him. There were far too many things she still wanted to explore, especially in the air.

On their way to dinner, Tate had a sudden vision. It was of their village being raided by rogues. There were bodies everywhere, and buildings on fire. She saw some of the men and was shocked by how prepared they seemed. Usually rogues had nothing of value, and were more desperate ravagers. These men looked to be well armed military. When the vision ended, she was on her knees in the hall with her mother fanning her face, as if she had fainted. Tears were streaming down her face, and her mother knew whatever Tate saw brought a fear to her daughter that she had never seen before.

“What is it Tate?” Cora was trying not to cause a bigger scene.

“I need to speak with the Wizard… now.” Tate was hoping she was wrong, not all her visions had come true, but she didn’t know who else to tell. Alton seemed like someone she could trust.

As if he knew she needed him, Alton appeared from another room with in minutes of the vision. “We need to go somewhere private… follow me.” Tate and Cora picked up their pace and hurried into a room not far away with Alton. He murmured some spell at the door, and turned back to the still crying future Queen. “Tell me what you saw.”

Tate wondered how he knew for a moment, but decided it didn’t matter and shared her all too real vision with him. “What should we do? I can’t let all my village be killed!”

“Do you have an idea when this will happen?” He was trying to come up with some sort of plan, but he feared this was more than just an attack on her village. There was a bigger plan to overthrow the throne, but he didn’t know enough about it to convince the King to do anything.

“My visions are usually something that is going to happen soon, a day at most.” Tate could barely think straight with this knowledge.

“There may not be anything we can do to stop it then… I will go and tell the king it was my vision and get the guards on high alert.” Alton seemed much more powerful in that moment, not the meek old man she had met just last night.

“Alton,” Tate grabbed his arm before he left. “How did you know I needed to see you? I had only just asked and you were here.”

“I could sense you were in trouble and I had been searching for you… maybe even before your vision…” He already knew she must be his granddaughter, but after this vision he knew without a doubt she was his heir from the prophecy. Things were going to get dangerous really quickly. “Please go and lock yourself in the king’s chambers. I will tell him you are there.”

Alton left them to go find the King, he hoped Cal would take him seriously. Not like when he told Briggs of the threat he saw for his future, the guilt still consumed him when Briggs was fatally poisoned. The king was not far, and Alton approached as fast as he could without drawing attention. He was talking with Barrett, his uncle, and Alton hated that man. “Your Majesty, may I have a word?” He bowed low and waited for a reply.

“Of course, I was just telling Barrett here about my increase in powers. Seems our new Queen may have that effect on me.” The pair were winking at each other, as Barrett patted his nephew’s back in congratulations.

“Isn’t that something Alton? I’ve only heard of that happening with soulmates that each have strong magic.” Barrett’s mind was clicking, and he began to worry that the king may actually be getting stronger. This may complicate his immediate plans.

“It’s probably just a coincidence, I don’t believe your Queen has any magic in her. She is just a commoner, correct?” Alton addressed this to the king, hoping to lure Barrett away from the truth.

“That is correct, although, now that I think about it… Her eyes were glowing last night, isn’t that a magical trait?” Cal trusted both of these men, and didn’t see the harm in sharing this tid-bit with them.

“If you’ll excuse us, this won’t take long.” Alton cut the conversation short with that, and led the king away. “I apologize your Majesty, but I have just had an important vision and need to tell you about it.” He proceeded to tell Cal about the village being attacked, but he added a small interpretation. “They were from our army… dressed in our uniforms and equipped with our weapons.” He had made the connection from Tate’s description, but didn’t want to alarm her further.

“That can’t be! I would never order that!” Cal was appalled that his men would attack his own lands, and didn’t believe Alton at first. “Besides, I sent more men to the other side of the border just this morning to take care of reported rogue attacks. How could there be so many all at once?”

“Forgive me, but I fear there is a bigger plan here. I believe someone is trying to take over the throne and your life is in danger.” The seriousness in Alton’s eyes had Cal’s attention.

He took a deep breath, rubbing his brow as if deep in thought. “Who do you suspect?”

“I do not know, but I would not trust anyone. Anyone but your betrothed, she is more special than you know.” Alton didn’t want to give her identity away, while trying to convey confidence in the king’s choice.

“I don’t know what to think about this… Do you know where Tate is?” Cal was pacing back and forth, trying to make sense of all of this.

“I sent her to your chambers, please be careful. I believe you are in grave danger.” Alton could tell that Cal was unsure what the truth was. Barrett had been feeding him lies for years, and his judgement was clouded. “Do not tell anyone of this. It is of the utmost importance.”

With that Cal walked out of the room they were in, dismissed Barrett and wanted to go straight to his chambers. He needed to talk with Tate. Unfortunately, his uncle could tell his behavior changed. Without meaning to, Alton set the plan to take over the throne in motion. Barrett knew that if the king had truly met his soulmate, he would be unstoppable soon. He had to act now.

“Your majesty, where are you going?” Barrett called out to Cal after he was dismissed.

“To my chambers, I am done for the day…” Cal was losing his temper and wasn’t going to stop and explain himself any further. Barrett retreated in order to solidify his next moves. A nasty smirk spread on his face. The men he sent to kill Tate and make it look like rogues should be reaching her village tonight. She spoiled that part arriving early, but it would be even sweeter to kill them together in the capital. The kingdom would welcome him with open arms after he avenged their demi-god King and his Queen’s death.

Back in Cal’s chambers, Tate awaited his arrival and tried to figure out what she would say. The vision was haunting her, and she had hoped he could do something to stop her village from being destroyed. She felt her nerves tingle through her body, almost as if her very soul was on fire. Thinking about the fact that Cal felt stronger after they fully ‘connected’ she wondered if her own powers were enhanced. Focusing more than she had previously in the day, she tried to see more of her village’s future, and her own. As if there was still a block with anything related to Cal, she couldn’t see him at all. The village was also a blur, she saw the fire consuming everything, but then it all went black.

Tate awoke on the bed, not realizing that her mental effort had her collapsing just as Cal came to the room. “My Queen, what is wrong?” Cal was more nervous now, believing that something terrible might be happening. She opened her eyes to find Cal holding her close to his chest. Feeling the tingles burn through her body gave her a new courage. She needed to confess her gifts and vision, or all might be lost.

“How long have I been out?” Tate was trying to adjust to the present.

“Maybe an hour? You were falling as soon as I got here… what happened?” His voice was almost cracking with concern. He hadn’t felt this vulnerable since his father died.

“My King… Cal… I am the one who had the vision. I am gifted, and I see terrible things.” She cried in his arms. “We must stop it!”

Cal immediately believed her, and Alton. “But how? I cannot stop it, I didn’t order the attack, and it’s too far away…” For the first time in his life the king felt weak. Unable to control his world, or protect his love. “What can we do?”

“I don’t know, maybe go find Alton? He seemed to know more than he let on.” The couple immediately ran to find Alton. There was chaos in the palace, skilled rogues had breached the gates, and were killing almost everyone they saw. Cal couldn’t fathom why no one notified him, almost as if someone just let them in.

“Oh, my gods! Is that Clare?” Tate ran to the body of her new friend, checking for signs of life, but they were too late. This was all too much, and Tate was doing her best not to panic. “My parents! We have to find them, I can’t let them get hurt…” Guilt hit Tate, as if she could have stopped it if she had seen her vision earlier. They stopped at her parent’s room to find it empty. Deep fear struck and Tate tried to focus on them, in hopes she could feel their presence. The darkness consumed her, and she felt immense dread. She couldn’t think of anything but finding them and Alton. In a frantic state, she ran to where she last saw Alton near the garden.

“Pst!” Alton was hidden in the same room he had enchanted for them to speak earlier. “I am afraid we are too late…”

“What, how can that be? I just saw my village, not all of this…” Tate gestured to the Capital in turmoil. Cal was still just in shock and didn’t know how his kingdom could be falling so fast.

“It’s almost as if they knew…” Alton was being vague, and didn’t know how much to tell them

“As if they knew what?” Tate was grasping for details, she wanted to fix it all, but wasn’t sure she was strong enough.

“As if they knew who you are…” Just then, rogues broke through the room, but they weren’t really rogues. They were trained assassins, looking for the king, and they found him.

“Tate, run! I will try and buy you some time… Please go!” Cal was frantically trying to fight off the hoard of men coming after them. He was very skilled with a sword and was stronger than any other man, but these men were enhanced with magical protection, and there were far too many of them.

Alton grabbed Tate and ran. “Tate, you must use your gift. Only you have the power to stop this all…”

“But how? I can only turn back time a few hours at most…” Tate couldn’t see how that could help this dire situation.

“You are destined to be great… I know we can’t end like this. Please believe in yourself, go back to before you met Calvin. Only you can find out who the traitor is and get Cal to stop them before they know what is coming…” It was all too much. Tate couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How could she move time that much, and what could she do to stop all of this madness?

“How will I know who is the traitor?” Grasping for any details that might help her re-write the past.

“I don’t know… but find me and tell me about your birth, and the parents that raised you… I will be able to help you from there.”

Just as more rogues were encroaching on the pair, Alton fell back to give Tate enough time to focus. If she would have looked, she would have seen Alton fall, just as all the rest had, but she didn’t. She focused hard on the morning she met Cal. That cool crisp morning, before all of the things in her world changed. In that moment, she could have sworn she moved the elements and was hovering off the ground. Everything shook, and the tingles of her nerves began to burn. It was as if she was on fire for a brief moment, then it all went dark. Darkness that consumed all in its path.