“Me too,” she agreed, but behind that admission of fear was the fortitude so characteristic of the Ava I’d always known. “But we’ve got tonight,” she said, and a comforted smile curled her lips as she grabbed my hands, moving them to her hips. “And you should meet no resistance in getting me out of these clothes.”
I felt a smile of my own tug at my mouth, and after six months, I was more than eager to test the truth of that statement for myself. So I grabbed the bottom of her tunic, and her arms lifted readily for me to slide it up and over her head. The result left me breathless. Though my hands fell back to her hips after I’d tossed the article to the floor, they didn’t stay there. They traced up the curves of her naked waist as I tried desperately hard not to let my mouth hang open.
“Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” I asked, tearing my focus away from her upper body so I could meet her gaze.
“You’ve never needed to,” she answered, leaning forward to say against my lips, “I’ve always seen it in your eyes.”
And her mouth met mine so openly that whatever breath I had left was gone. We did have tonight. We had all night, and there was so much of her that my lips and hands had yet to explore. I wasn’t going to be impatient like I had our first time together. I was going to take it slow. I was going to learn every sight, sound, and taste of her, because I didn’t plan on sleeping. We could sleep when this was over.
Chapter 20
In the stillness of the cold morning, I relished the heat of the bare body next to mine, and the weight of the warm blankets we were buried under. Not only had Ava remained in bed with me all night, but she was curled into me, her face hidden against my chest and her limbs tangled up with mine. I nuzzled into the top of her head as I blinked my eyes open, pressing a kiss to it.
Whether the action had woken her or she’d already been awake, she let out a huff of laughter, running her hand up my back. “This is how I imagined ending up naked with you.”
I hummed my agreement as she tilted her head back to look at me, saying, “We’ve finally got it right.”
“Let’s get it right again,” she whispered, pressing an open peck to the underside of my jaw. “And again.” Another kiss. “And again.”
The next time she tried to kiss me, I dropped my chin, catching her lips with my own. I kissed her slow and deep, so immediately consumed by her that I broke only long enough to say, “You could make me forget we’ve a war to fight.”
“Forget,” she urged, rolling onto her back when I moved to lie above her. “If only for another hour.”
There was nothing I wanted more than to give in to her request. I fitted myself between her legs, one hand reaching behind her knee, guiding it to cradle the curve of my hip while my lips fell to her neck. She was already pressing up into me, her chin angling outward to encourage my mouth while her hands roamed my back, and gods, it was so easy to get lost in her. After such a long absence, I could lose myself in her for days.
I very well would have, but Nira’s familiar voice called, “Kiena,” followed by a knock on the door. “May I come in?”
My cheeks tinted as I pulled away and met Ava’s gaze—we were on our way to being quite in the middle of something… “No,” I called back. “I’ll be up soon.”
That didn’t seem like the answer Nira had been expecting, because there was a short pause before her muffled voice said, “…Oh, alright…” Another pause, long enough that I thought she’d left to wait for me somewhere else, and had begun to lower myself again to Ava’s neck. “Are you up yet?” Nira asked.
Ava snorted with laughter, throwing a hand over her mouth to remain quiet, and it was difficult for me to keep the amusement out of my own voice while I answered, “Not yet.”
“Are you feeling well?” Nira questioned, and I answered an affirmative while Ava’s giggling shook her beneath me. “There’ll be festivities all day,” she continued, “so that fighters can spend time with their families before we march to Cornwall.” She paused once more, as if waiting to see if that would get me out of bed. “If you’re ever to make amends with Ava, it’s today.”
“I assure you, Nira,” I called, playfully shoving my palm to Ava’s face because her laughter was making it difficult for me to respond, “you needn’t worry about it.”
“Needn’t worry?” Nira repeated, sounding appalled. It was enough to get her to throw the door open and stomp toward the bed, muttering to herself, “I swear to the goddess you’ve lost y—” She stopped short when she caught sight of Ava and me, of the position we were in under the covers, and froze halfway on her journey to get me up. “Oh!” she exclaimed, an entertaining mix of shock and joy on her face. “Oh, never mind!” And she turned to make a swift exit. “Please continue, so sorry, forget I was here, we’ll speak later, farewell.”
The door slammed shut behind her, leaving Ava and me alone once more. We looked from each other to where Nira had disappeared, and then back again while Ava’s grin widened, and we both burst into laughter.
“Well,” Ava chortled, “that’s one way for her to discover we’ve worked things out.”
I rolled off of her, chuckling, “She’ll never let me hear the end of this.” Ava turned just enough to peck me on the cheek, and then slipped out of bed to collect her clothes off the floor. “Are we rising?” I asked.
She gave an eager nod and pulled her trousers up to her hips. “I’ve spent the last six months a captive, you know. I could use a good day of festivities.”
I sat up, stretching off the side of the bed toward the floor to grab my tunic, asking as I put it on, “Who am I to keep a princess from a party?”
Finished dressing, Ava climbed onto the bed with a smirk, setting herself over my lap. “Not a princess,” she said, and pressed a lingering kiss to my lips. “Come the end of this war, I’ll be a Thaon.” I leaned back to look at her in shock, but my heart skipped powerfully, and I could feel the awe in my expression. “I’m not a Gaveston,” she said with a shrug, “nor have I ever felt like an Ironwood, but I’d be proud to take your surname.”
I didn’t know what to say, or what else to do to express exactly how much that meant to me, so I cupped her face and gave her one long, deep kiss.
She pulled away slowly and with a content hum. “You could make me forget we’ve festivities to attend.”
“Alright,” I smiled, nodding for her to get off me. “Let’s get some breakfast then. You’ve worked me up a fierce appetite.”
She bounced off, and waited for me to finish dressing and putting on my boots before hauling me out the door. We traversed the mountain halls to the dining cavern, where I could see Nira sitting with my mother and our brothers. Both Ava and I made our way through the busy cave, and sat down across from Nira and the boys.
“Morning,” I greeted the group, pecking my mother on the cheek as I lowered myself beside her. “Mother.”
She smiled at me, and then passed one across at Ava before looking at me again. Her lips widened to a grin, and she grabbed my face in both her hands, giving it a joyful shake as if to say that she was glad for my obvious reconciliation with Ava. It made me terribly self-conscious, and it was no better when I glanced across the table at Nira. She was beaming at me, and she set her elbow on the surface and propped her chin in her hand when I met her gaze, baring her teeth in the most obnoxious way possible.
“No need to be so smug about it,” I scolded, feeling my cheeks warm with a blush.
“I put up with your brooding for five months,” she teased. “I’ll be as smug as I’d like.”
Nilson’s head picked up from his bowl of porridge, and he looked from Nira to me. “Why’s Nira being smug?”