Page 100 of The Quest for Excalibur
I glanced down at the definite tenting of his towel. “You’d better hide that before you answer the door. It might be Cottia and you’ll shock her.”
“Damn it.” He laughed again, joyful and carefree, a sound I loved and didn’t hear often enough. “I can’t while you’re standing there naked. Go somewhere I can’t see you, and cover yourself up.”
I scuttled to the bed with my towel wrapped around me, and perched on the edge, demure and innocent.
Arthur, shooting me a knowing and somewhat reproachful look, called out, “Enter.”
Merlin came in, clean and tidy in fresh tunic and braccae, wet hair slicked back from his face. “Everyone’s coming into the Hall now. We’ve broken out a couple of casks of the Falernian wine you’ve been saving.” He looked Arthur up and down and a slow smile spread over his face, before he quickly wiped it away. “I’ll go and wait outside.” He glanced at me. “Don’t be long. We can’t start without either of you.”
I fought to suppress the giggle that was trying to burst out. How much more obvious could we have been? Poor Merlin. Always the gooseberry.
As soon as the door shut behind him, Arthur came over to the bed, dropping his unwanted towel to the floor. He stopped in front of me. Merlin’s interruption didn’t seem to have affected his desire for me one bit.
I raised my eyes, my gaze hovering for a minute on his arousal. I heaved a sigh. “You’re going to have to wait. And so am I.” I rubbed my chin. “And before you kiss me again, you need a shave. If you’re quick, you can have one before we go in for dinner. Put on your braccae, and I’ll call Maia in to help with my gown and hair.”
He adopted the sulky expression of a small boy told he can’t have sweets. “What if I can’t wait?”
I eyed his tempting physical state with a certain amount of longing. “Well, you’re going to have to. We both are. Our people come first… don’t they?”
He sighed. “I suppose so. But just for once I wish they didn’t.” He reached out a hand and gave me a gentle push back onto the bed. “I can be quick?”
Just what a girl wants to hear.
I snorted as my towel slipped and he pulled it loose. “That’s not nearly as attractive a proposition as you think it is, you know. Quickness.”
“You want me, too.”
I chuckled. “I know. But not quickly. You seem to have forgotten I’m a woman. I want you to take your time, not go at it as fast as you can so you can get to your dinner.” I tugged my towel back up, not very successfully.
He inclined his head like a puppy listening to its master, a habit he had when he wanted something badly. “You’ll enjoy it. I promise.” He lowered himself down on top of me, pushing my legs apart with an insistent knee. “You know you want this.” His weight coming onto his injured shoulder made him wince. Good. Served him right. Only I did want him too… badly.
He twitched my towel down again.
“That does it,” I said, abandoning my towel and wriggling out from under him, stark naked. “I’m not having you risk more damage to that shoulder. So no, you’ll have to wait. No quickies for you tonight.”
I bent over his clothes chest and lifted the lid. Untidy as usual. Maia spent a lot of time folding his clothes and layering them with the dried lavender that kept away fleas and lice, but every time he needed something clean, he upended everything. I rummaged for clean braccae suitable for a celebration.
Unrepentant, he came and stood behind me, pressing himself against my bare bottom, warm and beguiling and very hard. “This feels good.” Hot hands slid around to my breasts, and my treacherous body thrummed with desire. For a moment, I almost gave in, as he pulled my body against his, but the rising chatter of arriving warriors and their womenfolk carried over the wall. Much as we both wanted this, we’d have to wait.
I turned around and thrust the braccae into his hands. “Put these on.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
It felt asthough everyone in the fortress had crammed themselves into the Great Hall, which would have been impossible. People sat jammed shoulder to shoulder, and someone had dragged in extra tables. The flames of the hearth fire leapt toward the sooty rafters, and a dozen torches flared on the pillars that supported the roof, all contributing to the fug of smoky heat.
Old and young, men and women, all had come together to celebrate our soon-to-be famous victory. It seemed every person had turned out in their best clothes– shades of red, blue, mustard, green and brown– a muted rainbow of color. Women had donned their finest jewelry, as I had. Girls’ hair hung loose and shining to their waists, as mine did, and a few of the older women had piled theirs up in curls after the Roman style.
At the high table, Arthur sat, clean-shaven now, with just the odd cut from his overly hasty ablutions, in his dark tunic and braccae, a stately crow amongst a medley of would-be birds of paradise. His only concessions to ornamentation were the heavily embroidered gold edging to neck, sleeves and hem of his tunic, the golden torc about his neck, and the circlet set in his dark hair.
He certainly scrubbed up well. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, but that was nothing new. Whatever it was he possessed, it clung about him now in a cloak of noble kingliness, drawing every eye in the hall. Gone was the playful lover of earlier, and in his place sat a regal warrior king, gazing benevolently at his gathered people. Beside him, as his warrior queen, I sat up straighter, conscious of the gaze of so many people resting on me. No comfortable slouching for a queen.
Archfedd, in her best dress, which to judge by its tightness needed replacing, sat on my right, her round face pink-cheeked and bright with excitement at being allowed to dine in the Hall for once. Another concession had been made, and Reaghan sat at her side, her shining eyes mirroring her best friend’s.
Servants carried the food from table to table. They’d served the high table first, of course, and a plate of sliced venison sat in front of me– with a sauce of onions and wine. This was accompanied by leeks and the customary cabbage, this time cooked with apples and raisins imported from the eastern end of the Middle Sea, like my sponge and the Falernian. A king’s hall eats well.
Cei, Coventina, and Merlin sat beyond Arthur, with Llacheu at the far end of the high table. His likeness to his father struck me once again, and as I watched him, a proud smile slipped across my face. A son to be proud of, for not just Arthur but for me as well.
From nowhere a shiver ran down my back. If I’d been in my own world, I’d have said someone was walking over my grave, and laughed it off. But here, my instinct for being more wary had me searching the Hall for whatever had raised my hackles.
