She smiled briefly. "As you are victor, and my fiancé's champion, I also offer you the position of royal champion, should you like to take up that mantle. You need not reply now, for the duty is not a light one. We'll speak again in a few days."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Dismissing him, Korena turned her attention to Leonine. "Step forward, young sir, and kneel."
Lee's eyes widened, but he immediately obeyed.
Accepting the sword that Cimar offered her, Korena rested the flat of the blade briefly against the back of Lee's bowed head. "Do you swear to heed the vows of your knighthood and the commands of your queen and country?"
"I do so swear."
"Rise, then, Sir Leonine of Darting."
Leonine jerked his head up at that. "Of Darting."
She laughed and returned Cimar's sword. "Well, what is Grayne going to do with all that property? By rights it should go to Cimar, but I sensed he'd rather it go to you."
"Yes," Cimar said.
"Then so shall it be. Now the fun parts are concluded I must, alas, move on to business. Rise, Sir Leonine." When he'd stood, she continued, "I am afraid I must put you straight to work. Right now, with everything in upheaval, there are precious few persons I trust. I am appointing you to find my father's killer or killers and either bring me them, their heads, or a damned good explanation. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Your Majesty, and am honored to undertake such a task."
"Good. You can leave in the morning. There's little enough trail to follow anyway, so nothing to be accomplished by leaving immediately. I'm sure you'd like to be rested up too, especially after that impressive display back in the arena. You seem a mage of no small acumen."
"I have skill," Leonine said quietly. "Whether or not that's entirely a good thing, I've yet to decide. But it's saved lives, so I cannot complain."
"It's a burden as much as a blessing, as many such things are," Aliana said quietly from where she was still sitting close to the fire wrapped in blankets. "You show yourself well, young knight. Have faith in yourself, and I promise that people worthy of you will someday cross your path. Do not let the weak of heart weaken yours." She removed a hand from the blanket and cupped it with fingers spread, and little sparkles danced in her palm briefly before she withdrew the hand again.
"So you're the one who spelled my ring," Davrin said. "I had a guess."
"Thank you, my lady," Leonine said quietly, looking for a moment like he was going to cry. "If you will permit me, Your Majesty, I'd like to be off to prepare for my journey."
"Of course."
"We'll depart as well," Davrin said, "and leave you ladies in peace. I will see you in the morning." He took Korena's offered hand and kissed the back of it, then did the same to Aliana. Cimar and Leonine bowed, and the three of them departed.
Out in the hall, Cimar hugged Leonine tightly. "Have a care, Lee. Come home, I do not want to have seen you knighted only to immediately lose you."
"Going to take more than a few assassins to get me," Leonine said. "Now go away, I have things to do."
"See me before you leave," Cimar said, and gave him a playful push away before turning and heading in the opposite direction at Davrin's side. When they reached the main hallways, Cimar paused only to have one servant fetch some clothes and items from his own rooms to have brought to Davrin's, and another he sent to Croy in the armory. After that, they were entirely done with speaking to other people, or doing more than nodding as they kept walking,
It seemed to take years to reach Davrin's rooms, rooms that would not be his for much longer, given that it would only be weeks, if not days, before he was married and moved to the royal wing of the castle. Normally such a wedding would not take place until the mourning period was over, but given the grim circumstances…
"This has been a long, strange day," Davrin said as they finally reached his room, unlocking the door and pushing it open, and closing it firmly behind them before locking it again. He set the key on a nearby table and leaned against the door. "The kind of day you need a month of sleep to get over, but I'll be lucky to get a few hours before I must rise to help Korena with all that must happen before the burning ceremony."
"I have to see if I have clothes suitable for all we'll be doing the next several days," Cimar said with a laugh. "I'm not used to being so front and center, and I'm short a squire now to help me. I suppose I'll have to look into getting a new one."
"You're not going to have time for a squire, even if you don't want to be royal champion." Davrin immediately flinched and dropped his gaze. "I'm sorry, I'm making a lot of assumptions. You probably would love to go back to your quiet archives."
Cimar finished removing all his myriad layers, until he was only in hose and undertunic, then stepped into Davrin's space and twined arms around his neck. "I'm exactly where I want to be." He kissed Davrin softly and then drew back to add, "Anyway, now everyone is going to want to pester the mighty dragon that slew a lindworm and a hellhound and tossed around the king. My only hope for sanity is by being too busy and imperious while serving you for anyone to be allowed to approach me."
Davrin laughed and dragged him back in for a longer, vastly more thorough kiss. "You were magnificent," he said as they drew apart again. "A dragon. The chance of that is one in the thousands. No wonder you preferred to keep it to yourself. I've never seen a dark blue one, either. I thought dragons were always paler greens and browns and such."
"I have no idea," Cimar replied. "I've searched the archives high and low, and the only other blue dragon I can find mention of was in a kingdom nowhere close to ours. If there is rhyme or reason to the coloring, no one has figured it out yet. I'm also apparently larger than most dragons, though that's hard to say for certain. Suffice to say I am strange, and that is just one of the reasons I preferred to keep the matter private. Don't go apologizing yet again. I'd rather you just kiss me again before I fall asleep."
Smiling, Davrin gave the requested kiss, slow and sweet, as though savoring a rare treat. Cimar shivered and nuzzled him when they drew apart.
"I am happy you are mine at last, though I wish Ballior was here to tease us both over it."
"I'm sure he'll find a way, in this life or another," Cimar replied. "Now let's go to bed before I fall asleep on my feet."
"My knight," Davrin murmured as he playfully bowed Cimar toward the bed before setting to work on his own clothes.
When he reached the bed, Cimar stripped off his remaining clothes and hastily climbed beneath the covers.
Davrin threw more wood on the fire, then joined him, and Cimar immediately moved to cuddle close, so he could fall asleep his new favorite way: head on Davrin's chest, listening to his heartbeat.
*~*~*
The weather had grown worse overnight, and Cimar could not wait to go back to bed. He was far more worried about Leonine than himself, though. "I wish you'd wait until the weather calmed."
"I'd be waiting until spring," Leonine said with a laugh. "I'll be fine. It's not like I'm new to the miseries of winter weather."