The whole space was lit by some glazed windows, which must have cost more than anything else in the room—apart from maybe the tapestries. I had no idea what lewd weavers might charge. I opened one of the windows, as the room reeked of stale sweat, poorly hidden by cheap incense.
I was stalling. I knew it. Sephy had dragged me up here, using the excuse of us ‘investigating’ Spendlove, but from the look on her face, this was anything but work. She had just finished setting her privacy array. She turned to me, our eyes meeting. Despite my trepidation at what was to come, I couldn’t help but admire her.
The Sephy of the past had been the pinnacle of elegance, with her dark crimson hair decorated and a full dress that accentuated her decidedly feminine curves while leaving no doubt of the muscles beneath. Now, as she stood wearing britches that clung to the muscles of her legs and a tightly fitted tunic that left her arms bare, it was like looking at scintillating flames—so beautiful that you were tricked into forgetting the threat they posed.
“So, we are to part ways briefly.” She broke the silence between us.
“We are.”
“The last time we parted, a great deal was left unsaid. I refuse to let that happen again. Knowing your luck, the Lady will turn up while we’re away and drag you off on some unseelie adventure, and you’ll turn up with a different face.”
“Hey, the face changing was a one-time thing. I like this face.” I tried to lighten the mood, but her face remained serious.
“Don’t try and charm your way out of this, you handsome bastard. I’m not used to asking people for their innermost thoughts. Half the fun is in extracting them with trickery and witty banter. So bear with me if this goes poorly.” Sephy took a deep breath. “What is the problem?”
“Pardon?”
“You know as well as I do that you’ve been avoiding me!”
“I—” I felt my instinctive refusal cut off. My tongue twisted into a knot.
“And now you speak to Arthur first! I've been waiting for you to explain yourself, or at least give me a proper chance to wheedle it out of you. But no, you have to go talk to him first!”
“I was coming to see you when he ambushed me! You were my first priority, I swear.” I shouted and immediately cringed. But at least that was the right thing to say. Sephy settled back. She still looked hurt, but the anger had faded.
“That’s good to know. Look, I’m not going to apologise for things outside of my control! I couldn’t have told you about this quest, but know that I wanted to. Are you feeling slighted by me? Or insulted that I chose the honour of my family over you?” Sephy stalked around the room.
“What? No! Not at all!”
“Then what? You know me. You understand me better than anyone, and yet here I am trying to get a grip on you only to find smoke! Do you know how irritating that is for someone of my training? Do you know how painful that is for the person who is supposed to be your partner?” She stalked right up to me, waving a finger under my nose. I expected to see pure anger on her face, but I couldn’t deny the sadness pinching at the corner of her eyes.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think it was this bad. I thought you knew,” I said, my words tumbling out in a poorly composed mess.
“Knew what?”
“I’m scared. Scared that we’ll be parted by duty, by your allegiance to Arthur, by secrets you’re forced to keep,” I answered, my voice louder than I intended.
“And you think I don’t feel the same way? Taliesin, the man set on his path by the Lady of the Lake herself? Coveted by Mother Chox? You think to blame me for having a life outside you?”
“No, that’s not it. I never imagined that we’d run off like a pair of mortals and start a farm or something. Still, I at least thought I would be willing to follow you anywhere. But when you shared that first plan, I just couldn’t imagine myself at your side.”
“Why does that matter?”
“How does it not? I failed you—failed us. I should be ready to follow. Is that not what one should do for someone they… care for deeply?” I chickened out at the last moment, fearing that introducing the word love into this conversation would force me to confront something I wasn’t ready for.
Sephy took a step back and looked me in the eyes. Intense irises, somewhere between hazel and amber, danced over my face, tracing every feature. Her anger was banished by the calculating look I knew all too well, her eyes narrowing, her lips thinning.
“You vexatious bard! All of this nonsense over the last few days for that?” She hit my chest—enough to push me back an inch—before wrapping her arms around me and collapsing into my embrace.
“I thought it was pretty important,” I muttered into her hair.
“A question—if I’d asked you point-blank, said I needed you to come sneak across the passes with me, would you have done so?” She didn’t release the hug, leaning her head against my shoulder and speaking into my chest.
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“Yes.”
“Being together doesn’t mean things are always smooth or that supporting the other isn’t a chore. I love my family, but I hate that they refused to let me share this secret. I trusted you to handle Spendlove’s insults at the gate, even if every part of me was burning with desire to separate his head from his body.”
“You were that annoyed by him?” I smiled.
“He was treating you like dirt. How would you feel if our roles were reversed?” She asked, then laughed as my face flickered with anger. “I trusted you to handle it, and I was right, wasn’t I?”
“Yes. It’s just… I don’t really have any idea how to do this. I want to be there for you.”
“You will be, just as I will be there for you. I am a knight, you’re a bard. We’re going to clash here and there. It’s how we handle it that matters.”
“So you’re not annoyed?”
“I’m still very annoyed. You handled this exactly like you handled Arthur—you ran away until you got hunted down. That isn’t any fun for me. You forced me to be direct, and you know how I hate that.” Sephy’s grip on me tightened, and I remembered that this woman could likely crush me.
“Then why do you seem so happy?”
“I am a woman. We can be both. If we had more time, I’d be making sure you appreciate my frustrations. Still, you better be ready to make it up to me when I get back.”
“I’ll have to get creative,” I answered, daring to inject a coy tone.
“I look forward to it.” She leaned back, but with my arms still around her waist, she was in the perfect position for a kiss. My lips found hers, and we shared a passionate moment. The tension of the last few days melted away as we shared in our mutual desire for each other.
The kiss was full-bodied and caring. It wasn’t like our couple of lustful rendezvous when we’d been fighting—those had been driven by base instincts, by our want for each other’s bodies. This was different. This was back to how it should be. A perfect moment where our actions showed the depths of our passion. It should have been perfect.
The sound of the latch clicking shattered the moment.