The Magician's Witch

Altum Spiritus

"Moon river, wider than a mile

I'm crossing you in style some day

(Oh, dream maker, you heartbreaker)

Wherever you're going I'm going your way

Two drifters off to see the world

There's such a lot of world to see

We're after the same rainbow's end

Waiting 'round the bend

My Huckleberry friend

Moon river and me"

"You were flat at the beginning of the second verse."

Eilis scowled. This was the last rehearsal before the shah's soiree. Her nerves felt frayed, and Erik kept correcting everything from her posture to each and every note that came out of her mouth.

"You are hovering," she snapped at him. "I'm already nervous about today, and your constant critiquing is not helping."

"This needs to be perfect, Miss Linskey." He had developed a habit of being more formal when he was agitated with her. "You are singing for the shah and the visiting diplomats. If something goes wrong, I am holding you entirely to blame."

Eilis rolled her eyes. "Oh, well, since you put it like that, no sweat! I got this!"

"This is not some village tavern you are squawking at," Erik shot back at her, "where half the people are sitting there in a drunken stupor barely keeping their eyes open and the other half are gawking at you; you are singing in front of men who dominate the world."

"Oh, and those men never get drunk or leer at women," Eilis volleyed in return. "I'll bet you anything that half of them will be drunk and the other half will be looking at the figure I cut in my dress."

Erik gaped at her, flabbergasted.

Eilis shrugged.

"In thousands of years of human evolution, men still adhere to three basic necessities: food, sleep, and sex. Try all you like to deny it, but it is a universal truth. However, I will qualify that some guys have been raised to be more genteel about their desires. But those desires remain perpetual regardless."

Eilis paused here, considering the circumstances she found herself in against her will, and her enthusiastic warden.

"Take our friend the young shah, for example. If I were a gambler, I would wager that he is well aware of why I am here and how I came to be a 'guest' in his palace. The shah likes his mind games and manipulations, and it is only a matter of time until he makes his move."

She shivered, not looking forward to the prospect of being propositioned by the young ruler of Persia. Her mind ran through a myriad of ill-fated romantic liaisons between monarchs and their consorts. The Lovers card from the reading she had done with Hester popped up in her head and she grimaced.

Being pursued by the Shah of Persia isn't exactly the kind of romantic rendezvous I had imagined for myself. How do you tell a powerful man that he is not your type without losing a limb or your life, she wondered.

Erik's eyes behind his mask showed outrage.

"The shah believes that you were brought here by me," he reminded Eilis.

Eilis gave him a sardonic roll of her eyes.

"I doubt he swallowed our story hook, line, and sinker. He is smarter than he looks. And in any case, do you really believe that will stop him? This is his palace. This is his country. So far as he is concerned, everything and everyone within Persia's borders is there for him to do with what he will, and no one can rebuff him for doing so. I mean, they can rebuff him, but at their peril. Yet another reason to leave here as soon as possible," she finished in an aside to herself.