Tiara- Part Two

by Robin Roseau

  “Comfortable?”

  “Yes.”

  “If at any point you want to lie down, you can,” I said. “Please don’t run away.”

  “What are you going to do to make me run away?”

  “Tell you about Ressaline.”

  And then I did.

  * * * *

  I told her everything, as best I could. I even told her about my first time, and about how frustrated I was when I left Charth. I told her all of it. Finally I turned to her, and I used two fingers to pull her chin towards me. “Lyndis, there is no way you’re ready for all of that.”

  “No exceptions.”

  “Not at all.”

  “Not even for…”

  “Not even for Mother,” I said. “The Queen of Flarvor is unwelcome in Ressaline unless she goes to accept this tradition.”

  “But she’s married.”

  “Yes, she is. Mother has been to the border, but unless something changes, she’ll never cross the river.”

  “That treaty?”

  “Covers passing through, but it’s not something I can abuse.”

  She pulled her chin away, looking at the dark window. Neither of us spoke for a long time. But then she said, “I’m in your bed.”

  “You are.”

  “Am I invited to stay?”

  “Yes, if you like.”

  And then we sat again, her not looking at me. But then I saw the edge of a smile. “If I told you to kiss my feet again, would you?”

  “I might.”

  “Where else would you kiss?”

  “Where do you want me to kiss?”

  “I’m not sure,” she replied. “My bottom.”

  “Roll over.” I didn’t wait. I rolled around, under the covers. Lyndis began complaining, but I yanked her further from the head of the bed, then rolled her over before planting two big kisses on her bottom, although it wasn’t remotely satisfying through everything she was wearing. Then I climbed up and wrapped around her, spooning her.

  “You’re funny,” she finally declared. “I think you should undress me and do that again.”

  “Don’t tempt me.”

  “Do it,” she said.

  “Lyndis?”

  She looked over her shoulder. “You said you’d kiss me wherever I asked. I want you to undress me and kiss me there. I’ll decide after that.”

  I hadn’t said any such thing, but I kissed her shoulder and then let my fingers begin to find the various stays. She cooperated as I removed her remaining clothing.

  “You, too,” she said. “I want to watch.”

  And so I pulled the covers down and squirmed around, undressing myself. It would have been more graceful if I had climbed from the bed, but Lyndis began to giggle from my antics. She rolled to face me, and if she were at all uncomfortable, it didn’t show. I tossed the clothing behind me to land somewhere on the floor, and then I lay on my side, neither of us wearing a thing.

  “Do it,” she said. “Like you did the first time.”

  “You like when I’m playful and aggressive?”

  “Yes.”

  “Lyndis.”

  “I wish you would just believe me,” she said.

  “I can try.” I didn’t start with her bottom. I kissed her forehead. Then I climbed atop her with her now on her back, and gave her a normal kiss before brushing cheeks and taking the corner of her ear into my mouth. I teased it, and she giggled, but she grew quieter and quieter.

  “That’s not my bottom,” she finally whispered.

  “You’ll get your bottom kissed,” I told her. “My way.”

  “I better, and now I want my feet kissed, too. You’re taking too long.”

  I laughed then licked her ear before wrestling her onto her stomach. She went back to giggling as I climbed atop, sitting on her now, peeling the covers back.

  I bent over and kissed the small of her back. And then further down, a big, loud kiss on one cheek, then the other, then a series of feathery kisses, one side and the other.

  I moved down, kissing my way down her legs until I trapped her feet. She didn’t struggle, and she didn’t struggle when I lifted both of them, side by side. I then spent the next few minutes gently kissing her feet, the toes, the sides, the bottoms, until she whispered, “Come back up here.”

  I shifted, climbing off her and turning around. I lay down beside her and set my hand on her back. She turned her head to look at me. I traced patterns in her skin, and she closed her eyes, but her lips parted. “That feels so nice, Darfelsa.”

  “Good,” I whispered.

  I traced patterns, and having now kissed her bottom, I gave myself permission to touch there, too. Her eyes opened at that, but she smiled. “Don’t stop.”

  “No more than you want, Lyndis. Are you sure?”

  “Don’t stop. That feels really nice.”

  So I touched and stroked, but it was all quite tame, discounting two women, naked in bed together. She closed her eyes and gave out little mews of pleasure, but then asked, “If you were going to seduce me, what would you do?”

  So I told her. She listened, and I touched, and she mewed, and then she opened her eyes and said, “That sounds like a wonderful plan.”

  “Lyndis?”

  “If you ask me to do anything, I will.”

  “We’re going to start slowly,” I said. I adjusted myself, and then I pulled her until she was laying partially across me, now on her back. I gave her a pillow, and then I went back to touching. Lyndis closed her eyes, and I touched, innocent places at first.

  “More,” she whispered. “Or tell me what to do.”

  “This is for you,” I said. “You may touch me if you want, but I’d rather you let me do this my way.”

  “You may do anything you like to me.”

  And so, I went at it slowly, my hand teasing all around before I began brushing her breasts. Her breathing increased, her lips parted, and she whispered, “Yes. More.”

  And so, I did.

  * * * *

  I took my time, and I kept only to things I knew would be sweet and gentle. There was no way she was ready for everything I knew how to do. For the most part, she lay still for me, or relatively still, but she gave little sounds of encouragement.

  And then somewhat louder sounds of encouragement, and her hand pressed against the top of mine, pinning me where it was, but letting me do what she needed.

  She grew louder, and more frantic, but I teased her for as long as I could before she began to tremble and call out wordlessly. She gave out a series of, “Oh, oh, oh,” and I could feel her pleasure, I could see it in her body, and feel it against mine.

  And then she collapsed, panting rapidly, holding me still now. I waited for her to calm down, and finally she turned and said the best thing she could have. “I have no idea why I waited to do this with you.”

  I laughed, and we hugged and kissed and hugged some more as she clung to me.

  And then I settled, holding her. We lay quietly, but it felt good just to hold her. But then she asked, “Are you tired?”

  “Ready to sleep?” I replied.

  She rolled onto her side, and we were nose to nose. “I don’t think I’m ready to do all that for you yet.”

  “I might suggest there’s a learning period.”

  “Could I touch, though?”

  “Of course, Lyndis.”

  “Close your eyes,” she ordered. “Lie back.”

  I rolled onto my back and closed my eyes, then squirmed just a little, getting comfortable. And then she began touching me, tentatively at first, and quite tamely. She explored my body, but just told me to lie still and let her do what she wanted, so I did.

  She explored, but eventually she landed at my breasts, and then she was very, very tentative before finally cupping one. “They’re not the same.”

  “No, not the same. Similar.”

  “I…” She paused, but her hand moved a little. It felt nice. “I’m not ready for too much more, but what else
can I do?”

  “Your lips, if you want.”

  “Really?”

  “Uh, huh. Do you want me to show you?”

  “I bet I can figure it out.”

  She teased me, and she got me pretty worked up, just from what she did to my breasts, to my nipples, but then she pulled away and lay down again, her hand resting atop one breast. “You really like that?”

  “Uh, huh,” I admitted.

  “Do we have to do more?”

  “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want.”

  “Hold me?”

  We shifted around until I was spooning her. “Are we settling in?” I asked.

  “Yes, if we can sleep like this.”

  “We can’t,” I said. “Stay right where you are.” I slipped from bed, then ran around to catch the lamps before joining her.

  “That’s much better,” she whispered. We settled, then she kissed my hand. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “You’ve shown me… so much. Thank you.”

  Her voice was strange. I didn’t quite understand why, but I asked, “Are you all right?”

  “I’m good,” she said. “I wouldn’t trade this. Thank you for being so patient with me.”

  “You’re worth every minute.”

  It’s Not You

  I didn’t see Lyndis for several days. She cancelled an evening with me, but when I sent a note, she wrote back, “Our night was magical.”

  Several days turned into a week, and then I received a note to attend Mother in her parlor.

  There were guards outside, but they opened the doors for me. Waiting inside I found Mother, Ahlianna, and Lyndis.

  And the latter was crying.

  She turned to me, and I hurried to her. I tried to take her in my arms, but she held me partially at bay. “I think I’m falling in love with you, Darfelsa, and our night together… I’ll never forget it. But I can’t be what you need me to be. I’m so, so sorry.” Then she let out a sob, wrenched away from me, and ran for the door.

  “Lyndis!” I cried. I made it two steps before Ahlianna stepped in front of me, catching me. I could have fought her, but I wasn’t in the habit of disobeying my sister.

  And Lyndis ran away from me.

  Once the doors closed, and it was clear I would have to disobey the Crown Princess to go after her, I spun. “What did you say to her?”

  “I imagine you’re upset,” Ahlianna said. “I don’t blame you. But don’t yell at anyone until you’ve heard.”

  “I’m not yelling.”

  “You’re on the edge of it,” she said. She took my arm and pulled me to the sofa. Mother sat down in a chair, facing us, and then Ahlianna kept control of my arm beside. “Mother said hardly a word. I had far more to say.”

  “You?” I asked, spinning to more fully face her.

  “Me,” she said. “And I’m glad everything came out.”

  “What did you say?” My voice started to rise.

  “I saved both of you from a lot of heartache. You’re not in love yet. She’s on the edge of it, but she’ll get past it.”

  “You had no right!”

  “First off, I have every right,” she said. “And secondly, for the most part, all I did was agree with her.”

  “Let her explain,” Mother said. “But I’m going to start. She came to me.”

  I shifted my attention. “How much did she tell you?”

  “More than she came to tell,” Mother replied. “But once I got her talking, I kept her talking.” Mother was particularly good at that. “I will tell you right now that I believe she had grown quite fond of you, but she hadn’t lost herself to you. But that was on the edge of changing, which began a week ago. So don’t even think this is about that.”

  “Then what?”

  “She already told you,” Ahlianna said. “It’s nothing I haven’t already told you, or you’ve told me, or you’ve told her.”

  “My life,” I said, somewhat dully. “Problem-solver. Ressaline. Ressaline especially.”

  “She’s been here for nearly three hours,” Mother said.

  “What?”

  “I sent for your sister once I had gotten as much information as I thought I was going to,” she added.

  “Sister,” Ahlianna said. “Listen to me. If you tell me you pick her over being my problem-solver, then I’ll find-”

  “No. Unless you don’t want me.”

  “I have no one I want more,” she said. “And I’m sorry, but I’m not at all sorry we figured this out now rather than after you were in love.”

  “I was in a lot of lust,” I admitted.

  She snorted. “I imagine, especially as you said that in front of Mother.”

  At that, I colored. Mother laughed but didn’t say anything to make it worse.

  “Ressaline was the worst of it,” Ahlianna said.

  “No one understands until she’s done it herself.”

  “A little debauchery never hurt anyone,” Mother said, surprising me. Ahlianna and I both turned to look at her.

  But then Ahlianna said, “That may be, but in Ressaline, it’s not a little debauchery.”

  “A little debauchery is what they use for a warm-up,” I added. I sighed. “She wouldn’t have had to go.”

  “Sister,” Ahlianna said. “Yes, she would. You’re going to be traveling there for decades.”

  “You’re never going to need me to solve any problems Allium can’t solve there.”

  “Frankly, I’m not convinced that’s true. And frankly, if you were heading either east or west, I’d rather you traveled through Charthan, even if it’s a little further. If I need you somewhere along the border, I want you to do most of the traveling inside Charthan. I hate to admit it, but I think you’d be safer on that side of the border. If Allium needs a little royal weight, Father and I would both send you.”

  “She could have stayed here.”

  “And been apart from you for months?”

  “And what about the debauchery?” Mother asked, a glint in her eye.

  “It’s not like I engaged in it before.”

  “So you and Gretchena never got past kissing?” she asked. I didn’t answer that. “That’s what I thought.”

  “I can readily see sending you to distant points,” Ahlianna said. “And I’ve already told you I prefer your consort be free to travel with you. But it wasn’t just Ressaline. It was all of it. It’s one thing to live the life of a princess, or the consort to a princess, here in Barrish.”

  “The worst sticking point, after Ressaline, was children,” Mother added. “She didn’t want to travel with them, and she didn’t want to leave them here.”

  “And I flat out told her,” Ahlianna added, “That it sounded like she wasn’t really ready to fully support you, and if she didn’t think she was going to become ready, then I really wished she would withdraw her name, now, before it hurt a whole lot worse.”

  I wanted to be angry; I really did. And maybe if I’d suddenly been left entirely in the cold again, I would be. Instead, I said nothing.

  Finally, Mother added, “Unless you ask, I’m not adding any new names to your list.”

  “You told me I needed to be flexible, at least until my 21st birthday.”

  “I may begin adding them again, when you get back from Ressaline. We’ll see. Ahlianna will be advising me, and you better not get mad at her for it.”

  “Trim the list,” I said. “Keep one or two others. I don’t care who, as long as they aren’t cads. Or maybe trim them all so they’re free to pursue other choices. I’m going to be gone for a long time.”

  “I’ll handle that,” she said. “Mad at us?”

  “No. Sad. Mother, you were right about her.”

  “Ahlianna told me weeks ago I was a fool.”

  “That’s not the word I used!” Ahlianna complained.

  “No, I suppose it wasn’t.” She sighed dramatically. “Darfelsa, don’t worry. If Shalendra doesn’t wor
k out, we’ll find someone who is up to the life you’ll be leading. If we have to, I’ll order Allium to marry you.”

  “You would not!” I said, laughing. “Besides, Ahlianna has a bigger girl crush on her than I do.”

  “That’s the other choice.”

  “I know you’re teasing, Mother,” Ahlianna said. “But if you’re going to make her marry into the family, it should be Valsine.”

  “Why ever should it be Valsine?”

  “Because Allium belongs in Charth,” Ahlianna explained. “And if you make Valsine marry her, then she’s not underfoot here.”

  “She’s right,” I agreed. “Well, about Allium. But sister, you’re not being fair to Valsine.”

  “Probably not,” Ahlianna agreed. “I just remember what a shitty little brat she used to be.”

  “Well, I think perhaps Valsine belongs in Charth, too, as she’s not a shitty brat anymore.”

  “Maybe not,” Ahlianna said. She looked into my eyes. “Hate me?”

  “Never.”

  “Fine. Mad at me?”

  “No.” I looked at the door and sighed.

  “I cancelled your event with Shalendra tonight,” Mother said.

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s wrong to go from saying ‘goodbye’ to one woman and run to another,” Mother explained. “She’s coming for dinner tomorrow instead.”

  I nodded. “And next week, I leave.”

  “And next week, you leave.”

  * * * *

  “So,” I said. “Try not to act too pleased.”

  “I think I have every right to be pleased,” Shalendra replied, lying next to me.

  “I have something to tell you.”

  “Oh. Don’t act too pleased with what you’re going to tell me, but I’m free to act as pleased as I want for that healthy glow and those loud noises you were making.”

  “Yes, exactly,” I agreed. “My suitor list has been trimmed.”

  “Oh?” She tried to sound casual about it.

  “Have you heard?”

  “Names come; names go. Who did your mother add.”

  “No one.”