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As Liadan slept peacefully on the straw pallet, Rowan and Saoirse built up a fire over the hearth, and everyone else rolled out their bedrolls near the flames. They all laid down to rest there in the gloomy cabin, and because Ethne and Lysa were now angry with each other, Lysa had nowhere to sleep, for Ethne was now sharing her bedroll with Fionn. With Liadan still sleeping on the straw pallet, Ava had plenty of room in her bedroll and invited Lysa to join her. The little handmaiden gratefully climbed in beside the princess and lay on her back, staring at the ceiling in contemplation.
Before long, the room was full of the sound of soft breathing as Liadan, Ethne, and Fionn slept. Rowan and Saoirse, however, lay awake, speaking together in low voices of the journey to come. They were nearest the door, so as to defend the others from attack, while Ava and Lysa lay in their bedroll near Liadan.
Ava decided to take the opportunity to interrogate Lysa about her wild behavior, not only because she wished to defend Ethne but also because . . . she was curious. Lysa was having more sex than a sailor at port!
“Lysa?” Ava whispered.
“Hmm?” returned Lysa sleepily. She was still lying on her back, gazing thoughtfully at the stained ceiling.
“Why are you doing this to Ethne?”
Lysa scowled. “Doing what?”
“You know what! Sleeping around,” Ava scolded. “Ethne loves you and—”
“I don’t believe it!” Lysa cried, sitting up on her elbow. “You’re on Ethne’s side now? Why?”
Ava sighed unhappily. “It’s just, Ethne is a good woman and you’re hurting her. I see it now.”
Lysa snorted. “Ethne is not a good woman, nor is she true! Do you know how many tavern wenches she did bed back in Hargendon?”
“Only because she thought you didn’t want her,” Ava returned, still scolding. “The way you carry on with Rowan and Saoirse! Why? You know it hurts her.”
“Does it? I didn’t think she cared. Look at her and that little . . .waif.” So saying, Lysa waved a disgusted hand at Fionn, who was sleeping happily on Ethne’s breastplate as the knight held her close.
“I suspect she slept with Fionn after she saw you dancing with Rowan and Saoirse at the feast,” said Ava. “And I know you slept with them afterward, as well as those two priestesses.”
Lysa gasped. “Ava! Goddess. How came you to spy upon me so? It was your wedding night! Shouldn’t you have been off with Liadan?”
“Liadan and I wanted to get you in our bed. I went to look for you twice and both times you were with others.”
“Oh,” whispered Lysa sheepishly.
“You are so careless with Ethne’s heart yet want to play the victim when she doth move on. I never knew you could be so . . . vicious.”
Lysa sighed. “You are right, my princess. I didn’t know I could be so vicious either. But I’m not in love with Ethne and I don’t want to be her lady! I know that now. I keep telling her, and she doth continue to pursue. That is hardly my fault.”
“I suppose you’re right. At least she has Fionn now.”
Lysa’s lips tightened angrily. “Yes. Good for her,” she said scathingly.
Ava laughed softly. “You don’t love Ethne, yet you are jealous of Fionn?”
“Ethne is my first knight!” Lysa cried, keeping her voice low so as not to be heard. “Even if I am no longer with her, why should it please me to watch as another is doted upon by her? If you were to part ways with Liadan, would it please you to see her kissing another woman? Of course, not!”
“No, I suppose not.” Ava was silent as she suddenly realized: if Liadan were to love another and kiss her in front of Ava, Ava might lose all dignity and pull someone’s hair out. Thankfully, Liadan loved only her. If she lay with other women, it was purely pleasure, and Ava was always a part of it.
“I know it’s silly, but in my mind, Ethne shall always be my knight, even if I despise her.” Lysa laughed weakly, and her eyes went fondly to Ethne, where she lay sleeping with Fionn.
Ava laughed as well. “The two of you deserve each other.”
There was a pause as they both lay on their backs, staring at the ceiling, lost in thought. Then Lysa said very quietly, “There is only one woman I shall ever love. I know that now. Try as I might to move on, to love another . . .”
Ava blushed as Lysa’s meaning became clear.
“I know you love Liadan, and I would not get in the way of that,” Lysa went on, “but just know that I shall always love you, and I am here if you need me. I would do most anything for you.”
Ava smiled sadly. Her heart was fluttering in her chest to hear Lysa’s soft-spoken confession. “Oh, sweetest Lysa,” she whispered. “Why didn’t you ever tell me how you felt before?”
Lysa made a helpless noise. “I am not the sort of woman that doth please you! I am slender and small . . . and ugly.”
“You are not ugly!” Ava said indignantly at once.
“I am not big and strong the way you like,” Lysa went on. “I cannot lift you up, nor make aggressive love to you. I am not a great warrior like Liadan but a rogue and a sneak. I have no magick. I can barely even read! There is nothing in me you should desire—”
Ava reached over, cupped Lysa’s face with one hand, and kissed her on the lips.
“A-Ava!” Lysa whispered, blushing. She was confused but pleased.
“I love you, too,” Ava whispered, “as my friend and companion, and there is nothing I wouldn’t do for you either. I wish you would stay with me at court once I have taken back Caradin. Be my advisor, sweet Lysa—”
“And watch as you dote on Liadan and have her children? No, thank you.”
Ava sighed sadly. “I suppose it is selfish of me to press it.”
“It is,” Lysa teased.
Ava smiled.
There was a moan from the straw pallet, and Ava looked around to see Liadan had awoken. The Knight of the Wild was blinking, her head turning against the straw. Ava’s heart fluttered, and she climbed from the bedroll and up onto the low pallet, where she snuggled in beside Liadan on her belly. Her great breasts sat against Liadan’s breastplate, the cleavage swelling from the collar of her blue traveling gown.
“My love!” Ava whispered happily, peering into Liadan’s face. “Are you well?”
Liadan blinked sleepily and smiled. She reached up and touched Ava’s face, and her eyes were warm with love. Ava’s heart melted. She thought she would spend the rest of her life melting when Liadan looked at her.
Liadan kissed Ava softly on the lips and let her head drop again to the straw, moaning hoarsely, “I am well, my love, my darling.”
Ava’s heart fluttered to hear such sweet words from Liadan’s lips. Since their wedding in Hastow, the Knight of the Wild had become more doting, gentle, and sweet than ever, and it was making her deliriously happy.
Liadan glanced around and frowned at her unfamiliar surroundings. “Where are we?”
“An abandoned cabin not far from Hastow,” Lysa answered, kneeling near the pallet. She pushed her mousey brown hair behind her ear and glowered as she said, “You were nearly slain thanks to Ethne! That magick blade would have killed thee like poison!”
“Ethne is not to blame, fair Lysa,” said Liadan at once. “Ceana was doing as she was bid by her masters, and Ethne—”
“Was being a dog, as usual!” Lysa shrilled.
Liadan laughed. “I suppose nothing much around here has changed,” she said to Ava, who laughed as well.
“Of course, you would defend her,” scolded Lysa. She glanced sadly over Liadan’s body. “But after what happened to you, you should be furious!”
“You are so sweet to worry for me, dear Lysa,” Liadan answered, amused. She reached up, grabbed Lysa by the waist, and easily lifted her onto the pallet, so that she, like Ava, was resting on her belly on Liadan’s breastplate.
Liadan looked between their faces, her eyes soft. Ava saw her blue eyes graze lustily over her great cleavage, then Liadan looked at Lysa and seemed annoyed that the former handmaiden was wearing a leather chest guard. The guard hid her cleavage completely.
“Things were easier when you wore a gown,” complained Liadan, making Lysa blush when she reached back and roughly undid the buckle, pulling the chest guard off over Lysa’s head.
“Liadan!” Lysa whispered in soft protest. She was blushing quite hard and glanced around, as if she hoped Rowan and Saoirse hadn’t noticed, but her other lovers were not watching or noticing.
Liadan ignored Lysa’s whispers and tugged at the smaller woman’s tunic, pulling the laces so that her cleavage poured free. And now, like Ava, Lysa’s breasts were sitting – swollen together – on Liadan’s breastplate. This seemed to satisfy Liadan, who let her head rest again as she observed them.
“You were mine before you lay with Rowan and Saoirse,” said Liadan, cupping the back of Lysa’s brown hair, “and you were Ethne’s before you were mine. Remember that, dear Lysa.”
Ava could tell that Lysa was pleased, but Lysa cried out indignantly anyway, “I am not property, Liadan!”
Liadan smiled and shook her head. “That is not what I meant. There is a certain . . .hierarchy to things. It’s a rule we made when we used to travel together as girls. Whoever sleeps with a woman always stays her first. If Rowan and Saoirse wanted you right now, I could say no because I had slept with you first. I would be in my rights to draw my blade on them, in fact. And if Ethne woke up right now and said that she wanted you and that I should leave you alone, I would have to surrender you or else fight for you. In our eyes, you shall always belong to Ethne because she had you first.”
Lysa was blushing brightly. “You all go on about women as if we were pieces of meat!”
“No, it’s just the way of things. The point was to keep us from brawling over our lovers. When knights travel around in groups, we tend to sleep with the same women, and fighting happens, people get hurt,” explained Liadan.
“Like today,” Lysa miserably admitted.
Liadan raised her brows inquisitively.
“While you were sleeping,” explained Ava, “Rowan pulled a blade on Ethne and nearly killed her. Or threatened to, anyway.”
Liadan nodded grimly. “That wouldn’t have happened if Rowan and Saoirse had respected the code and not bedded you without Ethne’s permission, Lysa.”
Lysa shook her head. “The four of you are absolutely mad.”
Liadan wasn’t listening. She was looking at Lysa’s breasts. Lysa trembled as Liadan stared at her, and Ava knew she was trembling with anticipation, though she was pretending not to enjoy it.
“Liadan!” Lysa scolded when Liadan tugged on her tunic, pulling it down over her shoulder and causing one of her breasts to pour free.
Clutching the back of Lysa’s neck, Liadan pulled her close and kissed her on the mouth. Lysa blushed brightly but frowned and kissed Liadan back.
Ava watched them kissing a moment and felt her sex pumping in her panties. She blushed when Liadan’s hand closed hard on her backside, and the next thing she knew, Liadan had pulled her close, so that her breasts were in the Knight of the Wild’s face. As Lysa watched, breathless from the kiss, tousled hair in her eyes, Liadan pulled Ava’s laces free with her teeth. Ava’s heart pounded as her big breasts shivered free, as Lysa watched with hunger, as Liadan’s burning eyes grazed over the soft mounds.
Squeezing Ava’s backside again, Liadan pulled Ava up, so that her breasts were in Liadan’s face, and then Ava gasped in delight when she felt the barbarian’s hungry lips sucking hard at her nipple. Ava hugged Liadan’s head and stroked her red hair as she was suckled, her soft cries and moans soon filling the room. She frowned against the pleasure and looked around in a daze to find Lysa watching as she was suckled by Liadan, watching with hungry brown eyes.
Without warning, Liadan grabbed Lysa by the backside next, drew her up near so that her breasts were in Liadan’s face, and then Liadan was sucking on Lysa’s little breast, sucking fast, so that it jiggled as the pink nipple was pulled. Lysa was gasping and moaning, her eyes hooded, her cheeks blushing with shame that Ava was watching. Then Lysa’s eyes fluttered open wide, and Ava glanced back and saw that Liadan’s hand had slid down the back of Lysa’s tight trousers and she was fingering Lysa as she sucked her nipple.
Ava had only seconds to watch before she felt Liadan’s fingers in her panties, and then she was being fingered as well. She gasped, holding on to Liadan’s head and her soft red hair, arching her back as the barbarian’s relentless fingers plunged hard and hungry through her tight, moist walls.
Fingering Ava and Lysa at the same time, Liadan grunted as she took turns sucking their breasts, kissing their necks, tasting their lips, and trapped in her hard, strong arms, they screamed softly as they enjoyed every wet second of it.