Page 99 of The Quest for Excalibur
Once inside the well-lit hall, and with the turmoil shut outside in the descending dark, I turned to Maia. “I could do with a bath. Can you organize hot water to our chamber? We won’t ask for the bath house at this time of day. It’d take too long to heat that much water, and I’d like my bath now, not at midnight.”
As my maid, she’d not have to do anything so lowly as fetch water herself but would be able to boss some lesser servants about and make them do it, which she’d enjoy.
I glanced at Arthur, who was unbuckling his sword belt. “And take Archfedd for me. She can dine with us in the Hall tonight. She’ll need sprucing up and putting in her best dress to honor her father.” I passed Archfedd’s sweaty little hand into Maia’s firm grasp. “Go with Maia, my darling, and let Papa and me take our baths.” I patted her head. “Off you go now.”
Eyes bright with the promise of dining in the Hall with us, Archfedd departed with surprising obedience, and a moment later I heard Maia shouting for servants to bring hot water to the king’s chamber. I’d give them a few minutes to sort that out.
The bright lights in the Hall dazzled after the gloom of the late evening. A fire glowed in the central pit, with several cauldrons bubbling in the embers and sending enticing smells wafting through the smoky air. My mouth watered in anticipation.
Arthur laid his sword and belt on the nearest trestle table and turned to me. “Alone at last.” He held out his arms.
I stepped into them, mailshirt to mailshirt, and he hugged me close, resting his cheek against my hair. For a long minute, we stood like that, just holding one another. A kind of lethargy crept over me, as the tension in my limbs began to dissipate, and relief at being safely home, with Badon over and done with, poured itself over me in a warm wave of happiness.
The only bug in the bed was Amhar and his continued absence.
Maybe Arthur hadn’t noticed.
The doors opened and old Cottia entered. Gray and shrunken now, and only half the woman I’d met on the first day of my life in the fifth century, she still liked to keep busy about the Hall. “Arthur!” Her wrinkled face broke into a wide smile, and she bypassed the bubbling cauldrons to shuffle up the hall on arthriticky legs to greet us.
Arthur, ever the diplomat where she was concerned, released me and allowed her to fold him to her still squashy bosom. The top of her head only reached his chin so this wasn’t too suffocating.
When she finally let him go, I gave her a hug as well, finding I felt nearly as glad to see her as I had Maia. She wasn’t as fond of me as she was Arthur, in fact, she nurtured a touch of jealousy, but submitted to the embrace with a good grace, even going so far as to pat me on the back.
“Come along,” she tutted, unable to say anything without a tut. “Let’s get you into yer chamber and outta these nasty mailshirts. The pair o’ you.”
Chapter Forty-Six
The coals inthe brazier glowed, the air above them shimmering with heat. Someone had lit oil lamps and set them in the recesses around the wall, and a warm golden glow bathed our entire chamber. By the brazier, the rugs covering the flagstones had been rolled back to make enough clear space for the wooden bath. Just as well, as water was slopping out over the edge to form wet puddles on the flags while Arthur and I attempted to share it.
A small bathtub in the first place, where I couldn’t even stretch my legs out if I was in it on my own, we’d opted to stand up and soap ourselves off. Not that the soap was the nice lathery sort I’d once been used to, but I didn’t care. This close to my naked husband, I had other things on my mind. The soft lamplight played across his body, highlighting the taut muscles and long limbs, making a man of bronze out of him. With no mirror available, I hoped it had done the same for me, camouflaging the marks childbearing had left.
Arthur clearly had other things on his mind as well. “I don’t think I can bend over,” he said, fingertips touching his shoulder. “I don’t want to set my wound bleeding again…” His bandages were still in place, and had managed to stay dry so far.
What a fibber, but I’d play along, gladly.
Already clean and perched on the hard edge of the bathtub, I squeezed the natural sponge I was holding, an item that had traveled an almost unimaginable distance to get to my hand, and peeked at him through my eyelashes, in what I intended to be a coquettish and flirty manner. “I can wash you… if you like…” But which bit should I leave till last if I wanted a completely clean husband?
A slow grin spread over his face. “If you don’t mind…”
I began at his feet and worked slowly upward. “Of course,” I teased. “If you’re likely to set your wound bleeding again, perhaps you’d best rest it for a few more days. You know– noexertions.”
From over the wall in the hall came the scraping of the tables being pulled across the paving slabs for our celebratory meal. A woman shouted crossly– Cottia most likely.
He chuckled. “What I have in mind doesn’t require much use of my shoulder.”
I rubbed soap over the knotted scar on his thigh, where he’d been stabbed all those years ago, and moved higher. “How clean do you want to be?”
His stomach muscles, in front of my nose, tightened. “Very.” And his voice rose a note or two as I leaned forward and brushed my lips over his lower belly in a provocative kiss. He was definitely in the mood. I sponged his torso in long, languorous movements, guaranteed to provoke him further.
With a stifled groan, he reached out and caught me by the shoulders, pulling me to my feet. “It’s no good. I have to kiss you.”
I offered no protest, lifting my face to meet his, and his mouth came down on mine, hungry and demanding. I kissed him back, our tongues entwining, wrestling, eager for each other, and for an instant, I remembered the very first time he’d kissed me. In Viroconium, after he’d defeated Cadwy and managed to hang onto the kingdom his father had left him in his will. A kiss as passionate as this one.
Unlike that time, where after the exhuberant kiss he’d let me go, this time he pulled me closer, both arms encircling my naked body, pressing me against him. Between us, his arousal throbbed against my belly, hard and insistent. Oh, how I wanted him. Right now.
A knock came on the door from the hall.
With great reluctance he released me, laughter bubbling up, and we grabbed the towels Maia had left.
