«What? How? I...»
Kara felt very confused, as she tried unsuccessfully to process. The witch lifted her hand, manifesting a colorless dome above their heads, similar to a soap bubble. «No one will know we're here, now.»
Laster fell down on his back, looking at the sky through his teary eyes. He put a hand on his racing heart, and calmly breathed, trying to adjust himself. In a whole year of practice and excruciating training, he never felt this exhausted.
The princess looked at the prince, still incapable of understanding. Verina caressed her cheek, with a tender smile, and Kara connected.
«So, wait... do I have a sister now?»
Verina giggled, as Laster choked up. The witch laid on the ground next to him, and so did the princess. «So, how do I call you, Prince-ss?»
The marshal closed his eyes, conjuring up his courage.
«...I don't know... Lara, maybe?...»
Verina inhaled sharply, feeling her neurons implode «Your family has a problem with names.»
«What's the problem with Lara?» said the princess, trying to defend the newly acquired sister.
«It's literally 'Kara' with Laster's initial.»
Kara snorted unceremoniously, as the marshal next to her started laughing lightly, caught out.
«I mean, also Kara and Kaster are not that different, if you think about it...»
«I get it, Verina, my dear, you are right.»
The three returned to silence, a bit more at ease, looking at the cloudy sky above them starting to pour. The magical barrier protected them from the rain, deflecting the small drops that flowed to the ground, as if they encountered a glass window.
«So... Lara...» said Kara, searching for the sister's hand, touching at her side bit by bit until she found it. «...when?»
Lara sighed, closing her eyes and resting. «There wasn't... an exact moment. It was... a sensation... that has always accompanied me. As I grew up and was ordered to fill my father's shoes, to learn how to be a man... I realized I was not that.»
«Do not misunderstand: command and battle... I still enjoy them. As Verina demonstrated well, gender doesn't really define tastes nor capabilities...»
The witch smiled, trying to imitate her lover; while her hand sure didn't feel as comforting, as she was almost a stranger, Lara was happy to feel her, at her side.
Kara suspired. She didn't really understand, but she didn't need to. She loved her sister like part of herself, no matter the name, the face or the distance.
«...wait...» said then, narrowing her eyes, realizing something «...when I came out to you, last year...»
«Yes...» Lara responded placidly «I was crying because I wanted to tell you my secret, too...»
«You could have told m-»
«I wasn't ready...»
«Are you, now?» Verina's serious tone shifted the mood a little. Lara turned around, to see her profile stare into the silvery heavens, as if to count the little drops above her one by one.
«Am I...?»
«Ready. To be a princess.»
Both Kara and Lara looked at her expectantly. «Is it... possible? For real?»
Verina replied, almost offended «Of course it's possible, it's not that complicated either. Were you seriously going to tell me your secret, in case of victory, without any certainty that I could help you?»
Lara bit her lip, realizing that would have been a dangerous move, if Verina had not been on her side...
«Kara, do you remember Jill?»
«Of course I do, what about him?»
«44 years ago, he was a 'she'. I 'treated' him when he was 10...»
Kara seemed very confused, imagining that sturdy, nervous man with a grey beard as a little girl. «Wait... and his son? How..?»
Verina lifted her hand, summoning little sparkles from her fingers «The answer with me is always 'magic'.» Lara looked at those tiny stars appear and disappear, fascinated, raptured by her words. «If Lara turns into a woman, she could bear children of her own, if she wants...»
«WHAT?!» Lara sat up, in complete disbelief «How can I... I don't...?»
«Oh, you would... you'd be exactly like me and Kara. Exciting, isn't it?»
Lara remained silent, with her jaw dropped, for several seconds, before returning with her back on the grass. «What do I need to do?»
Verina chuckled lightly, relaxing «Just drink a potion every day for a couple of years.»
Kara sighed, more confused by the minute «...that's it?»
«Yes? Your treatment is just as simple, my dear, don't be so surprised.»
«However...» continued the sorceress, «the ingredients are rare, not easy to find. I don't think we'll find any of the important ones here in Romiria...»
«I will pay any price, Lady Verina. Please, help me...» Lara turned, her clothes green of grass.
«Just Verina. It's not a matter of money, Princess, although it will be needed... it's availability, the problem. We'll have to fetch them far from here.»
«My friend Tofi in Elisia... I know for sure he raises the shakuts, or 'purple-horn snakes', up in Jirel, so we don't have to go to Libue for their venom... Black Fluorospar comes from the north, it's difficult to find but nothing a 'Prince' can't get her hands on... as for the Everlasting Dew...»
Kara snapped her fingers, remembering instantly a passage from an old book she read «It's in Shendu! They have these strange orchids that bloom in the dark and once a year they get hit by the Everlasting Core's light and produce the dew...»
Verina smiled tenderly, feeling the desire to kiss her girlfriend stronger; as she could contain herself no more, she used a small fuga to teleport to her side, leaving Lara behind; «Ohhh, yes, my dear, it's exactly like that; come here-»
«How do we get the dew? Shendu is sealed. And they would never give such a special product to me, an enemy royal...»
Verina deposited a small, quick kiss on her girl's lips, and continued «As you may have guessed by my techniques and my sword... I have a special connection with Shendu. I can go in and out as I please... Well, using a Portal, that is. They would give the dew to me.»
Lara's eyes brightened, as she could feel hope erupting from her heart for the first time. New tears started to fall, this time, for entirely different reasons.
Kara hugged her sister from behind, sharing that happy realization. She still had some difficulty imagining such a powerful truth had been hidden for so long inside someone she knew so well... memories started to connect, pieces of the puzzles she misunderstood or overlooked over the years; she felt closer to her like never before.
«Give me some time, Princess Lara, and you will be a girl only slightly less cute than Kara-» Verina sneered, playfully pinching her lover's cheek «-because no one can surpass her, I'm sorry.»
Princess Kara gave a very light headbutt to the witch, as a joke; Princess Lara laughed, relieved «Of course, my sister is the cutest. However, I will be second-best; watch me.»
YOU ARE READING
A Curse and A Kiss - Volume 1
RomanceA simple and sweet sapphic romance between a young princess and the powerful witch entrusted with curing her from a dark curse. A soft, medieval fantasy slice of life... with dark clouds on the horizon. Now available on Amazon ^^ https://www.amazon...
