Warm Company

...She was riding side-saddled, decked in a new coat of fur she had been given by the attendants. They didn’t know that she couldn’t feel the witry chill, that it was she who summoned the icy blasts now and then just to watch them shiver. “You are angry with me.” She hissed. “Why is that?”
“Need I really explain myself to a sorceress as prescient as yourself?”
“You have other more pertinent questions. Answer mine and perhaps I’ll give you an answer to yours.”
Urdul regarded her askance. She did not seem to be teasing…but he was wary of what she did or did not seem—she always only seemed. “We’ve become pawns in your game. You’ve convinced me that manipulation comes effortlessly to you. You’ve done an excellent job of proving that, among other things.”
Again she began her mad grinning. “Can’t take a little teasing, dear Lord Urdul? But hear me, I only wish to aid hidden desires in surfacing. It is torturous to have to keep them in.”
“Well, my desires have been made clear enough to all and sundry…if not overstated.”
“Indeed, but I’m referring to Isobel.” She chuckled when Urdul’s brows lowered together. “If you could only know what it’s like in there…the way I know, the way,” she flicked wrist and long fingers with a flourish, “she knows.” She was leaning over, breathing against his shoulder because he refused to turn towards her. “That soul, that cradle of whispers where moments are splintered into needles of bliss or pain, piercing him perpetually from the inside. Ahh…his memories of you.” Urdul’s horse almost reared when he jolted back the reins. He would have galloped off, but Mergaux had caught hold of the bridle and held his steed steady as she continued her dramatic speech. “They are hidden in a cranny, waiting to be dragged out. I’d like to go there and untangle a string of it—imagine a wisp of secrets—and tie it on his hair for all to see, for him to remember how it had felt to be loved by a body...”

---excerpt from Chapter XIII. Queen’s Cradle of the delightfully twisted tale called Cradle of Whispers by

I guess y'all can guess why I chose to draw this scene. And no, it's not Urdul, or even Mergaux(well, she is made of evil) Full view please!

This is supposed to be my entry to her contest, but then I'm not really qualified to join in the first place... But that never stopped me!

And I hope this doesn't stop ya guys from joining! =Delurianne has extended her deadline so please drop by her page, visit her gallery, and enjoy