Two Princes

Chapter 9

The dawn woke Theo. She had left the shutters open and the weak sun filled her tiny room. A cat wailed outside, its piercing cries getting louder and louder. She struggled to open her eyes, sleep stuck them together and a dull headache throbbed in her temple. She so wanted to sink back into oblivion, but she had to get up and check her father's apparatus. He was an early riser and would want everything ready for today's investigations.

She had lain awake for hours last night waiting for Nikolai but he hadn't come and her bed was still empty and she was left exhausted and frustrated. It was typical of the entitled brat. Night upon night he had disturbed her and now when she actually anticipated his visit with excitement he did not come. She was furious with herself for allowing him to use her in this way. He was probably this very moment in the arms of some wanton, large breasted lady. It made her feel ill imagining it. Oh why had she allowed him to seduce her? How could she return to their previous way of being, of needling each other and bickering? But if Theo was honest with herself, that old way of being had changed some time ago. For a long time now, Theo had known how Nikolai made her feel, how her heart thumped and her limbs trembled when he was near. And to discover that he felt the same had been overwhelming. But where was he now? And who was he with? Why had he not come?

Her father was shuffling around his laboratory, dressed in his robe with ratty old turkish slippers on his feet. His gnarled old hands shook as he filled one of his glass globes with water and Theo felt a surge of affection for him, as well as a pang for how old he had become.

"Good morning, my precious," he croaked.

Theo kissed him on his papery cheek. "Good morning Papa, you've risen early."

"Well, my head was buzzing with ideas. I think I may have come up with a way to make that cough elixir more palatable."

"That's good," she said distractedly and began tidying one of the benches, brushing off remnants of dried lavender releasing a cloud of heavenly scent into the air.

"No Nikolai this morning?"

Theo abruptly stopped what she was doing. "What do you mean?"

"I may be an old man, Theodora, but I am aware of what goes on under my own roof."

"But ..." Theo stammered, her panicked heart beating fast in her chest. No one knew about Prince Nikolai's nocturnal visits. It was an almost sacrosanct secret between the two of them. Nikolai had not even told his brother.

"It's alright, my lamb. I decided a long time ago to leave you be. You have had precious little pleasure in your life and that charming scoundrel has always made you happy."

"Happy? We've always done nothing but argue."

Her father smiled wisely. "And that makes you very happy."

Theo's chest was still tight. If someone else knew it suddenly made the situation real. When it had been just her and Nikolai in a dark room it hadn't been real at all but now ...

"He's marrying in less than a month," she blurted out.

"I know. You'll get through it. You're strong. You're my daughter."

Theo felt as if a gate had opened up inside her. "But Papa - I will have to see him with his wife. And they will have children. And he won't ever come to me again!" And she felt unstoppable tears welling in her eyes.

Her father put down the vial he had been peering at and looked steadily at her instead. "It's like that is it? You love him."

Theo shook her head vehemently and began to say no but then closed her mouth. She loved him, it was true. She loved him desperately.

"Oh my precious girl," her father said as she buried her face in the thick warmth of his robe and cried.

---

Helene's second lesson was delivered in Isabella's smokey voice, a voice so drenched with sexual allure that she probably did not have to do much more than purr a few choice words to have men fall at her feet. And then there was the way she looked, Helene thought, noting the tiny waist, the voluptuous hips, the heaving breasts attempting to escape the low cut bodice, the wide sensual mouth, the vivid colouring.

Helene looked at herself in the mirror, as she had been instructed to do, and saw a pale, insipid waif.

"What do you see?" Isabella asked from behind her.

"I see a girl with red hair who is too pale and too skinny."

Isabella sighed. "Look at yourself as someone else would. Imagine you are a man."

Helene was suddenly assailed with a vision of full, slightly parted lips surrounded by a dark beard and navy blue eyes darkening as they gazed at her. What did Gabriel see when he looked at her in that intent way he had?

"What would a man like about this woman in front of him?" Isabella asked.

"She has high cheekbones."

"Is that all?"

"And very blue eyes."

"Go on ..."

"And freckles on her nose that he might want to kiss."

Isabella smiled and reaching up pulled out some of the pins from Helene's carefully wound hair, causing a cloud of red curls to puff out around her face.

"My hair is quite nice, I suppose. I imagine a man might like to run his fingers through it."

"Yes, I think he would. And the rest?"

"The skin on my shoulders and chest is unblemished and soft."

"It is. And I think he might wonder what your breasts look like under that dress."

Helene gave a little gasp and covered her breasts with her hands as if they had actually been bared.

"You have a high waist and long legs," Isabella said, resting her hands on Helene's waist. "Men like long legs. They imagine them wrapped around them."

Helene blushed.

"Have I shocked you? It is necessary for you to learn such things. If you know what men fantasize about, then you can play to those fantasies. You can tease them until they lose all their sense. It will give you such power, my dear, such power."

That thought was quite exhilarating. Helene would like to have power. She was sick of being ignored and disregarded.

"All it takes is a little awareness and then practice. The art of seduction is like any other skill. The more you practice, the more proficient you will become."

"But I only wish to seduce Nikolai," Helene reminded her tutor. It wasn't as if she wanted to become an accomplished courtesan, she only wished to make her fiancée pay attention to her. Surely she could practice on him.

"I think you should be very cunning where the Prince Nikolai is concerned," Isabella said, her voice suddenly all business. "If you do it right he will not know what has hit him. You need to become proficient and then unleash the well practiced seductress onto the Prince. It will stun him into submission! So now I will teach you a few tricks that help lure your prey, and you must go and find a suitable candidate on which to practice them."

Helene gulped and looked at herself in the mirror again. She already seemed older and wiser, and even a little more curvaceous, if that could actually be possible. And of course she already knew who could be her practice subject. It would be dangerous, there was no doubt about that, like playing with fire but the mere thought made her heart hammer wildly in her chest and something carnal and wanton stir inside her.