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Midnight, on the bridge. Come alone.
Serena repeated the words out loud. Surely it was meant as a challenge. Someone wanted to duel her, perhaps? The note was anonymous, but she was not surprised it had found its way into her correspondence.
She wrinkled her nose and regarded the note with dislike, for it offered no details. The bridge, however, could only be the one leading to Lowtown.
Well, no matter. Whether the note was a cry for help or a challenge, it certainly was an invitation. She wouldn’t go to this “meeting” unprepared.
“I said, come alone.”
That didn’t take long, Serena thought, swiftly followed by—Isabela. She should have known. Turning around, she saw the pirate standing with her hands on her hips. Her gaze focused—completely involuntarily, of course—on the woman’s bare arms and thighs. Her mouth felt a bit dry.
“He followed me here,” she said quickly, almost defensively, as her arm dropped to her side.
Bear head-butted, then licked her gloved hand. She scratched the mabari between the ears. She was fool enough to go to Lowtown alone in the dead of night, but she wasn’t foolish enough not to bring her hound with her.
Isabela laughed briefly and the sound of it barely reached Serena’s ears. “All the way from Hightown?”
“He is very perceptive,” she replied firmly as she turned to her dog. Bear was looking up at her with his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth—not the look of a very persceptive dog. Isabela laughed again.
“You’re early,” she observed and walked towards Hawke.
Of course she had been bloody early. Serena had to bite her tongue before shrugging and saying, “I was bored” as nonchalantly as she could. She turned around and started down the bridge, careful to keep her strides short, with Bear and Isabela on either side of her.
“I had this whole speech planned out for when you got here. I even got a cloak—just don’t ask how or from whom. I was going to stand in the middle of the bridge with the cloak on and… Well, I hadn’t thought past that point. Then you showed up and there went my plan.” Isabela pouted just a bit and Serena wanted nothing more than to kiss that pout away. She knew, of course, that Isabela wasn’t one for much kissing—not even in private.
They were more than halfway across the bridge and there was a brief lull in conversation before Serena asked, “What are we doing here so late?” Oh, Isabela talked, but she never really said anything.
When they reached the end of the bridge Isabela turned around and rolled her eyes. “It’s barely midnight, Hawke. I forgot you’re an early bird.” She smiled until she was grinning from ear to ear. “Bird. Hawke.” Isabela dissolved into laughter.
Serena put her hands on her hips and shook her head, chortling. Bela was still laughing. It was a good sound, a sound that made her heart lift and ache at the same time. When her laughter subsided, Isabela looked up at and her eyes were shining so brilliantly, it knocked the breath from her. Serena could see Bela’s lips move, but couldn’t register the words, only managing to listen to the last word of her sentence.
She raised her eyebrows. “Booty?” she echoed, a bit louder than she would have liked. She didn’t like Isabela’s smirk one bit, which was to say she liked it a great deal.
Isabela shook her head briefly. “Come, Hawke, it’s this way,” she said as she descended the steps into Lowtown with Serena following her.
Always following her.