Zoe Reed - Breaking Legacies

I shrugged. “I suppose we’ll have to wait a bit and see.”

Ava hummed with further suspicion, but glanced around the room to change the subject, her eyes falling on the bed. “I wouldn’t mind remaking some old memories too…”

I thought I knew exactly what she was implying, and began to ask smugly, “Old ones like what?” Only, I hardly got out half the sentence before she reached up and threw a small red berry into my mouth. I don’t know how she always timed it so perfectly, but it stuck between my teeth and spilled sour juice over my tongue, and Ava burst into laughter at the way my face puckered up. “Were you holding that this entire time!?” I asked through a laugh of my own.

“Perhaps,” Ava snickered.

“Oh, you’re in trouble now,” I teased, swallowing down the rest of the fruit. She immediately tried to back up, but I hooked my legs around her hips, holding her where she was. “You’re not going anywhere,” I said, taking her face in my hands. “Not before you kiss me.”

She let out a giggling squeal as she tried to squirm out of my grasp. I leaned forward, attempting not to laugh too hard so I could keep teasing while I aimed for her lips. “Kiena!” she shrieked with half-hearted protest, leaning back away from me.

But I wasn’t holding her hard, nor was she really trying, and she was laughing so thoroughly that her mouth was hanging wide, making it perfectly easy for me to take her in an open-mouthed kiss. I only kissed her for a few moments, feeling the vibrations of her laughter against my tongue when I licked briefly into her mouth, just enough for her to get a taste of the sour berry. I let her go then, and she was still giggling even though her nose was crinkled with dislike at the taste.

“Are you quite satisfied?” she asked.

“Aye,” I said with a grin, leaning forward again to press a kiss to that crease in her noise. “Extremely.”

There was a knock on the door then, and one of the staff who’d brought us here opened it and stepped in. “My ladies,” she greeted. “Your bath is ready.”

Ava and I followed her out the door, through the castle and to a familiar room where the bath was drawn. Like our first time here, the bath was a large area that was bigger than two of the bed in our room, where the floor was indented and filled with water. The wonderful scent of oils reached my nose the moment we walked in, and the steam rising from the surface of the hot water was calling to the travel-fatigued muscles in my body. Unlike our first time here, however, I was no longer hesitant about bathing with Ava. On the contrary, I was rather looking forward to it.

After asking if we needed anything, and then telling us to call out if we did, the woman who’d brought us here left us alone. We both undressed, hurrying to tie our hair up and then slipping toes first into the warm bath. Ava let out a heavy, content sigh as she sat down on the lip underwater, her eyes drifting closed and sinking in up to her chin. I couldn’t help smiling at the pleased look on her face while I waded to the deeper center.

“Why have we decided to raise horses when we could live here?” I teased, running my hands over the surface of the water, stirring up the color of the oils floating there.

Ava smiled, opening her eyes to look at me. “You couldn’t live in a castle,” she said. “You’d miss the woods.” She swatted a soft splash of water at me. “And the dirt.”

“Maybe,” I laughed, bending at the knees enough for the water to reach my chin and wading toward her. “I’d do it for you, though, if it was what you wanted.”

“I know you would,” she said, “ if it was what I wanted.” I neared where she was sitting, and she curled her arms around my neck so I’d stay in front of her. “But I like our cottage. I like our barn, and our horses.” I lowered myself to my knees, and the bath was just shallow enough here that it put us at eye level. “I like going hunting with you,” Ava continued, setting her forehead against mine. “I like our nights under the stars.”

I felt a smile pull at my lips. I wanted to kiss her, but I held off, sliding my hands up her thighs instead and asking, “What do you like most about our nights under the stars?”

Ava let out a thoughtful hum, and though I wasn’t looking at her mouth, I could see the smirk in the sparkle of her blue eyes. “How you keep me warmer than the fire does.”

“You know what I think?” I asked, bringing my lips in close to hers to prepare for that kiss. She murmured her curiosity. “I think we should start remaking those old memories right now…”

Ava smiled, giving me a chaste peck on the lips. “Do you remember when you were afraid to even kiss me? And now you’d like to do more than that right here?”

“No, actually,” I teased, “I don’t recall such a time.”

“Sure you don’t,” she said sarcastically, but she returned it openly when I kissed her. I used the opportunity to slide her off the edge of the seat, and she was light enough in the water that it was easy to guide her legs around my hips. All it did was make her smile a bit wider and pull away from my lips. “You really can’t wait until we’re alone tonight?”

“No,” I replied, and the simplicity of the answer made her laugh. “But,” I added, “I have every intention of making love to you again tonight. So it’s not as though you’re missing anything.”

“Well,” she said with a mischievous grin, “in that case…”

She kissed me, and we enjoyed the rest of our bath alone, undisturbed until we were well finished with our memory making and so much time had passed that our fingers grew wrinkled. Then a couple of staff members opened the door, pushing in a tall cabinet, which had two doors that opened to the closet within, and one drawer beneath them.

“My ladies,” the woman, a different one than who’d brought us here, greeted. She gestured to the wardrobe, the doors and single drawer of which had been opened by the other woman who’d helped push it in. “Queen Nira had these made specifically for tonight. After you’re dressed, we’ll escort you to dinner.”

We nodded, and they retreated out the door again to wait outside. Ava and I left the bath, brushing as much of the water off our skin as we could before patting dry with the towels we’d been provided. The only thing I retrieved from my pile of travel clothes was my dragon pendant, and I slipped it over my neck and then got dressed with what had been brought in the wardrobe. For me, there was a nice white tunic and a pair of brown leather trousers and boots, all of which fit perfectly. For Ava, there was a blue dress and slippers, not nearly as elaborate or sophisticated as the dress she’d worn to the party last time we were in Ronan, but still beautiful.

“What’s that?” I asked, nodding toward something in the drawer as I helped tie the string at the rear of Ava’s dress.

She reached out to grab the rectangular box, about the size of my hands if I put them side by side. The box itself was adorned with elaborate carvings that intertwined in a circular pattern all over the surface of the lid.

I’d never seen anything like it, but Ava must have, because she whispered to herself, “She didn’t…”

“Didn’t what?” I asked, and moved to stand at her side. “What did Nira do?”

Instead of answering with words, she flipped up the lid of the box, revealing what was inside. There was a folded up letter, which she set in the inside of the lid so she could show me the pair of rings underneath. They were solid gold—one was slightly larger than the other—and the inlay of each was carved with the same elaborate adornments as the wooden box.

“Are these for us?” I asked in shock.