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“...and by the end of the night, there were three spilled wine caskets, three alliances forged, another two broken, and a goat running around the parlour!” Josephine runs her hands over her face, her expression a mixture of hilarity and exhaustion.
“And I missed it?!” Kivania groans, leaning back against the balcony railing. “I knew I should’ve delayed the Hissing Wastes a week.”
“I am sure the Marquess will be happy to extend an invitation to her next soirée,” Josie chuckles. “And perhaps with you there it will prove slightly less chaotic.”
“Less chaotic?” Kivania puts a hand to her heart, eyebrows raised. “I get home from a desert infested with every type of thing in the world that wants to kill me, and the first thing you do is insult me like this?”
“Oh, my apologies,” she plays along. “I am sure you will only elevate the events of the next gathering, of course.”
“That’s more like it,” Kivania huffs, wrapping her arms around her with a teasing smile. “I have a reputation to maintain, you know.”
“Whatever your reputation, you do have a rather uncanny way of preventing anything from getting so out of hand it becomes dangerous.” Her hands fall lightly onto Kivania’s hips, and she suppresses a shiver. It feels too good to be touched by her again.
“That’s just to make sure you have a good time, too,” she snorts when she’s finally registered Josie’s words. “I’m not having any more parties where you end up crying.”
“I-” Josie blushes and glances away. “Well, I do believe you have made that clear. Though I cannot say I am unhappy about it.”
“You don’t need to do that with me, sweetheart.” She kisses her forehead.
“Do what?”
“Getting all shy like that. Besides, I can think of much better ways to make you blush, if you want,” she grins wickedly.
“What- Oh,” she giggles in surprise, closing the fraction of an inch between them to wrap her arms around Kivania’s waist, burying her face in the crook of her neck.
“Is that a ‘yes’ or a ‘I just want to cuddle?’” she asks, gently returning the embrace.
“Which do you want it to be? You’ve only just returned, and as you said, the desert was a trying journey – I don’t want to exhaust you.”
“I want it to be whatever you’re comfortable with, love. That answer’s always the same.”
“Well, then, if you’re of a mind,” she pulls back, the corners of her warm, brown eyes crinkling with her smile. “I would very much like to do anything but sleep tonight, now that I have you back.”
“As my lady wishes,” Kivania laughs, peppering her face with kisses as she backs her into the room, away from the balcony.
She’s impressed with how quickly they get each other naked. Buckles and laces come undone between kisses, clothes falling forgotten to the floor.
“You have... gotten better... at the corset knots,” Josie pants as Kivania works her way down her neck, the rich red bedding shifting with their movements like their own private ocean.
“Mm. Practice makes perfect, sweetheart.” Her hand glides down her lover’s arm until she finds her palm and massages it gently with her thumb. She feels Josie’s body relax under her, the contented sigh that escapes her lips better than any reward the half-dozen nations in the Inquisition’s debt have offered her for her service.
“You’ve been writing too much, haven’t you?” she murmurs.
“There were- oh, there was an increase in correspondences from Val... Royeaux while you were gone.”
“The balm didn’t help?” she asks, running her free hand up her hip and settling over her breast, running her thumb over the nipple as she squeezes it gently. She smiles at the quiet whine that fills her ears at the action, and decides the topic can wait till tomorrow. Decides she’d rather hear more of that noise first, and applies herself to the task of drawing it out from Josie’s lips with a level of enthusiasm that would put those filthy books their friends read to shame.
She marvels at the smoothness of her skin as she travels down the length of her stomach. She imagines the way it must glow in the warmth of the firelight but doesn’t dare move back enough to look, unwilling to part for even the second it would take. She’s already where she belongs. She stifles a moan as Josie’s thighs open and immediately buries herself in the wetness and soft, curled hair between them. She licks and sucks and teases, drinking in every sweet sound the air fills with, every whimper and sigh and then the unrestrained moans as she takes her closer and closer to climax.
“Kiv- Kivi, oh, don’t stop!” The words float like a dream down to Kivania’s ears and she heeds them, happily. She could stay here all night, has done so on more than one occasion. She holds Josie’s hips steady as she grinds against her face, listening the the sweet sound of her unraveling above her. She keeps her tongue moving, taking her through her orgasm until the hands buried in her hair pull her away. She rises, stretching her neck.
She looks down at Josie’s soft, heaving chest, perfect eyes still shut tight as her stomach clenches with lingering waves of pleasure.
She can’t even remember the desert.
“Darling, please,” Josie breathes, pulling at her hand, and she blinks.
“What?” she asks, dazed.
“Come here,” she begs.
“Oh,” Kivania laughs lightly. “Of course, love.” She wipes her dripping mouth and hands on a pillow - fuck it, more important things to do than find a towel now - and settles next to Josie on the bed, languidly kissing her, sighing into the way she feels Josie’s hands gliding along every bit of her they can reach. When one finds its way between her legs she grunts, her own fingers digging into Josie’s upper back.
“Fuck,” she gasps as her fingers trace circles against her clit. She squirms, thrusting into the heel of Josie’s palm, and then she cries out as a finger slides inside her. She bites her lip, looking up at Josie as she shifts their positions with a desire beyond anything she’s ever felt. Josie leans down, kisses her mouth, her forehead, her cheek as she works, then settles in the space below her ear and whispers, my darling, my love, tells her she is beautiful and perfect and as Kivania’s hands grip her arm and the sheets, Josie bites the lobe of her ear. Kivania comes with a sound that’s more shout than moan, wrapping her arms around Josie and gripping her tight, bodies flush against each other. She feels her fingers still working inside her and she mewls, rocking against them in wave after wave of pleasure. When she finally relaxes her grip Josie kisses her, and she all but melts into the mattress.
When her mind and some amount of control over her limbs finally return to her, she sits up. Josie follows her, kissing her collarbone and the tops of her breasts. Her arm wraps instinctively around her waist.
“Water?” Kivania proposes. “And then back to it?”
“An excellent plan,” Josie giggles against her chest.
They’re going to end up taking tomorrow off, she just knows it. And she’s perfectly happy about that.