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She giggles and hides her face from him in her lacey pillow. He tuts and pets her rosy cheeks "Don't worry my dove. I would never mar such perfection." He purrs gently pulling the diamond and pearl pins from her hair letting it fall down to her back in soft waves, undoing her braids. "I am your protector now, you know. I would never let anything harm you." He says gently, his voice as low and as soft as velvet.
“Yes." She sighs petting his face with her small sweet hands. Her jewelled rings gleam in the candle light like stars. "How gallant you are, my Lord...how sweet you are to give me your arm and stand at my side during court like a proper gentleman. What a darling I have made of you..." She coos. It was true since they’d met he had forced himself to calm his usually racing thoughts and wild heart for her sake. He used soft language around her, buttoned his collars up, forced himself to abandon his laudanam flasks in her delicate company. "I am your tamed lion." He whispers. "I do not treat the admiration of such a beautiful Duchess with carelessness. I adore you too much for that." He sighed to Lucrezia. There was a note of raw honesty in his voice. She smiled and stroked his glossy, raven black curls back as if he was a favorite pet.
"I love you too..." She coos. "You see the woman behind the illusion. You see not a poisoner, not a whore, not a traitor...but a simply a girl. It is terribly sweet." "A girl? I see a goddess." He purrs. She smiles and her rosy lips meet his cornelian colored ones. The kiss is soft and passionate and tasting of cherry wine and his laudanum from earlier. Addictive for her and sweet for him. A perfect balance of push and pull. A perfect union of exciting passion and comfortable affection. Lucrezia sinks further into her lush pillows, pulling the poet over her, deepening the embrace. She sighs softly into his mouth as her hands roam up his broad chest.
As the kiss continues, Byron winds a hand into the duchess's rich burnished blond curls. They feel thick and silken in his hands. Luxurious and perfumed. She lets out a sweetly soft mewl of pleasure at his touch.
She was always so sensitive. She was always so soft. She was always so responsive to him.
And always so easy to catch off guard.
She was easy to sneak up on in the gardens, easy to surprise with pretty trinkets and trifles never expecting gifts, even easy to bind up with her silk ribbons never realizing her hands were tied until he began to position her for lovemaking.
She likewise doesn't notice until it’s over when her lover cuts a small golden lock of her hair from her temple with the pair of silver shears.
“There. Now that wasn’t so terrible was it?” He chuckles. She blushes and launches a weak attack upon her lover with a light push as he wraps the beautiful lock of hair around his fingers, admiring it.
He grins, satisfied, as she fusses with her hair. Her locks are so thick and curly one lock would certainly won't be missed. But she preens like a peacock nonetheless. They were both terribly vain like that.
"See? I didn't hurt you, my goddess...it's a mere strand. A perfect cutting of Ariadne's yarn. A holy relic of my Duchess." He raises the lock to his lips and kisses it. "I shall keep it close always. I shall find the finest locket to place it in and wear it at all times near my heart." She giggles once more and winds her hands around his, pressing the lock of hair into his fist.
"You silly man..." She titters. "Not silly...I’m just intoxicated with passion. I’m drunk on you.” He purrs. “I have never loved anyone how I love you...I adore you, my flower." She smiles coyly and presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth. His eyes flutter shut in bliss as he loses himself in her milky skin, perfumed hair and plush mouth. She pulls back and cups his cheek, teasingly. "What a strange thing to say to a ghost you don't even know. You are a very silly man indeed." She giggles.
When his eyes open Byron is once again in the library now with the lock of the long dead Lucrezia Borgia's hair somehow in his hands.
The envelope it was in, lays torn open on the floor. He sighs and smiles. Apparently his mind had wandered into a fantasy and his hands had followed suit.
But nobody would notice the artifact of the duchess was gone by the time he had left the library. He would be towns over by the time another visitor would ask to see the Duchess’s hair. And if he was found out...he'd pay any price to keep a relic like this in his hands. He was a fabulously wealthy lord. He could afford such trivialities and trouble. Lucrezia was certainly worth the scandal and the expense.
He raises the golden threads to his nose and inhales a phantom scent of lavender and rose water and smiles.
"Dont worry my dove." He purrs to himself. "I would never mar such perfection" He whispers. He kisses the golden silk, places it in the pocket of his vest near his heart and limps out of the library, grinning madly to himself.