ELEVEN

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Even that delicious indulgence wasn’t enough to make concentrating easy, but it did help us to get through the evening’s chores.

I was restless and found it difficult to sleep, though, and thus I heard Rebecca slipping out of the tent we shared. I paid it no mind at first, simply trying to sleep, but then I heard her not far off, saying, “Old friend, we need to talk.”

“What of?” Elizabeth’s reply was tense, even curt.

“About whatever it is you have against Edmond,” Rebecca said with some steel in her voice. “And, dare I hope, about putting it aside. You’re dear to me and I’d trust you with a great deal, Elizabeth, but what in the world is going on?”

“What,” the lieutenant snorted, “has he been complaining to you?”

“No, in point of fact, he has not. I would think it better if he were, but instead he’s tolerating your abuse as though it’s his due. Oh, don’t imagine I haven’t noticed – it’s simply high time I put a stop to it. What did the man ever do to you, Elizabeth, that you look on him so poorly?”

“Do?” Elizabeth grumbled. “He hasn’t done much of anything. And therein lies the problem – all he needs is a pretty face and good grooming and he gets an easy life handed to him, while I’m stuck working for years, trying to sort through which of many conflicting orders I’m supposed to follow, and then I see good men and women, people I’ve known for years, dead because of some mad scheme.” Rebecca tried to cut in, but the older woman kept going. “And now we need to slow down for him, carry more supplies than we ought, and for what? So you can have a convenient and familiar man around at need? Mine are good people, more than able to -”

“Enough.” Rebecca didn’t speak loudly, but there was enough of an edge to her voice that it cut through Elizabeth’s rant and silenced her. “First, then: If you’re so discommoded by him not being able to carry a soldier’s full kit on his first day, why didn’t it trouble you that on that first day, I was carrying nothing but the clothes on my back?”

There was a moment of strained silence. “But… I’m sworn to serve the royal lineage of -”

“And so you have. And for that I am grateful. But I am not made of porcelain, Elizabeth. I will not shatter if put to a task, and I have no more wish to be responsible for slowing us down than he does. Speaking of which, the man has gone above and beyond what you could possibly expect of a civilian, and he’s done so without a word of complaint even when it’s done him harm. Not only has he not sworn oath to me or mine, he may have risked that easy life you mentioned by being so ready to vanish from the city to come to my aid. You will use a respectful tone when addressing him, the same as you would me. Is that clear?”

“But -”

“Is that clear?”

There was a moment of stunned silence. Then, “Y-yes, milady. But…”

“Yes?” In the space of a few breaths, Rebecca’s tone had become much softer..

“Why him? What’s so special about this one?”

“Beyond what I’ve just said about his loyalty? The man saved my life, Elizabeth. For that alone, I owe him better than he’s received.”

A beat. “What?”

“He saved my life. He’d met me all of once, and when he learned of foul deeds planned against my family, without delay he came to warn me. He was so adamant that in part, I couldn’t simply turn aside his warnings… and, in part, I humoured him. If I had only taken him more seriously, my family might still be alive. If you must bear anger at anyone here for the mess we’re in, Elizabeth, it should be me, not him.”

Elizabeth’s gasp somewhat fit my own reaction. Was that why she’d been so quiet and subdued since leaving Nordport? Did she truly blame herself for the death – no, the killing – of her family? But that was just absurd…

“How could he have – ?”

“He learned of it from one of the agents involved, of course. She was one of his callers.”

“She… no, no. This entire affair has been too precise, such a one as could be involved in it wouldn’t simply let it slip in bed -”

“I didn’t say she did. He pulled it from her head, Elizabeth – he overheard her thoughts. I was intending to take him to see the Queen’s telepath, to confirm it, but, fool that I was, I decided that it could wait until morning.” A soft snort. “And see where that’s landed us.”

“I… I had no idea…”

“You never asked,” was Rebecca’s chilling reply. “Now, I am going to try once more to rest. I trust that this conversation will not need to happen again.” Brush rustled with the rhythm of footsteps.

I tried to lie still when she returned to the tent – tried, still, to sleep – but no sooner had Rebecca settled in her bedroll than she turned toward mine. “It’s rather rude to listen to another’s conversation, Edmond,” she said, a gentle teasing note in her voice.

I sighed and gave up, rolling onto my back. “I truly hadn’t intended to. It’s just that I find myself unable to fall asleep.”

“Scarcely a surprise, that.” There was a brief sound of rustling fabric, and then she was tugging at my bedroll, sliding into it with me, her leg brushing alongside the stubborn firmness of my manhood. “With such need as a woman in her state would leave you, I’m half amazed you’ve been able to work or sleep at all.”

Yielding to temptation, I wiggled into the open somewhat, letting her keep her head out of the bedroll. She didn’t slide right onto me – her body, I could only assume, wasn’t quite ready for such – but she slid her fingers along my length, and nosed my arm aside when I made a bid to respond in kind. “The need isn’t mine, Edmond. This once, just let me savour yours, hmmm?”

Even if she wasn’t on heat, her warmth against me was a most welcome thing. I closed my eyes, let out my breath, and let the pleasure of her touch race through me unimpeded. Under other circumstances, the time it took for her to coax a few spurts of sticky white onto her palm might have been woefully short.

But she didn’t seem to object in the slightest, and between the release and the company, it was easier to finally drift off to sleep.

She was still there when I woke, as well, both of us roused at more or less the same time by the smells of a meal being cooked. We all broke our fast in silence and rushed to tidy up our camp; with luck, the rigours of travel would help to keep distractions at bay.

In point of fact, I was caught somewhat off guard when Elizabeth announced that a particular tor would make a good place to camp for the evening; the sun was still up, and with the days as short as they were, we hadn’t stopped before sundown since we started walking by day.

I was even more surprised when, as I was about to set some targets for shooting, she asked that I walk with her a ways.

Several times over the next few minutes, she seemed about to speak, only to close her mouth and let her breath out again. I waited; whatever she wished to say, it would be no easier if I pestered her.

I wasn’t entirely surprised when she finally said, “This is madness. Edmond… it shouldn’t be so difficult for me to say this, and I know it’s overdue, but… I’m sorry. You’ve shown yourself to be a good man since this trek began. You’ve come across two duchies with less complaint and more vigour than any recruit I’ve seen, and… I understand that without you, we’d have lost Rebecca as well. For that… I should be thanking you, not…”

Drawing the matter out wouldn’t make it any better, I felt. “I’m only trying to do what feels right, ma’am. As are we all. I’ve been frustrated with my own progress, so I can understand that you would be, as well.”

“Hardly that. Up until these past few days, you’ve progressed better than I had any right to expect, and – well, I can hardly blame you for that.” She took a deep breath for courage. “Look, I… I have no right to expect this of you, I know. I’ll understand if you’re unwilling to touch me after… everything. But if you can see your way to… dealing with me, we can all be alert and focused going into Duchy Wafret, without needing to wait a few days because I’ve been a damned fool.”

“Does it feel like I’m unwilling?” The words slipped out of my mouth without the benefit of a moment’s thought, but I felt no real need to recall them; even as she turned toward me, eyes widening in shock, I reached out to take her hand, and, feeling no resistance, guided it in and down. In hindsight, I’m not sure I could have done otherwise, so strong was the need I felt, but I’ve no regrets about it all the same.

She laughed – the first I’d heard her do so – as her fingers traced along the eager swell in my breeches. “Truly, you are a remarkable sort of man,” she said, tugging at my belt.

I started shrugging out of my cloak. “Even if we aren’t friends, we do need to work together,” I thought out loud. “We might as well enjoy what portions of it we can.”

What followed was not elaborate, nor even very intimate. It was straightforward; it answered a need we both had. We shed our clothing, and I lowered her onto the heather, my cloak between her pelt and the brush. So great was her pent-up need, I slid into her with no difficulty at all. Her fingers raked over my back as I drove in and out of her, and it wasn’t long at all until she shuddered under me, tightening around my manhood. It was fast enough, in fact, that she had time for another such frisson of pleasure before my own struck, my seed splashing deep into her.

It was not unlike some of the callers I’d had, really. We’d done this because she needed a man, not because we were fond of each other; whatever might happen in time with our differences out of the way, we weren’t that, not yet. Once we’d finished, we pulled apart, collected our respective clothing, and dressed in silence. My chemise had tangled on some brush and wound up torn, but after our exertions, the November air wasn’t unwelcome. I shrugged into the rest and carried the shirt back into camp, searching amongst our collected supplies for a sewing kit to mend it.

Nancy, seeing me return, gave me a knowing look and a smirk, but she made no comment.

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