Vassal

by Sterling D'Este

  Did that mean that Alphonse still didn’t trust her? Or perhaps that Alphonse would leave her behind after they reached the temple?

  The idea hurt more than Delyth was willing to admit. They had known each other so short a time, all things considered. When had Alphonse become so important, not only to protect but also to care for?

  “I— Say all goes perfectly at the temple. Which, you admit, is a gamble. Say—say it’s just you and me… Then what? I—” the healer swallowed. “I live in Dailion, you live at the temple… I am a healer, you are a warrior. Bound to Enyo.”

  Delyth growled. “I’m not bound to anyone. I promised I’d see this through for—for the people who cared for me as a child. After that…”

  Did she want to go home?

  The priestess didn’t think she could give herself over to a life of service in the temple, not after this. Not after getting to know Enyo as she really was. The people back home, the priests… they had no idea.

  She owed them this quest, though. That much she had promised.

  “There’s nothing left for me at Glynfford,” she said without bitterness. “I could stay—”

  Delyth cut herself off. Did Alphonse even want her around? The way she had said it… ‘I’m a healer. You’re a warrior.’ Did that mean she did not wish to see Delyth after this? Was she only to be a momentary source of comfort?

  The idea made her feel hollow.

  The priestess swallowed, meeting Alphonse’s eyes only hesitantly. “I mean, only if you’d want me to.”

  In her mind’s eye, Delyth saw Tanwen, turning away from a bloody scene: Delyth, gore-splattered and surrounded by the bodies of fallen raiders.

  She’d been too strange, too brutish then.

  Perhaps Alphonse didn’t want her in Dailion for that reason as well.

  ❀

  Alphonse stopped crying, shock replacing her wallowing sorrow. She ate up every piece of Delyth’s expression. The tenderness in her eyes, the vulnerability in those few words. The way she watched Alphonse, as if the healer was somehow dangerous.

  Alphonse realized that she was. Dangerous to Delyth’s heart.

  Just as dangerous as Delyth was in return. Because one harsh word from her had sent Alphonse drowning in misery so acute, it felt as if her very heart were breaking in two. A condition she knew was not real and yet…

  “You would leave the Wildlands and come to Dailion… for me?” she whispered, afraid to say it any louder lest Delyth suddenly come to her senses.

  Because Alphonse wanted Delyth to be there when this was all over. Even though she knew it would never happen, knew that at the end of this journey, she would either be gone forever, tied to Enyo’s whims, or be freed through her betrayal of Delyth and Tristan.

  But, just for tonight, she needed to dream about a future she could never have.

  A future she so desperately wanted to have.

  Etienne was right. She was cruel and selfish and a liar.

  ༄

  Hope and fear made for a potent mixture behind Delyth’s rib cage. She felt volatile, equally ready to crack or smile.

  “If that’s what you want,” she said, her eyes fixed on Alphonse’s. Some part of her needed to be sure that Alphonse wanted it, that she wasn’t just saying so. If she even was saying so. “It wouldn’t be easy. Being with me, I mean, around others. The way I am.”

  Part of her wanted to hide from this, to close up and stop herself from getting any deeper. Gods, this was going to hurt if Etienne was right. If it didn’t go well. And sometimes, knowing how it felt to hurt made it harder to take the chance. It had been so easy the first time. To put herself in harm’s way.

  “Being with you around others as you are?” Alphonse seemed baffled. “Do you mean… because you would take other lovers…? I’ve heard tales that Wildlanders never marry and always have multiple lovers. I understand if that’s your culture.”

  “What? No—” Delyth gasped. Different lovers? She was many things. Wild. Stubborn. She didn’t think through the consequences of her actions when her loved ones were in danger.

  But prone to wander?

  The idea was foreign. She was no Tristan to grope for the nearest warm body.

  Delyth took one of Alphonse’s hands and pressed it to the bony ridge of one of her wings. “Look at me, Alphonse. I frighten people. They say cruel things… do cruel things…”

  ❀

  Alphonse was shocked all over again. Not at the cruel nature of humans but that Delyth, who seemed truly a gentle soul, should endure such things…

  “Do you think I am not strong enough to— to stand by your side in such times?” she whispered, knowing it was true. Alphonse could barely stand up to Tristan, wept at the smallest harsh word from Etienne. Of course, she couldn’t protect Delyth from the monstrosities of the dark-natured and violent.

  “Gods, no. I think you’re strong enough to face anything.”Delyth raised the pale hand still held in her own and pressed the palm to her lips. “I just had to warn you. Before you decided if that was what you wanted…”

  Amber eyes longed to stay on Delyth’s own blue ones, but the instant her lips pressed against the sensitive palm of Alphonse’s hand, her gaze darted to that instead. She swallowed.

  “But—” she mumbled, fixated on Delyth’s lips. “How will we make money? And what if you hate hot weather?” Alphonse instinctively pressed her hand back to Delyth’s mouth, silently begging for more. “We’ve not… made love. I—I don’t know how. And what if I’m terrible?” Despite her words, Alphonse was unconsciously moving closer to Delyth. Moth to Delyth’s flame.

  “Gods, you silly woman, what does that matter?”

  Delyth pulled Alphonse towards her until their bodies were pressed together, and Delyth had to drop her chin nearly to her chest to look Alphonse in the eyes.

  “Just say that you would like to be with me,” she whispered. “That's all I need to know. The rest we can work out when we get there.”

  Little bird was an apt pet name for Alphonse, her bones practically hollow compared to Delyth’s perfect structure. She felt very small and very frail, and that only made her heart hammer harder.

  “I would,” Alphonse said truthfully, if a bit breathlessly, nearly melting into a quivering puddle as Delyth’s intense blue gaze met her own. Alphonse rather liked having that acute focus fixed on her.

  ༄

  Delyth let out a fluttering breath, its passage like the wings of some delicate thing escaping from a ribbed cage.

  Alphonse wanted this, wanted to build something together.

  And even if the future was shrouded in distance and impossibilities, it was enough for now just to share the dream of that hazy hereafter.

  Carefully, the priestess lifted her hands from Alphonse’s waist and used her palms to frame the smaller woman’s face. Calluses against soft skin. Sandpaper on satin.

  Delyth didn’t kiss Alphonse right away. She just let herself feel for the brush of silk locks on the backs of her fingers, leaned into the pleasant nausea of deliberately holding a lover’s gaze. When she did kiss her, it was light. Something had changed, and she longed to search for it.

  When she pulled away, she was nervous. Her stomach roiled, and her heart was a moth trapped in glass. “Would you—” She swallowed. “Would you like to sleep with me?”

  A sweet, broad smile broke over her Alphonse’s lips. “We sleep together every night. You know I like that…”

  “Ah,” Delyth said. She could feel her blush tingle all along the ridge of her cheekbones. “That’s not what I meant.”She felt heavy, her pelvis a bowl brimming with liquid. Above it, her stomach was awash with nerves.

  Delyth had never had to ask Tanwen… It had just happened, built into through stages by girlish exploration. Later, with Ffion, there had never been a question of intent. It felt important to ask Alphonse, though, because she was newer to it all.

  She hesitated another moment and let her fingers slide further into the sm
aller woman’s hair. “Would you like to make love with me?”

  ❀

  Alphonse felt herself blushing as well. Perhaps she should have realized what Delyth was suggesting, but no one had ever asked her that before. Hadn’t been interested. Or if they had, Alphonse had been oblivious to their advances.

  “Oh,” she mumbled, preoccupied with the feeling of Delyth’s fingers in her hair. That was very soothing. Alphonse liked that…

  Slowly, she trailed her own fingertips up Delyth’s sides and finally came to the large wolf furs she wore over her shoulders and about her neck.

  She could feel the ties there, laced together, and knotted to keep the mantle in place while Delyth flew. Alphonse smirked despite her nervous heart and slowly tugged on one tie. It loosened, and she tugged again. That knot undone, her hand drifted to the next set.

  “I don’t feel like sleeping, at all,” she murmured, surprised at how steady her voice was, how smooth her movements were as she pulled evenly on the tie. The second one came undone even faster than the first as if Delyth’s furs had a mind of their own and agreed with Alphonse’s desire to see her without the heavy cape.

  With her hands at the last set of ties, Alphonse peered up through her lashes at Delyth, nearly coy. “Is that answer enough?” Her thumb found the loop of the knot, and she slowly drew out the tie until the mantle was free.

  Delyth laughed, the sound rumbling up from her belly. “It's answer enough for me,” she said, her voice still colored with warmth.

  Delyth shrugged her shoulders so that the heavy fur slithered off them and to the floor behind her. She let the fingers of one hand trail down Alphonse’s throat to trace the modest neckline of her dress. “Tell me if you don’t like something, or if I go too fast.”

  “I will,” Alphonse promised as she looped her arms about Delyth’s neck, kissing the warrior once more before peering down with interest at what Delyth had been hiding under her furs all these weeks.

  Delyth snorted, her breath ruffling the top of Alphonse’s downturned head. She’d begun to undo the first few buttons of the smaller woman’s dress, but she was fumbling, unable to see. “Do you want me to take the rest of it off?” she laughed. “That way, you can look, and I can get this ridiculously impractical thing off you.”

  Alphonse slipped her hands down Delyth’s front, having never dared to touch her like that. Even with the clothes on. She felt the curves and then the dip of the warrior’s waist. Smiling, Alphonse scooted back enough to look into Delyth’s face.

  “You don’t like my clothes?” Alphonse asked, trying to look hurt or insulted but mostly appearing rueful. At the moment, her sentiment was the same. Delyth would surely look all the better if she weren’t so encumbered with her jerkin and other layers of protection against the cold.

  “I think you must definitely undress, after all, fair is fair. You’ve seen me…” Alphonse trailed off, her cheeks turning a very becoming shade of rose pink. Delyth had seen all of her. Repeatedly. Her amber eyes flickered over Delyth’s chest and hips. “I’ve only had my imagination…” she murmured.

  “Your imagination?” Delyth repeated, a smile making hills before her eyes. “So you’ve dreamed of me, little bird?”She stepped back enough to turn around without clipping Alphonse with a wing and then spread the dark sails enough to reveal the lacing down the back of her leather jerkin. “Would you give me a hand?”

  The healer paused to push aside Delyth’s hair over one shoulder and leaned in to kiss her neck. She couldn’t help herself; Alphonse just had to press her lips against the sensitive skin there. To know what Delyth tasted like. Even as she worked at those laces.

  She couldn’t wait.

  Delyth raised her arms to finish with the laces. Almost brusquely, she shoved off the sleeveless shirt and turned around to press her mouth to Alphonse’s, stifling the healer’s sharp intake of breath. Delyth’s fingers again at the buttons down the front of Alphonse’s dress. Alphonse clung to the priestess tightly as they embraced, pulling away long enough to giggle excitedly. Back again, kissing, hands fumbling around Delyth’s own at her dress front to help, to touch Delyth, to do something!

  Hastily, Alphonse pulled away long enough to finish the last two buttons, but got distracted by Delyth’s chest. Of course, she had seen other females naked before. Communal baths, medical settings, the odds and ins of life.

  But these were for her, and too perfect to ignore.

  Forgetting her own dress Alphonse reached out to brush a knuckle along the slope of Delyth’s breast, just nearly missing the peaked nipple, down beneath the heavy underside, then up between the two of them.

  ༄

  Delyth sighed. Gods, those hands were soft and delicate.

  The priestess captured Alphonse’s roving hand and kissed her palm, her wrist, the tips of her fingers. Alphonse’s eyes never left Delyth’s mouth.

  Her eyes slid from Alphonse’s hand to her face, mouth parted below a lovely flush. Slowly, the priestess let her gaze trace a path from those beautifully formed lips to amber eyes. She smiled a little wickedly and drew her teeth over the first knuckle of Alphonse’s forefinger.

  Alphonse swallowed and tugged her hand back long enough to finish the buttons of her dress. It fell away, and she practically yanked her undress off as well, finally in just her breast band and underthings.

  Delyth stilled, Alphonse finally all but freed from the layers of fabric. Gods, she had wanted to touch her, driven half-mad by the teasing, forbidden glimpses afforded her by Enyo’s love of being bare.

  Now, this was for her and from Alphonse, and she could take her time.

  The priestess pressed her hands to Alphonse’s hips and ran them slowly up her sides until the tips of Delyth’s thumbs just brushed the underside of Alphonse’s breasts beneath their confining band.

  Only, the healer seemed suddenly reserved, her brows drawn together, and Delyth paused, concern twisting her features. “Are you still alright?”

  “Yes.” Alphonse nodded slowly. “But… You’ve only ever seen my body when Enyo was wearing it.”

  Delyth drew Alphonse towards her until their bodies pressed together, her arms tightening around the healer’s waist. She wasn’t sure how to tell Alphonse that she was more beautiful as herself than with the Goddess prancing about in her form.

  “I don’t want Enyo,” she said. “I want you.”

  ❀

  Delyth hadn’t ever lied to Alphonse, as least not that she knew of. So she sagged slightly in relief as she believed Delyth’s words. Carefully Alphonse untangled herself from Delyth’s embrace long enough to shuck off her breast band.

  She fought the urge to cover her nakedness and instead moved to Delyth, cuddling closer and slipping her slender arms about the warrior’s waist. It was a very nice sensation, that of her breasts brushing against Delyth, and Alphonse caught herself looking down between them at the sight.

  A delighted laugh escaped her. “They look happy.”

  “I think you must be right,” Delyth said and leaned back slightly to make a show of looking. She came closer to lay a tender kiss on the sensitive skin of Alphonse’s collarbone and let her lips brush upwards to the hook of her jaw. “I’m happy too.”

  Alphonse wanted to agree. To say she was happy. Ecstatic.

  Instead, all she could do was moan softly and arch her back, hands gripping Delyth’s hips tightly. Everywhere Delyth’s lips moved, her skin tingled, and all Alphonse could think about was the next kiss, the next sensation.

  Delyth’s lips parted to pour warm breath over the gossamer skin of Alphonse’s neck, and she flicked her tongue just below the healer’s ear. “Lay down,” she whispered.

  Alphonse shivered and slid down Delyth’s body to finally lay atop the pallet. Goosebumps rose over her belly and arms, but Alphonse didn’t feel that cold. Her core felt molten and quivery in the most delightful way, and the healer watched with hooded eyes as Delyth drank in the sight of her body before lowering herself too. S
he placed a hand on either side of Alphonse’s face to support herself, dark hair making a curtain around them. She kissed the healer’s lips, her cheeks, her forehead, her temples. She let her mouth wander over the contours of Alphonse’s throat and down the sloping plane of her chest, only to pause and smile up at her teasingly.

  Then she drug her tongue over the bud of Alphonse’s nipple.

  With a startled yelp that turned into a moan, Alphonse jerked. It was an entirely new and lovely sensation. Alphonse was dimly aware of her hands opening and closing pointlessly at her sides, but all she could do was watch Delyth’s perfect mouth and arch her back, begging for Delyth to do it again.

  Delyth slid an arm under the arch of Alphonse’s back and pulled the smaller woman’s body to her mouth, keeping her attention on Alphonse’s breasts. She traced their contour with her tongue. Drew her teeth lightly over the sensitive nipples. Sucked them into her mouth. She layered kisses over and between them and down onto Alphonse’s belly.

  Finally, she lay her cheek against Alphonse’s chest and was still for a moment. “You are beautiful, aderyn bak.”

  Who knew lips and teeth and soft touches could be so exhilarating? Panting, Alphonse giggled feebly and brought her hands up to smooth away Delyth’s wild dark locks. When she hovered above Alphonse, she looked like some terrible creature of beauty and pleasure.

  “You’re more than beautiful. What is the word that means so stunning and talented it’s terrifying and thrilling all at once?” Alphonse swallowed and heaved a deep sigh, trying to clear her mind.

  Surely she should… reciprocate?

  “Could I—?” She let her hands travel past Delyth’s shoulders and down her ribs to the tapering of her waist. She may not be as skilled as Delyth, nor as methodical, but Alphonse certainly was willing to try. Eager to.

  Delyth moved to lie down beside Alphonse, slipping an arm beneath her head and neck and drawing her close.

  “Yes,” she said, “to whatever you’re asking.”

  The smaller woman blushed but let her fingers trail over Delyth’s lovely face, down her throat, across the straight clavicles.