Will nodded and fire spread through him. “Very much so, Princess.”
“Good. It is my desire to please you even more.”
With incredible care and delicacy, she removed his clothes and covered his exposed flesh with soft kisses and tender caresses. She bid him lay back as she crawled onto the bed with him, crawled onto him, and began kissing him anew. She moved up and down over him, her fingers, her hair, her lips, and tongue igniting every fiber of his body.
And then she pressed him into her and lowered her hips to his. Sayce kissed him heavily and deeply, tasting his mouth, stealing his breath as her body rocked forward and back, her hips rising and falling. Sometimes her body’s urgency betrayed her, speeding things, but as his breath became ragged she slowed again, transforming quickness into fluid motion. She moved with him and against him, their bodies slipping over and past each other as the dew of exertion coated them.
Finally, after an eternity that ended all too quickly, Will’s passion erupted. Sayce clung to him more tightly and sucked at his neck even harder as her own body shook and shuddered. His groans covered her moans, but he could feel them against his neck, and the vibrations from them echoed the rapid hammering of his heartbeat.
They lay there together, hard breathing slowly tapering into easy, restful respiration. At some point Will fell asleep. He did not know for how long, but when he awakened, Sayce slept with him, pressed against his right side, the coverlet pulled up over both of them. When Will sought to stir, she just burrowed more tightly against his side and murmured something. He could not understand the words, but the tone and the warm caress of her breath on his chest coaxed him back to sleep.
Just before dawn Sayce awakened him with a kiss, then pressed fingers to his mouth. “My dear, dear, Will, I have to leave you. I did not intend to stay here all night, but… but I could not bring myself to go.”
He kissed her fingers. “You can stay.”
“No, Will, I can’t. If my father were to learn I had stayed with you… Oh, no, Will, it’s not that. I can see the hurt in your eyes. No, my father has incredible respect for you. It’s me he thinks so little of. He would tell you that I am unworthy of the affections of one so important.”
Will blinked. He knew he was still half-asleep, but it made no sense for her father to think she wasn’t worthy of him. More like the reverse. “Princess, your father can’t think that of you.”
She laughed a little and kissed his right shoulder—the one she’d slept on. “He does—right now anyway. He has in the past, but his ire will fade. Then, Will, then he can know, but not before. If he were to be really angry, he might send me away and I couldn’t bear that.”
“No, I’d not want that, either.”
Sayce smiled broadly. “Will, when we see each other, we must be circumspect, but in private…”
“You will come back?” He tried to keep the disbelief from his voice, then blushed. He was fairly certain such a question was never asked, at least in that manner, by any of the heroes of epic songs.
“Come back? Of course. Oh, Will, were it not for my father, I could not be torn from your side. I think I…” She fell silent.
“What, Princess?” A knot formed in his stomach. He thought he knew what she was going to say. He found it exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.
“I think I am wicked for thinking about adding another burden to those you already bear, Lord Norrington.” She kissed him softly on the mouth, then the forehead. “You are very deep in my affections, Will. Very deep.”
“Princess, I…”
She pressed fingers to his lips again. “Say nothing, my lord. Say nothing. I know what is in your heart. That is enough.”
Sayce dressed in silence, though she did smile when she saw him watching her. She filled the cup of wine, drank, then kissed him once again, hastily, before leaving. Will rolled up onto an elbow to watch her go, then collapsed forward onto his face as the door clicked shut behind her.
He didn’t know what to think or what to feel, though he did know he felt very good, at least physically. The coverlet, where he nosed it, was full of her scent. He breathed deeply and her perfume quelled the riot in his head. Smiling, remembering, he fell asleep again.
His servant greeted him with breakfast, which Will took at the table near the hearth. The servant built up a fire, for Will’s sense of cold had returned, and even a hot bath did not get rid of it. While bathing, Will dared not let himself think of Sayce, lest his body betray his feelings in the presence of the servant, but choosing not to think of her guaranteed he could think of nothing but, and specifically her joining him in the tub of hot water.
Though he had previously considered it a curse, the sense of cold helped him because it cooled his ardor and concealed all visible evidence of it. He emerged from the tub and dried himself off, then dressed as quickly and warmly as he could.
The servant had anticipated his needs and had set his clothes to warming before the fire. Will pulled them on and smiled. Fastening his belt around his middle, he fished a gold coin from the pouch and tossed it to the youth. “Thank you.”
The young man, who likely was four years older than Will, caught the coin and stared at it. “Oh, my lord, thank you.”
“You are most welcome.” Will smiled and tied the mask onto his right shoulder. “I believe I’m ready to go.”
“Yes, my lord, very good.” The servant bowed. “It will be my pleasure now to conduct you to the king.”
48
Alexia smiled as Will was led into the small antechamber where the company had been assembled. “Good, we are complete.” The thief blushed as he looked around the dark, stone-walled room. “Were you waiting on me?”
Resolute grumbled and shifted on a rough-hewn bench against a wall. “We’ve all been waiting, but this is to be expected when the king receiving us has his nation under siege. But even that, I suppose, is nothing compared to what kept you waiting.”
“I overslept.” Will lowered his voice and his eyes, but his blush faded instead of rising, so Alexia assumed he was lying. “Nobody told me we would be summoned.”
Crow smiled and clapped Will across the back. “We were all tired. We’ve been on the road for a long time. A soft, warm bed was quite welcome.”
Alyx nodded in agreement. “Besides, we’ve spent the time discussing how we can help here.”
Before she could elucidate, the door opened behind her. A man in the livery of the King’s Guards smiled. Alexia didn’t see any rank insignia on the uniform, but the grey in his beard, the scars on his hands, and the numerous ribbons decorating his black-and-midnight-blue mask suggested he’d been around long enough to have attained the highest of rankings. “If you will follow me, please.”
Alexia led the way, wearing dun leathers with the Okrans winged horse rampant on her left breast. She’d been given a lacy white courtesy mask, which she had donned. Crow, who followed her, had not put on a mask, nor had Resolute, Lombo, or Qwc. Kerrigan had been given a mask of black lace, whereas white had been given to Peri, Bok, and Dranae. Will’s mask rode on his upper right arm.
Their guide took them down a corridor, then up a staircase that doubled back and opened into a broad, shallow, rectangular room with a relatively low ceiling. They entered through one of the long walls, opposite a large hearth. On either side of it were set two other doors, both closed, and murals covered the walls. The rest of the walls had maps on them and had been furnished with a number of long flat tables that contained tactical models of areas in Muroso.
Alexia was well acquainted with such models. She’d studied them in Gyrvirgul while working out tactical variations on battles from the past. More recently, General Adrogans had used similar models in plotting out his Okrannel campaign. Each table had small wooden blocks on it to represent troops, each emblazoned with a paint scheme that identified the unit.