Moments later, Xena emerged in a scarlet robe, a thick woven fabric lined with a strip of soft, white fur. She tightened the belt around her waist and walked to the door, giving Gabrielle a wink before she slipped through it.
Ooo… Gabrielle took a bite of bread. Xena had a very sexy walk, and she wondered why she’d just noticed that now.
**
“All right.” Xena walked to her big chair and sat in it, facing her two servants. “Talk fast. I’ve got plans for today that don’t include either of you.”
Alaran bowed in Stanislaus’ direction.
The seneschal inclined his head politely. “Mistress, I had thought to consolidate your victory by assembling the loyal nobles for a luncheon with you today.”
“No.” Xena shook her head. “No audiences today. I won’t be attending court, or the ballroom for dinner.”
“But…”
“Hearing going? Maybe you’re too old to be doing this.” The queen stated flatly.
“Mistress…” Alaran spoke up. “My esteemed colleague has an excellent notion. The loyal ones would be drawn closer by such an event.”
“I don’t give a damn.” Xena said. “Set them up tomorrow if you want. Not today.” She pointed to the window. “You think they’d like to travel here in that? I’d spend the rest of the winter season getting the stink of wet wool out of my chambers.”
“Most of them have stayed here in the stronghold, Mistress.” Stanislaus murmured.
“Good. Then have them served in their chambers, with my compliments.” The queen said. “Have the staff put something nice, like roses or maybe a dead rat on the tray. Something to show my gracious appreciation of their loyalty.”
Stanislaus fingered his goatee. Then he nodded. “It would be well, Mistress.” He agreed. “I will arrange for something delightful for them.” He said. “But for you not to appear today…”
“Will just have to be coped with. If anyone asks, tell them I’m spending the day reviewing the wagers my spies reported everyone making, to see what punitive action I might want to take.”
Stanislaus grunted, blinking as he absorbed the message. “That will put them thinking.”
“I doubt it, unless they take their pants off and air out their brains.” Xena rolled her eyes.
“Very well, Mistress. Shall I have your service brought for dinner, then?” The seneschal asked. “I believe the cook acquired some pheasant, which she knows you favor.”
Xena grinned. “I have dinner plans already. Tell the cook no thanks.”
With a frown, Stanislaus gave up. He bowed. “Very well, Mistress.” He executed a neat about face and headed for the outer door, tucking his hands inside the sleeves of his tunic.
Xena waited for him to close the door. Then she turned to regard Alaran. “Well?”
The security chief folded his arms. “There are those who are very discontented, my liege, but they are but few in number, and afraid of your men.” He stated. “The revelry in the barracks last night was prodigious. The men are very pleased, and tell stories of your defeat of Bregos at every corner.”
“Good.” Xena relaxed. “I figured the fight put a cap on things. Keep an ear on those damn troublemaker supporters of Bregos, though. They’re too stupid not to want to try to keep stirring things up.”
Alaran nodded. “Tis possible, my liege. Though after last night’s supper, most of them are wearing high collared shirts.”
They both chuckled. Xena flexed her hand. “Ah.. been a long time since I did that. Felt good.” She admitted. “It all felt good.”
“And was quite impressive, my lady, as we all remember it to be.” Alaran smiled at her. “It was good, very good for those who were not with you in the field to see that prowess. Many were surprised.”
“Mm.” Xena nodded. “Good to remind them all once in a while.” She shifted, and leaned on one chair arm. “Anything else?”
“You are well, my liege?” Alaran asked quietly. “I thought I saw the bastard get a hit in on you during the fight.” He watched her closely, without seeming to.
“Never felt better.” Xena replied, in a soft drawl. “Gabrielle’s taken very… very good care of me.” She stretched her arms up over her head and laced her fingers behind her skull. The pull hurt, but not anywhere near what it had just the day prior. A good night’s sleep, indeed. “Keep your eyes open, Alaran. Something still doesn’t smell right to me.”
“As you wish, my liege.” Alaran murmured. “Though I think your actions truly did put a halt to the darker machinations.”
Xena’s pale eyes watched him like a hawk’s. “Oh. Well that’s good to hear.” She smiled. “Maybe now we can move on to more profitable ventures. Like expanding the eastern territories, and finding that mysterious kingdom who gifted me with that lovely box.”
Alaran smiled in return. “Just so, my liege. There are far better things for you to turn your attention to.” He bowed low. “I leave you to your rest, then. The little one, she is also well? Many noted her presence with you the day.”
“Gabrielle is spectacular.” Xena told him. “And you can spread the word for me that seeing her in my presence is something everyone better get very, very used to.”
Alaran’s eyebrows hiked. “Indeed, majesty?”
“Indeed.” Xena replied.
The security chief rubbed the toe of his boot across the stone floor of the chamber, pursing his lips before he spoke. “Majesty, if I might be so bold.. one of the issues that brought on Brego’s feeble attempt at insurrection is the uncertainty the nobles feel about the continuity of your reign.”
“Too bad.” Xena said. “Tell them I’ll leave the throne to the nicest looking donkey in the pits if I want to. I won’t have them dictating my life, Alaran.”
“Mistress…”
“OUT!” Xena lost her temper with shocking suddenness. “Leave me!”
Holding both hands up, Alaran backed off. “As you will, Mistress.” He backed all the way to the door and left the room, never taking his eyes off the glaring woman in the chair by the window.
Xena sat there until the flush of anger faded. Her hands twitched on the arms to her chair, and she closed her eyes, trying to rid herself of the roil of emotion Alaran’s protestation raised.
The inside door slowly opened, and Gabrielle’s blond head appeared around the edge of it.
Xena stood up and straightened her robe, then stepped down from her chair and walked to the inner door. “So much for that.”
“You know something?” Gabrielle opened the door for her and stood back so she could enter. “I don’t think I like those guys.” She told Xena. “I just don’t.”
Xena put an arm around her and pulled her close, delighted when that nice feeling happened again. “They have their uses, Gabrielle.” She told the girl. “Don’t’ worry about them. Now. Where were we? I think I told you to lose the clothes, didn’t I?”
Sleet rattled the panes of the window, and they both looked at it. Xena dismissed the irritation she’d felt moments before and concentrated on Gabrielle’s close presence. Alaran was an old worry wart, and had been for years. The nobles may grumble, but Xena knew when it came right down to it, they wouldn’t have the guts to challenge her.
Didn’t what happened with Bregos prove that? Who cared what they wanted?
“C’mere.” Xena bent her head and kissed Gabrielle’s lips, tasting the cider on them. She had what she wanted, right here.
To Hades with all of them.
**
Part 10
The storm raged outside. Gabrielle only heard it at the edges of her awareness, though, as she concentrated on her first time exploration of another person’s body. Xena’s skin was soft, and had a silky quality to it, but as Gabrielle had discovered, under that layer of softness lay coiled power, muscle and bone that shifted and moved as she tried to apply what she’d learned the previous night.
Xena made interesting noises. Gabrielle discovered quickly that if she did something the queen liked, she purred. Not like a cat, but it was a low, rumbling sound deep in her chest. She heard it the first time when she shyly cupped Xena’s breast in her hand and stroked it. She heard it again when she replaced her fingers with her mouth, at first tentatively and then with more confidence as she ran her tongue over the nubbly edges of her nipple.
It was intoxicating, hearing that sound. Gabrielle felt a burn start in her own guts as she proceeded delicately, her other hand stroking the queen’s other breast as Xena’s fingers moved in a slow rhythm through her hair.
She pressed her bare body against Xena’s, reveling in the heat that contrasted the cool air of the room. Her thigh slid between the queen’s, and she felt a sudden pressure as her leg was clamped briefly, and then released. She slipped her hand down Xena’s side, following the curve of her hip to her upper leg, feeling the incredible power under her fingertips before she traced a line down the skin on the inside of her thigh and got another purrl.
It was a little dangerous, a little intimidating. Gabrielle wasn’t really sure of what she was doing and the chance she might do something dumb or worse was definitely on her mind as she tried very hard to remember what had made her feel the best, though through all that pleasure things were pretty much a hazy, erotic blur.
She hoped Xena would feel that way too. Gabrielle pledged to try her best to make sure of that. Her entire body was tingling, remembering what it was like to feel the queen’s sure touch on her and she closed her eyes, rubbing her body along Xena’s as she gently explored her.
This time she got a growl. Gabrielle opened one eye and looked up, to find a fiercely grinning Xena looking back at her. “Did I do something wrong?” She caught a breath.
“Noooooo.” Xena lifted herself up using just her stomach muscles and kissed Gabrielle on the mouth. “I shoulda known someone who cleaned under the bed would figure this out without a problem.” She cupped Gabrielle’s face in one hand. “Just don’t bite me.”
“Bite?” Gabrielle blinked. “I would never do that.”
“Good girl.” Xena kissed her again, reveling in the tingling her body was experiencing. She let her body back down and went back to wrestling with her will, so accustomed to taking charge it was difficult for her to just lay back and let Gabrielle experiment. She wanted to take hold of the girl, and show her there.. and there.. and this.. but equally as strongly, she wanted to see what surprises Gabrielle might have for her.
Like that. Xena bit off a groan as Gabrielle’s tongue found a sensitive spot. Her hands clenched on the sheets and she felt her body surge up, pressing against Gabrielle’s as the slave bore down a little, her weight shifting as she slid lower. Her touch was hesitant, but Xena could feel the reaction deep inside her guts and this time she didn’t block the low sound of appreciation.
She could sense Gabrielle pause, and she felt the shoulderblade under her left hand heave as she took a deep breath before her attentions became very intimate. A light stroking became more confident as she uttered approval, and then everything connected and she lost track of where she was as her body curled around Gabrielle’s in a series of sudden, and shuddering contractions.
For a moment, she couldn’t even breathe. Then her lungs forced themselves open and she sucked air into her chest, letting out a heartfelt groan as she exhaled. It had been a very long time since she’d let someone else do that to her. She loosened her grip on Gabrielle and felt the girl start breathing herself again, and fuzzily she realized that she’d probably scared the fleece off her yet one more time.
But she had to catch her breath before she could fix that. Tingling shudders were still working their way through her and she felt Gabrielle’s touch gentle, stroking her lightly as she mindlessly caressed the girl’s face, pressed against Xena’s belly.
After she felt her breathing settle a little, she pulled Gabrielle up closer and kissed her, feeling the heated flush on the slave’s face through her fingertips. “Good job.” She whispered into a very pink ear. “I’ll keep you.”
She felt Gabrielle smile. Her hands traveled over Gabrielle’s body, noting the arousal at her touch that made her smile, recognizing the response as a nascent craving for her that charmed the queen down to her very toes.
Yeah. She’d keep her. Xena closed her eyes as feather light kisses traveled up her throat. For sure.
**
Xena was curled on her side, watching the storm rattle the leaded window panes. She didn’t really have any ambition to move, trading off her attention to the weather with the more interesting vision of Gabrielle’s slight form busy over near the fire.
Her new bedmate was making lunch. Xena was personally inclined just to have Gabrielle for lunch, but she admitted a bowl of whatever it was that smelled wonderful over there wouldn’t be too bad for an appetizer either.
Having someone cook for her personally, like this, was a very novel experience. Most of Xena’s prior bed partners had weaker cooking skills than she did, and the rest she would not have trusted with a spoon, much less a chopping knife in her presence.
It wasn’t as though she didn’t have servants, she had plenty of them. But none of them really wanted to do things for her. They had to. Gabrielle, Xena was convinced, really liked doing things for her, and wanted to.
Or at least, she’d told herself that.
But as she watched Gabrielle’s profile, relaxed and smiling as she worked, it was hard to force herself to believe otherwise. “Hey, Gabrielle?”
“Hm?” The girl looked up from her task.
“C’mere a minute.”
Gabrielle set the pot she’d just stirred to one side of the fire and got up, crossing the stone floor on silent bare feet to Xena’s side. She knelt by the bed, pushing the fair hair back out of her eyes as she did and waited, watching Xena’s face.
Xena could see all the way back through the crystal clear depths of her eyes. Open. Trusting. “Do you like me?”
Surprised.
“W..” Gabrielle stopped and blinked, her thoughts going briefly internal. “Do I like you?”
“That’s what I asked you, yes.” The queen replied patiently. “Do you?”
The girl’s face went still, as she searched Xena’s face. “Like you.” She spoke softly, almost reflectively. “I liked my friends at home. I liked the lambs. I liked watching the stars at night when the sheep were birthing.”
What the heck was that supposed to mean? Xena’s brows creased.
“I think I more than like you.” Gabrielle went on, suddenly. “Because I feel more about you than I did for any of those things.”
Oh. That sounded pretty good. Xena reasoned. “Ah. Okay. Good.”
“Why?” Gabrielle asked, curiously.
“I just wondered.” The queen said. “It’s not a condition I’m very familiar with.” She added. “Most people don’t. Like me, that is.” She ran her fingers through Gabrielle’s hair. “I was hoping you did.”
Gabrielle smiled. “I do.”
“Even despite the fact that I’m a hedonistic despot, and you’re my helpless slave?” Xena asked. “Even despite the fact that I had your sister killed?”
“You didn’t kill my sister.” Gabrielle responded in a quiet voice. “You had slaves killed, one of whom happened to be my sister. That’s a big difference to me.” She said. “And you didn’t make me a slave. You just bought me as one.”
Xena mulled that over. “Took a lot of thinking to come up with that, didn’t it?”
Gabrielle nodded.
Xena touched her cheek. “I’m glad you can think.” She rubbed her thumb across Gabrielle’s cheekbone. “But I notice you didn’t refute the hedonistic despot part.” A twinkle appeared in her eyes.
The girl’s eyes dropped briefly, and her lips twitched in to a smile.
“I’m glad you like me, Gabrielle. Despite all that.” Xena heard the sincerity in her own voice, and she guessed Gabrielle did as well, because she looked up and her face went serious. “I am glad.”
They looked at each other in silence for a little while. “So, what’s for lunch.” Xena nudged her in the belly with her knuckles. “I can hear you growling from here.”
Gabrielle glanced down at herself, then grinned ruefully. “It’s a soup I used to make for us when we were out in the fields.” She said. “Nothing fancy.”
“It doesn’t have lamb in it, does it?”
“No.” Gabrielle got up and returned to the fire, stirring her creation with a wooden spoon. “But we used to have this, and bread and cheese.” She poured some of the homey soup into one of the china bowls and set it on the tray, then she carefully took the slice of bread she’d toasted over the fire and put it on a plate, topping it with fragrant goats cheese. Surveying her handiwork, she picked up the tray and carried it over to Xena’s bedside.
“Whoa… no crumbs in bed.” Xena grinned, as she peeled the covers back and slid out from under them, standing up and motioning Gabrielle back the way she came. “Over there.” She picked up her robe and put it on, tying it as she joined the blond woman in front of the fireplace. She settled in the big, comfortable chair and watched as the tray was set down next to her. “That’s better.” She pointed. “Sit.”
Obediently, Gabrielle retrieved a bowl for herself, along with a slice of bread and cheese. She settled in the other chair and pulled her legs up crossed under her, setting her bread and cheese down on one knee while she took a spoonful of the soup.
A loud rumble of thunder made her look up towards the window, and as she looked away, she caught Xena’s eye.
The queen slowly shook her spoon at her. “You can cook.” She pointed at the soup. “This beats anything that overstuffed imported chef downstairs ever gave me.” Xena took a bite of her toast and cheese and winked at her. “I can almost taste you in it.”
Predictably, Gabrielle blushed. She grinned with pleasure at the praise, though, and played with a spoonful of her own soup before she sipped it. Her mind kept going back to Xena’s question, though, and she pondered over her answer as they both at their lunch.
Xena had been right. It had taken her a lot of thought to come to terms with how she felt, and to understand the guilt she still experienced because of it. She had to deal with herself honestly, though, and she couldn’t deny the strength of what she felt for Xena.
What was more, she didn’t want to deny it. A very pragmatic part of her simply told her that it was in her own, bald, self interest to remain in close contact with Xena, to help her, to serve her, to make her happy. The pragmatism helped assuage the guilt, but if she was truly honest with herself, she knew that pragmatism had nothing to do with the deep, wild, passionate emotion she felt when she looked into Xena’s eyes.
Like her? “Xena?” Gabrielle heard herself say.
“Yeeeesss?” The queen responded, around a mouthful of bread and cheese.
Gabrielle looked up and over at her, meeting those incredible blue eyes. “I love you.”
Xena stared at her for a long moment. Then she swallowed. “Do you?”
Gabrielle nodded.
The queen looked deeply introspective for a long moment. Then her eyes dropped to the bowl in her hand. “Well.” She murmured softly. “Maybe that’s the little something extra in this then. Now I know what love tastes like.”
Gabrielle sucked her spoon in unexpected delight. “That’s a really poetic thing to say.”
Xena’s eyebrow quirked. “Don’t start that with me.” She warned, with a smile that belayed the tone.
“Yes, ma’am.” Gabrielle smiled back.
“Don’t start that either.”
Their eyes met and in the silence between them, Xena’s spoke volumes that Gabrielle drank giddily in, wondering if the queen even realized it.
Thunder rolled again, and she decided she was beginning to really like rainy days.
**
“Tell me a story.” Xena settled her arms around Gabrielle’s waist, as she let her head rest against the chair back. They’d finished lunch, and she’d pulled the blond woman into her lap and now they were just relaxing and watching the rain fall. “A funny story.”
“Funny?” Gabrielle repeated.
“Yeah, you know… makes you laugh?” Xena released one arm and ran her fingers down Gabrielle’s bare ribs.
The reaction was totally unexpected. Gabrielle squealed, and almost convulsed, bursting out into a flood of giggles.
“Whoa.” Xena gave her companion an interested look. “Now that’s ticklish.” She repeated the experiment, with much the same results. “Gabbbbrriiieeellle.” She purred in the girl’s ear, chuckling herself.
“Eee….oh, stop.. please..” Gabrielle squirmed, trying to grab at Xena’s agile fingers. “Oooo…”
“Ho ho ho.” Xena was delighted with this new diversion.
“Yow!”
Xena started laughing.
“Aieeee!!!”
“Whoa, not in my ear.” Xena was still laughing, but she gave Gabrielle a break and ceased her torture, folding her arm around the slave’s middle again and giving her a squeeze. “See? You didn’t even have to tell a story to get me to laugh.”
“Ugh.” Gabrielle giggled a few more times as she rubbed her face. “I’m sorry. I forgot I was so.. um.. wow.” She inhaled deeply. “Okay…. Um, a funny story, right?”
“Uh huh. Has to be funnier than that noise you just made.” Xena informed her. “So you better come up with something good, because that was pretty damn funny.” A sexy grin spread across her face. “Or else I’ll have to go find my own amusement again…” She freed one hand and wiggled the fingers.
“Eerrrr.” Gabrielle settled down. “Well, I’ll try. Let’s see.. would you like to hear about Horace the pig?”
“Horace the PIG?” The queen gave her a look. “Oh, I can see where this is going.” She wiggled her fingers again.
“Noo..no.” Gabrielle quickly took hold of the threatening hand. “Really, it’s funny.” She instinctively laced her fingers with Xena’s, feeling the power in them as the queen casually tightened her grip.
“Oh yeah?’ Xena regarded their clasped hands curiously. “How funny can a pig be?”
“When you put grease on it, very.” Gabrielle reassured her.
“Grease?” A dark eyebrow cocked suspiciously. “You put grease on a pig?”
“Well.. sort of yeah… it was kind of an accident but…”
“Okay. Let’s hear it.” Xena put her feet up on the small poufy stool designed for the purpose. She noticed that Gabrielle seemed to have no inclination to let her hand go, and since it made her feel good, Xena had no inclination to pull it loose.
It was very strange, this feel good thing. Xena searched her memory and tried to find another instance of it, and despite her wide and varied experience she had to admit she couldn’t. Holding Gabrielle’s hand felt good. Sitting next to her felt good. Touching her felt good. In fact, she couldn’t hardly seem to make herself let go of the kid.
She was glad Gabrielle liked her. No, Xena corrected herself. Loved her.
Loved her. Now there was another strange thing. Xena had not expected the slave to tell her that, regardless of the truth of it.
Or maybe she had expected it. Xena blinked, feeling a very unusual sense of confusion. She’d felt very good when she’d heard Gabrielle say that, in a way she’d never known before. In a vague way, she thought she knew why – there had been many people in her past who’d said that to her, but this was, she knew, the first person she’d wanted to hear it from.
And she had.
“Xena?” Gabrielle’s voice broke into her musing. “Are you okay?”
“Sure.” Xena cleared her throat. “What makes you think I’m not?” She asked sharply. “What’s going on with the pig?”
“Well.” Gabrielle was mindful of the fact that she was in easy reach of those darn fingers. “I was just making pig noises, and you didn’t react, so I figured…”
“What?” The queen eyed her. “You were not.”
Gabrielle blinked innocently at her.
“You were?”
“Oink.” Gabrielle snorted softly. “Oink.. oink…” She grinned at the look on Xena’s face. “Yeah, I was.”
“Hmph.” Xena maintained her dignity. “I was thinking.” She said. “Do that again.” She instructed. “G’wan.”
Gabrielle obediently snuffled and oinked.
Xena snickered at her. “That’s pretty damn cute.” She leaned over lazily and nibbled Gabrielle’s ear, making the oink break and rise into a squeak. “Now, that’s a funny little piggie.” She stopped and her brow creased. “Did I say that?”
Gabrielle giggled softly.
“Okay, okay. Get on with the story.” The queen settled back and paid attention, setting aside the annoying and confusing thoughts buzzing around her head. “Then maybe we’ll go downstairs and I’ll pick what I want you to cook for dinner.”
Gabrielle squirmed around a little so she could look up and watch Xena’s face as she spoke. The fire crackled happily nearby and it’s light softened the strong planes of the queen’s face, giving it a gentler cast. A tiny hint of a smile kept pulling at Xena’s lips, and Gabrielle knew the same tension was present on her own, as she let herself feel a moment of emotion she understood to be happiness.
It felt really weird. She wasn’t scared, and she wasn’t worried, she was just really glad to be curled up with Xena in this big, comfortable chair telling stories next to the fire.
“Okay, so once upon a time, there was a pig named Horace.”
“Why?” Xena asked suddenly.
“Hm?”
“Why Horace?”
“Why not?” Gabrielle asked. “Anyway, Horace the pig got up one day, and…”
“Did you name him?”
The slave halted her speech, and regarded the queen. “Um….”
The blue eyes twinkled. “I’m a lousy listener, huh?” Xena pulled her a little closer and let her cheek rest against Gabrielle’s fair head. “Sorry. G’wan.”
“Once upon a time, there was a pig named Horace.” Gabrielle intoned. “He lived on a farm with all his brothers and sisters, and his mother, Eunace.”
Xena started laughing silently.
“Eunace liked to chew on her stall, and when she did that, she made a little hole in the corner of it. The hole was too small for Eunace to get through, but she chewed, and chewed and chewed, and it was still too small for her, but not…”
“For Horace.”
“Right.” Gabrielle pulled their clasped hands up to lay against her chest. “So Horace, being a very smart little pig, squeezed out through the hole and went adventuring.” She could still feel Xena chuckling. “This isn’t the funny part yet.”
The queen snickered. “You named your pigs.”
“Sure.” Gabrielle said. “Don’t you?”
“Gabrielle, I don’t name things I’m going to eat.” Xena told her, then paused and smirked. “You already came with a name, so that didn’t count.”
Gabrielle snuck a hand inside the queen’s robe and tickled her ribs, operating on wild instinct.
“Ah!” Xena yelped. “Hey!”
The slave tickled her again. “Oh, my.” She felt the skin twitch under her touch. “Your majesty, I think you’re ticklish.”
“Am not.” Xena scrabbled at the hand inside her rob. “Never have been, never will… hey!!!” She wrapped her arms around Gabrielle since she was unable to get hold of those little fingers and lifted her up bodily, rising from the chair and leaping with her onto the bed. “Now, we’ll see who’s tickling who.”
“Oh…oh..oh….yikes!” Gabrielle squirmed, but the queen had her shift off in the blink of an eye, and she was being assaulted by light touches that started on the backs of her thighs. “Ooooooooooo!!!!”
“Bet this is worse..” Xena chuckled evilly, reaching down and tickling her behind the knees.
“Auggghh!” Gabrielle confirmed it with a tortured holler. “Eeeyoooo!!!!!” She twisted and curled up, then reached behind the queen’s leg to get her back. “Ah!”
“Why, you little…” Xena started laughing, this time much harder, and with some abandon. “I’ll get you for that! You won’t be able to stand up when I’m done with you!” She flipped Gabrielle over onto her back and pinned her legs down, then attacked her ribs.
The girl let out a yell that made Xena’s eyes pop wide open. She quickly leaned over and kissed her to prevent a repeat, her mischevious fingers slowing their motion and moving from teasing to seductive. When she lifted her head, she looked down at Gabrielle’s face, the girl’s eyes now closed and her mouth sporting a grin.
Xena circled Gabrielle’s navel with the tip of her finger, and felt the surface start to rock as she chuckled. The misty green eyes opened and gazed up at her. They smiled at each other.
Then the girl got a hand free and got to Xena’s ribs again. “Geerrrrrr!!!” Xena wriggled away, rolling onto her side to escape. She tangled her limbs with Gabrielle’s and they fought for skin space, reducing each other to an unexpected ball of laughter in the center of the bed.
Xena let the chuckles work their way out of her, feeling pleasantly tired from the unfamiliar exercise. She wrapped her arms and legs around her new little bedmate and pulled her close, with a sense of pure, animal content alien in it’s sudden presence.
She had a vague suspicion she might actually be happy.
For the moment, anyway.
**
“Not that stairwell.” Xena pointed to the main one instead. “I hate it. Damn thing’s too small, and it stinks.” She lead the way across the round hall, neatly flicking the folds of her long robe out of her path. The storm had kept up outside, and a damp draft was blowing through the stronghold, fluttering the torches in their iron sconces on the wall.
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