A Bad Spell in Yurt - Wizard of Yurt - 1 (31 page)

I took both her hands in mine. It was no use referring her back to Joachim on this issue. "Maria, I've always been extremely fond of you, ever since I came to Yurt, and, no, it's not wrong sometimes to want to have fun."

She smiled rather complacently. "I knew you liked me. I knew you didn't just think of me as a sil y old woman. Otherwise you wouldn't have let me help with your telephones, wouldn't have tried to teach me that hard old Hidden Language, wouldn't have given me this beautiful shawl for Christmas, and wouldn't have been wil ing to lay down your life for me."

I kept hold of her hands and looked deeply into her eyes as I spoke. I wanted to make sure that she understood exactly what I was saying, that she recognized my genuine sympathy while having absolutely no seeds of possible future romance planted in her mind.

"You're right that I'm in love with the queen, even though I know perfectly wel she'l never look at me, and you're right that wizards never marry anyway. But I hope that you and I can continue to be good friends over the years. After al , I'm going to be living in Yurt too, and I like to have fun sometimes myself."

"I wil try to act more mature and wise," she said thoughtful y. "In fact, I may not have to try very hard. Coming this close to losing my soul has made me--wel , think about things I never used to worry about. I think I'l start going to chapel every day."

I remembered the demon saying that in two years she would fal into horrible and mortal sin. Even in the cel ars, it had seemed a probable lie. Sitting in my warm room, I wondered how I could have even half-believed it.

"If you notice me fal ing into sin again," she said, "do let me know."

"I wil if I notice," I said, sitting back and releasing her hands. "But this time I had no inkling, until just a few days ago. I suspected almost everybody in the castle at one time or another of working black magic, but I never suspected you."

I smiled then and stood up. As I hoped, she stood up too. "Over the months to come, some people in the castle might wonder if you had something to do with the dragon, but no one wil ever suspect you of evil intent. You're just going to be the mature, wise--though fun-loving--Lady Maria."

I bent to give her cheek a
very
chaste kiss and opened the door for her. She waved with her black-trimmed handkerchief as she hurried away.

I turned back to my room, reaching for my curtain to draw it shut so I could take a nap at last, but instead I stood at the window for several minutes, looking after her even when she was out of sight.

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