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"I'm not like him. I'm not. I'm not."
Eretria screamed, alone in the forest, dropping to her knees. She used people, she stole, she took what she wished. But she was not Cephalo. And the look in Amberle's eyes in the bath that night, the curl of her lip as she dismissed her--it was a better memory than this one.
She sank against a tree and held her knees to her chest. Her back was scratched, a bite on her shoulder stung. The marks were nothing, and yet they meant so much. Amberle had tried to get away. She'd tried to fight her off. And Eretria hadn't listened. She had taken her. And seeing her face, her wide eyes, the fear and confusion, her swollen lips and naked form, she couldn't bear it. Her ears--Eretria had done a number on her ears, bitten them raw and red.
Sickened, Eretria pressed her face into her knees.
She remembered only pleasure, need and want and desire. She had always wanted her mouth on Amberle's body, mapping every inch, to see how humans and elves differed. Wil was a sign that they did not differ much, but there were details, and not simply in the delicacy of her frame and the grace of her motions, and her stupid, beautiful ears.
"Hey." Wil loomed above her.
Eretria scrambled back, away from him. "Get away from me."
"Hey." He raised his hands. "I'm just making sure you're all right?"
"Me?" Eretria closed her hands into fists. "Worry about Amberle! She's not the one who--"
"Amberle sent me after you."
Eretria bumped into a tree, falling over. "To catch me? Chain me up? No. I know what I did, and I'm leaving."
"Um, well, actually, you know those blue flowers--"
Eretria sat up. "What?"
Wil looked awkward. His stupid mouth made him look even more awkward. "Well, Amberle was telling me how she was depressed that you two couldn't really talk. You're guarded, and, well, she's got her own ways of deflecting. And I just figured that maybe loosening you two up would be good. I might have . . . overfilled the dose."
"Great. You dropped my inhibitions and I jumped her! She didn't deserve that!"
Wil was turning red. "I tried to pull you off her. But, um, she punched me."
"What?" Eretria's voice was flat.
"I probably shouldn't have watched as much as I did, but from my viewpoint, there was some mutual, um, jumping going on." He looked sad.
"You're serious."
"And Amberle's sort of freaking out. She knows you don't have a great history with non-coerced sex, and now she's really pissed at me. I thought you guys would just, you know, have a heart to heart. But banging it out is good too?"
"I don't think I can look her in the face."
"Well, you could always just show up naked in her tent. I think she'd be cool with that."
Eretria had a quick visual of Wil showing up naked in Amberle's tent. It was disgusting. "Leave me the fuck alone."
"Okay."
Somehow, Eretria wasn't surprised when the next thing she heard was Amberle rushing through the forest like a frightened deer.
"Oh God." She dropped her face into her hands.
Amberle lowered herself to her knees in front of her. "Hey," she said. Eretria's hands slowly dropped, and Amberle reached out, taking one and pressing it gently between her own. "Are you okay? I am going to string Wil up by his ankles. I'm so sorry--"
"What are you sorry for?" Eretria rolled her eyes. "I'm fine. One stupid bout of drugged up sex isn't a big deal. And anyways, you already knew I wanted to bang you." She let her eyelids lower suggestively.
Amberle squeaked and sat back. "Um.'
"So, it's a whatever, right? We have a fucking world to save."
"Why'd you run away? I thought--" Her lower lip quivered, her wide-as-fuck rabbit eyes glistened. It was worse than a knife to the gut.
"I thought I'd hurt you," Eretria spat out. "If I hurt you like that-- You forgave Cephelo over and over again. But I wouldn't want it. I'm not some dog who can't control itself--unless Wil fucking drugs me--so if I ever hurt you like that, just cut me down. It will be kinder than what I do to myself."
Amberle, looking utterly stunned, sat back on her heels. "You too," she said. "Hurting you scares me most too."
Eretria shut her eyes. "That's not what I said."
"I know." Amberle stood and offered her a hand, hoisting her onto her feet. "But it's what you meant."
#
Amberle was always weird. Elves. But now she was weirder. She kept trying to hold Eretria's hand, or link elbows, and Eretria had to shake her off. It was stupid, holding hands, when you might be ambushed at any second.
Wil was looking hangdog. He was clearly still in the dog house, which was great. Especially because it meant that she didn't have to watch any shirtless makeout sessions. Which, though, aesthetically pleasing, were not good strategy, and also made her feel a little sick to her stomach.
He'd also, apparently, decided that they were buddies now. He would flop down next to her while Amberle was wandering about, doing something vaguely helpful, and look at Amberle, and then give her a look that was clearly 'girls.' This was irritating.
And then everything went bad.
Usually things go bad in seconds. You don't have time to spend a night moping, or even to go off to take a shit in the woods. You just fight and hope you survive to do some laundry later. But this kind of bad had breathing room.
Treed in a tiny, dank, narrow cave with Amberle bleeding profusely was not Eretria's idea of fun, especially because at any moment another Demon could find them -- one who knew how to climb -- and they would be toast. Crispy, charred toast.
Amberle was shirtless for patching up purposes. It didn't mean much, as there was hardly any light, but there was a lot of skin, and Eretria didn't want to touch her, because her hands were filthy -- mostly with Amberle's blood, but still.
"We could die tonight."
"We could always die."
Amberle sighed a little. Eretria wrapped bandages around her side.
"The visions I've been getting. I just feel like one of us--"
"No. Shut up," Eretria snapped. "Anyone of use could die at any time because there are fucking Demons after us. That's what we need to focus on. Not some sort of idiot self sacrifice. I'm not going to--"
She could not finish the thought.
Amberle sat up, grimacing in pain, because she wasn't supposed to use the muscles that had a hole in them. But she was Amberle. Her eyes glistened, because she was a fucking elf. And then her hands were on Eretria's face, pushing her hair back over her ears, rubbing her thumbs around the smooth (normal) human curve. She drew her in. Eretria did not think about what came next, couldn't think about it, because if she thought about it and then it didn't--
Amberle's lips pressed against hers, kissing her. Eretria fucking broke.
It was embarrassing.
When she pulled away, tears were streaking Eretria's cheeks, and Amberle rubbed them away, and kissed her again, but this time right between her nose and her cheek. "I don't want to lose you either," she said.
"That's not what I said," Eretria croaked out.
"I know."
#
The earth shook. The hole opened up in front of them, deep smelling sharply like earth.
Amberle's eyes had rolled back in her head, her hands were raised, the wind whipping around her hair. "It needs me. It needs--" She took a staggering step toward the hole.
"No!" Eretria shoved her back, fiercely enough to knock her off her feet. "It's not having you! If it needs fucking nitrogen--" She wrenched out a knife and, abruptly, sliced a deep gash into her arm.
Blood poured out, soaking the seed, draining into the hole.
Eretria went light headed. She fell to her knees.
The last thing she remembered was Wil's fucking ugly face looking freaked out and slender fingers grasping at her arm, pressing palms against it to staunch the flow of blood.
#
"I suppose when I imagined you sitting vigil by someone's bed, I thought it would be some hot guy."
Eretria fought through the fog to some semblance of consciousness.
"It's not just guys." Amberle's voice, murmuring.
"Seriously?" A moment of silence. "I thought you got over that when you got over me."
The smug smirk in the voice was enough to make Eretria fight to try to move, if only to slap this bitch.
"Shut up. I was never into you." There was a touch of amusement in Amberle's voice.
"Nah. Apparently you have a thing for human rover girls." A tsk. "You never change, Amberle. You make trouble wherever you go."
"I don't mean to."
"Princess. All you do is whatever you want. You just tend to want everything you're not supposed to have."
"I didn't have a choice about the tree. It was . . . some kind of fate."
"The tree didn't make you sneak out for fencing lessons from the age of eight. Maybe the tree made you fall for half-dead rover girl here, but it didn't make you act on it."
"She saved my life." A huff of breath. "She saved it over and over again."
"I'm not saying it's not worth it. But your uncle won't be pleased."
"She saved the world!"
"That doesn't have much to do with her sleeping with his niece. He'd get shirty if it was that half-elf dumbass you were banging. He didn't much like Lorin, if I recall. But she's a human. That will make things harder."
"Only if there are things at all."
"Oh?"
"It's not like we get much time for romantic heart-to-hearts when the world is about to end."
"But you've banged her, right?"
Silence.
"That's a . . . yes? You're blushing like crazy."
"It's complicated. And I don't-- I don't want to rely on what was. When she wakes up, I want . . ."
But she didn't finish, and Eretria slipped back into unconsciousness.
#
Fucking elves.
Eretria hated people who were polite. It made it so much harder to tell who hated you. And she was pretty sure most of them hated her. She hated them too. Amberle was around, busy doing princess things and talking to people who needed to see the princess. Wil had given her a hug while she was still stuck in bed and took off on some magical elven healer training journey. Whatever.
The only person bothering to give her the time of day was Catronia, or whatever, that bitch who she vaguely remembered teasing information out of Amberle while she was mostly passed out from blood loss. And Catania smirked.
"You know, if you hate it here so much, you could just leave."
And give her the fucking pleasure? Hell no. "Fuck you."
She smirked again. "You could fake leaving, and our princess would rush out all worried and tell you not to go, and you could buckle under like a spineless, lovesick goober for her all over again."
"Seriously, handmaid! Fuck off! I'll leave if I want to leave. Amberle can suck it either way!"
Catrianinia grinned. "Aww, you're actually kind of cute. I can kind of see her point now."
Eretria pressed her hands against her face and groaned.
"Come on, this has got to be getting really boring for you. Let's make trouble."
Suddenly, Eretria kind of understood why this girl and her princess (not her princess, the fucking elf servant girl's princess, don't misunderstand that!) were best friends.
It wasn't like Eretria cared or anything, but when Catania snuck her into the ballroom where a receiving line wound all the way out the door, and from up in the balconies, she could see Amberle, greeting elf after elf, she couldn't help noticing how she looked a little greyed out. She looked beat. And everyone was asking her for shit. That was no good. Amberle was a fucking soft touch.
"Well, I guess I could come out to your farm and bless your trees if--"
"NOPE!" Eretria bellowed over the crowd.
Everyone looked up. There was also a suspicious movement that looked like archers. If she got shot for doing this, she was going to fucking kill Catraninny. Amberle stepped toward her, waving a hand behind her that was clearly directed at the archers.
"Oh? Do you have an opinion to share, Rover Girl?" Amberle's tone was arch, but amused.
"Yup." Eretria grinned. "How is it that I got left in bed for three weeks and am feeling awesome, while you look like you just got off the road?"
"Perhaps because you were mostly dead?"
"Well, sorry, princess, but you look like shit. And until you stop looking like shit, there will be no traveling for tree-blessings or other kinds of garbage that are obviously just a chance to get you away from the fucking palace so they can fucking slit your throat."
A flinch went through the crowd. Maybe they were all nice people or whatever, but seriously, strategy.
"Eretria . . ." Amberle made a slight shifting apologetic move with her shoulders that said she was going to be turned down.
"I'm not fucking around," Eretria snapped. "Go to bed."
"You can't tell me wha--"
But enough was enough, and though angry, stubborn Amberle was one of her favorites, Eretria found shouting from a balcony to be kinda boring. Especially when there were all these ropes. She liked ropes. So she grabbed one that looked like it was fastened somewhere right over the stage, and she jumped.
She hit Amberle full on, grabbing her around the waist, a firm grip on her belt. The sandbag dropped, and they shot up into the catwalk above where a cluster of archers were looking confused.
"She's taking a break," Eretria said. "Tell them to come back next week." And she hauled Amberle down the hallway into her bedroom.
The door clicked shut behind them.
Amberle was looking at her with that stupid affectionate look that always made Eretria want to punch her . . . or smother her with a pillow . . . or shove her over her knees and smack her ass . . . until she cut it out.
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me for saving you from yourself. You need to do that. It's kind of the easiest one."
"You really are feeling better."
"I'm fine. You're the one who looks like death warmed over, princess."
Amberle laughed. "You mentioned that."
"Look," Eretria kicked a chair. "I just . . . I wanted to tell you that I'm leaving."
"What?" Amberle's face went from grey to white and she took a half step back, hitting the bed and sitting on it. "What?" There was a crack in her voice that felt like a chasm.
"What am I supposed to do here? This is your kingdom, and you and your uncle are running it, though seriously, you need to not run yourself into the ground. And I'm the half-dead human that their princess brought home, and they all look at me like I'm going to start to steal things or like, tear my clothes off and dance, any moment. It's a pretty place, but it's not my world. I'm a rover. I belong on the road."
"If you go, I'm going with you."
Eretria blinked. A desperate certainty was in her voice. "Princess . . ."
"No! Maybe you don't need me, but I--" Amberle stood up, took a few staggering steps toward her. Eretria grabbed her before she could fall over. Seriously, this idiot needed to take care of herself.
"Okay! Not yet. I won't leave yet. But maybe you could take some time off and show me why I ought to stay?"
Amberle's face lit up, and Eretria was bundled into a hug.
Fuck it.
#
"Lunch time."
At some point, Eretria realized that Catania had managed to get her privildged access to Amberle's entire schedule. It was a stupid schedule, and Eretria carefully penciled in blocks of time for breaks. No one seemed to mind when she scheduled in a work-free lunch that involved picnics and exploring.
Then people started coming to her if they wanted to get on Amberle's schedule, which was weird, but she'd figured out the pattern, and it seemed like it was working out okay. People complained, but not important people.
"You need better clothes." Catania, irritating as always, gave her a once over.
"I'm not wearing fucking elf-silks. They don't protect you from anything."
Cat grinned. "I can do better than that."
"I don't want to look like an elf!"
Somehow, Catania managed to get her dressed in things that were not pretty elf outfits, but looked nice. Amberle chewed the inside of her lower lip a lot when they were out for lunch or sparring. But she didn't kiss her.
It wasn't important.
"Who is organizing these guard shifts!" Eretria threw a notebook at Catania. A gap had very nearly let in an assassin, and that was not okay.
"Guard Captain Triell."
Eretria stormed down to the guard house, found Triell, and punched him until he stumbled back into his chair. "What do you want?" he gasped.
"Give me the shift schedule."
After that, Eretria spent a lot of time down in the guard house, vetting the guards and making sure they weren't stupid. It was part of the job description, usually, so there was only so much she could do. Still, she could promote the smarter ones.
She could . . . promote . . . the smarter ones.
Eretria pinned Catania in the hallway. "Why am I in charge of the guard now?"
"Um?" Catania raised an eyebrow. "Because you beat the shit out of Triell and because it's obvious to anyone within a six mile radius that you would protect Amberle with your life."
"I wouldn't."
"You have." Catania shook her head. "Anyway, what's the issue?"
"Is this some sort of sop? Is this Amberle trying to convince me not to leave?"
"Did you tell Amberle you were in charge of the guards?"
". . . no?"
"So then, when I mentioned that you were down there sorting things out when she was looking for you yesterday, and she gaped at me and then asked me twenty six questions about it wasn't her faking surprise?"
"She didn't . . . know?"
Catania rolled her eyes. "You two are the worst. You have no sense of protocol. You just bend people to your wills, and then you get surprised when they bend."
Eretria slumped into a windowseat. "She bent me."
"Bend her right back."
#
"You look nice." Amberle's hands were clasped awkwardly behind her back. She swayed a little, in her elf-silks, under the dappled shadows of the fancy-ass holy tree, or whatever. Elves were weird about trees.
Eretria grimaced. Cat had done her best, but apparently ceremonial outfits were standardized, and the pickled leather corset underneath was already a little out of line. Defensive clothing got in the way of communing with nature, or whatever the fuck.
There was some bunch of elves from elsewhere who had come by to join in stupid seasonal ceremony number one, and the fucking guard schedules for that had to be intertwined with their guards, and it was all crazy. Amberle had been in talks for an alliance, or some shit, and had missed Eretria's carefully scheduled lunches. But at least they'd made it out here on time, and there was some kerfuffle about precedence order that Catania had to deal with and Eretria had no responsibility for that made everyone else late. It was nice to be alone for even just a few breaths.
The quiet and light breeze under the tree, wisping out Amberle's silks and the bits of her hair that came out of the careful ceremonial braids, almost made Eretria understand why elves did stupid things like worship trees. (Regular trees. She got that trees of power were fucking scary.)
"Fuck," said Eretria. "It's nice to have a breath. These idiots are going home soon, right?"
"Right." But there was an odd twist in Amberle's voice, a sigh of tiredness. Catania had suggested that she let herself get in on the meetings with these people, but that felt kind of weird. She was still the random pet human Amberle had brought home, even if she'd managed to make a lot of work for herself.
(She couldn't help it if other people's stupidity made her chafe.)
"Maybe after they leave we can fuck off and wander for a bit. I'll even let you go around and bless random idiots' trees."
Amberle's smile was easy and warm, but there was a hesitance there, a reserve. "That sounds wonderful."
"So, no."
Amberle flinched. "I didn't say that."
"I know." Eretria pinched her lips together. "But you meant it."
"I meant it sounds wonderful! I . . . I'd do anything to go wandering with you again. But when these people leave there are going to be a lot of things to do. And--"
"And no. I got that." Eretria rolled her eyes. She turned away, looking for the late procession. "Where are these fuckers?"
"Eretria. Please--"
Amberle's hand curled around her arm. Her eyes were probably glistening again, as if just because she was sad about it could make Eretria feel less like a useless interloper, like she'd built herself a place here for nothing.
"Look!" Eretria whirled, throwing her arm off. "I know you're the princess. I know you have a lot of shit to do. I know that I am your fucking pet human whose only responsibility is to make sure you don't die of A. exhaustion or B. assassins. I know that what you want, what you need to do is important. But what about me? Why did you beg me to stay? Does what I want matter to you at all?"
Amberle's lips parted, she hovered, her hands floating out, not touching Eretria. There was a hurt in her face that said she was going to apologize.
"And don't you fucking say you're sorry!"
Amberle dropped her hands, the muscle in her jaw flickered. "I am sorry! I'm sorry that you're unhappy here! I wanted you to stay, but if you want to go, then go! I want you to be happy! I want to make you happy! But honestly, I don't know what you want. I don't think you really want to leave. Do you want to wander for a few weeks with me? Is that everything you want?" Amberle's voice broke a little. "I want it too. I just--"
"What do I want?"
Amberle's jaw stuck out, stubborn and annoyed. And Eretria was pissed, because there was no reason for her to be annoyed. It wasn't like she had been unclear.
"You want to know what I want?" Fuck it. Eretria grabbed her, one hand around the neck and the other around the back of her head, and pulled her down and kissed her.
"Finally," Amberle murmured against her lips, and then she slanted her mouth against Eretria's and they were kissing again, properly, and Eretria couldn't help the awful little whimpering sounds that kept building in her chest from coming out. She needed this. She wanted this. Her hand moved up to stroke Amberle's ear, twitching off the sheath that kept the tip from her questing fingers and flicking it away. A rumble like a growl came up from Amberle's chest, and the kiss turned rough. Eretria's back slammed against the trunk of the tree, and she hooked her legs around Amberle's hips, hoisting herself up to get the upper hand.
For a moment the kiss broke, and she was looking down into Amberle's eyes, laughing, dancing with hope, and she was fucking beautiful, and so irritating, and Eretria kissed her again.
That went on for a while.
"Ahem."
Eretria's hand froze in it's position up Amberle's top. The, whatever, sarong skirt thing around her own waist was unfastened and slipping down. Amberle jerked back, and Eretria unfroze in time to grab her skirt and hike it up.
Ameberle's face was bright red. Her ceremonially braided hair was a mess. A bitemark shone bright on her ear.
King Ander was standing there with one eyebrow arched. "So, I'm going to assume that betrothal is off the table now."
Amberle got even redder, if that were possible. Eretria looked from her to her uncle and then at the gathered ambassadorial elves, and a large contingent of hot sons.
"What the fuck?" She scowled. "You were on the table? When was someone going to tell me about this?"
"I told you you should go to the meetings," Catania piped up helpfully.
"Well," King Ander shrugged. "It doesn't matter anymore." He turned to the assembled elves. "My apologies, but it seems that my niece has already decided on her betrothed. Perhaps if we had not dallied so long arguing precedence?" He sounded seriously irritated, and Eretria almost liked him. Then, of course, his words registered.
"Betrothed? Decided? What?"
Catania sighed. "You never listen when I tell you about elven traditions, do you?"
"Only when they're a security risk." Eretria looked around, and realized she was holding Amberle's hand. When did that happen? She didn't let it go. "So what was supposed to happen at this ceremony?"
"The prospects line up," Catriona said. "The princess gets to pick. A kiss under this tree seals the deal."
"Seriously?" Eretria jerked Amberle around. "You were going to do this?"
Amberle made a sad face. "I didn't really think I had a choice."
"I was going to push you into line," Catania offered cheerfully.
"Well, tradition is tradition," King Ander said. He clapped Eretria on the shoulder. "Welcome to the family, princess-consort."
Then, obviously, chaos descended.
#
Chaos was every contingent of visiting elves coming up with ways to complain about this unexpected and impromptu betrothal.
"It doesn't count because she's human/a woman/not royal/there were no witnesses/she didn't know about the ceremony/human."
Catania, however, was clearly prepared for this and was offering counterarguments for each. Eretria had a headache. Amberle was still holding her hand.
"I need to get out of here," she muttered.
"Okay." Amberle led the way to a back door and they ducked out of the audience room and into a quiet hallway. Eretria looked at their joined hands and then looked at her.
"I'm still pissed at you."
Amberle sank. "I'm sorry. If you don't want this, I'm sure there's a way--"
"Shut up." Eretria glowered. "For someone who always used to get off by knowing what I meant when I had said nothing to that effect, you're really getting everything wrong right now."
"It's harder when it really, really matters." Amberle looked chastened, ducking her head, and Eretria wanted to slap her. And kiss her. Mostly kiss her.
"You were going to marry one of those idiots?!"
"I," Amberle winced. "I was really just keeping it on the table so they would stay. I wasn't planning on kissing anyone under that tree."
"Not even me?" Eretria raised an eyebrow. Amberle flushed a little. Intended result, success.
"I didn't want . . . I kissed you before. I just wanted to be sure that you actually wanted me, and it wasn't just me reading into things."
Eretria sighed. "You're good at reading into things. Don't shoot yourself in the foot."
"So you're . . . okay with this? I didn't mean for it to go to betrothed so quickly--"
Eretria laughed. She couldn't help herself. "So quickly? So you had plans for it to go there eventually? Tell me, princess, did your plans involve luring me under that tree and not telling me what it meant? When in the timeline were we supposed to get married? What are our kids' names going to be?"
Amberle was bright red again. It was a good look. "I didn't mean-- I mean, I hoped, but--"
"Shut up." Eretria pressed a swift kiss against her mouth.
Amberle, flushed and bright eyed, followed her mouth a few inches when she pulled away. "So you don't mind?"
"I have terms."
"Oh?"
"I'm instituting a new tradition. Post-betrothal vacation. Two weeks minimum. We get to get the hell out of here and do something else."
Amberle sank into her, looping her arms around her neck and pressing her face against her ear. "Yes."
She bit her ear.
That was good enough for Eretria. "Bed. Now."
Amberle scooped her up, and it probably should have been humiliating to be bridal-carried down the hall, but honestly, it was just really hot.
#
The other elves never really liked a human weaseling her way into the succession. But Eretria didn't mind. Life without assassins would be boring.
Light came in through the loose curtains, spilling over smooth skin and rumpled sheets. Eretria shut the journal on the desk, and slid out of the chair. She sauntered over and hiked up her too long silk robes, climbing onto the bed. She crawled over to the sleeper and leaned in, pressing her mouth against her neck.
"Time to get up."
Amberle made a small sound that had nothing to do with enthusiasm for facing the morning. Realizing that she would sleep until afternoon if given half a chance and liked to stay up late rambling about anything and everything, especially if Eretria didn't give her something else to do with her mouth, Eretria had shifted her schedule back slightly. But Amberle had to get up sometime.
"Come on, princess. You have meetings."
Amberle's hand groped out and caught her arm, pulling it around her. "Stay in bed with me," she mumbled, mostly into the pillow.
"Yeah?" Eretria shifted up her back, nosing into some of the marks she'd left last night.
"Mmmm."
She reached her ear, and was pleased at the teethmarks that meant Amberle would have to wear ear-sheaths today. People were starting to talk about repressed elf-hate. But really, there was no hate involved. She'd taken to wandering in and kissing her ears during receptions and audiences, if only because it was considered very intimate, and everyone got embarrassed. Amberle got embarrassed too, but it usually ended up with her being shoved up against the wall and groped in revenge, so it was all good.
Eretria nuzzled into her ear. Then licked it. Amberle made a pleased noise.
Eretria blew a raspberry.
A wave of flailing arms and yelping overwhelmed the bed. Eretria dodged, rolled away, and slid off. Amberle sat up, the sheets falling down around her waist. Her head was tipped to the side, and she wiped at her ear, making hilarious faces.
"Eretria!"
Eretria collapsed into her chair, laughing.
"Dammit! That was awful! I thought Catania woke me up in the most terrible ways. But you! Why did I every marry someone who would do that to me?" Amberle pouted. "And who put you in charge of my schedule? That was the worst idea."
"Catania." Eretria got up and started throwing the clothing Catania's successor had laid out in Amberle's direction. "I love you too, princess."
Amberle pulled a shirt off her face and frowned. "That's not what I said."
Eretria sauntered over and settled in behind her, undoing the braid that held her hair for sleep. "I know."
Amberle let out a little sigh. Her hand closed on Eretria's thigh.
Eretria leaned in and Amberle looked over. A light press of lips on lips sealed it.
"It's what you meant."
###