Smell The Sea And Feel The Sky [Complete]

[Celeste Monroe]

Celeste was fairly sure what the answer to her challenge was going to be … but only fairly sure. Nicolette was passionate, but she had a delightful streak of mischief that surfaced on occasion, and it was within the realm of possibility that she would choose to take her time packing up her cabin, just as a tease. Celeste was quite prepared to make that task as challenging - and erotic - as possible, but the fiery kiss that the minstrel pulled her into made it clear what her choice was, and Celeste growled her approval, running her hands over the lithe body that was pressed to hers.

Then Nico drew back, the desire in those lovely eyes perfectly matching the heat coursing through her own veins. “I need you now, my captain,” she breathed, stepping back and letting her hand slide down Celeste’s arm until their fingers interlaced. ‘Now’ was a concept that Celeste could support wholeheartedly; she let the other woman lead her to their cabin, and for a time, nothing else intruded on her awareness.

It was much later, and she was drifting toward sleep in a thoroughly mussed bed with Nicolette warm in her arms when a thought that had been niggling at her earlier returned.

“Edwin,” she murmured, nuzzling at the soft hair at the nape of her lover’s neck. “He cares about his sister, but I don’t know what he’ll do if he thinks he’s got the chance to get to his father or brother.” He and Nico were supposed to act as a distraction for the guards, but what if Sterling or Barrett put in an appearance? “Don’t depend on him to watch your back,” she warned, pressing a kiss to one bare shoulder. “Be smart.” Be careful, as much as she wanted to say it, wasn’t realistic, given what they were planning, but Nicolette had more than enough wit to look out for herself, and she’d learned a fair amount in the weeks they’d been together. But the number of things that could go wrong were too many to be easily counted, no matter how careful the planning.

 

[Nicolette O'Hara]

Nicolette was rapidly heading towards her second time falling asleep in Celeste’s bed. Not that she had not succumbed to a post-coital doze before, but this would be a proper rest, with Celeste’s arm around her and the warmth of the other woman’s body against her back. Her body still thrummed slightly and she shifted back a little, the better to feel the line of Celeste’s form against her. They had much to do and a friend to save; that would come later. The wheels were already turning. In this room, she was content.

She was not the only one who was thinking on Addie’s situation, however. Celeste’s nose brushed the back of her neck, an action that normally would have elicited a purr had it not been prefaced with Edwin’s name. Blinking a little, she swam up towards the surface of coherency.

“Edwin. He cares about his sister, but I don’t know what he’ll do if he thinks he’s got the chance to get to his father or brother.”

Nicolette knew that if her family had arranged for her to die, and then tried to sell off a sibling to the highest bidder, her judgement would be somewhat impaired. And she was not trained to combat. Edwin, as a nobleman’s son, was, and it might be his first reaction to attack either on sight if he spotted them. “Hopefully he will not see them at all. There would be no reason for either of them to wander beyond the walls at night.” Their encounter with Sterling had lead her to the conclusion that while the man was capable of venting his wrath on those he considered weaker than himself, she had no doubt that he would rather send out a guard in his stead than risk getting blood on his silk cuffs.

Celeste kissed her shoulder. “Don’t depend on him to watch your back. Be smart.”

Nicolette laid her hand over Celeste’s, stroking the back, and then turned in her arms to face the other woman. She heard the concern, and touched Celeste’s cheek, marvelling even as she did so over the character of her face. Even when she was being serious, you could tell this was a woman who smiled more than frowned, and took joy in her life – while simultaneously surrendering nothing of herself to gain that joy. Nicolette felt that surge beneath her breastbone again, the words sat on her tongue…and did not quite come out, turning instead to the usual ones of reassurance. “I will. And the same to you. Be safe as you can.”

Which was barely safe at all, considering what they were doing. If Barratt got a glimpse of any of their faces, they would all have to flee Kirkwall immediately – or he would have to die. Nicolette loathed the man as much as she could somebody she had never met in person, but she found herself hoping this would not end in bloodshed. Barratt had attempted to use violence to steer things his way. It would be good if simple justice was what brought him to heel.

There was no way of arranging that, though, so she just hoped that Celeste – that nobody she knew, but particularly her – would not get hurt. She brought Celeste’s hands to her face, kissing the knuckles softly. “Come back to me, after.”

 

[Celeste Monroe]

More at peace than she had been in recent memory, Celeste was loathe to disrupt the mood, or to disturb the beauty drifting toward sleep in her arms, but she knew from experience that when things started happening, they would happen very quickly. If she waited, she might never get the chance to warn Nicolette. Her minstrel was no fool, but she didn’t have as much experience in this sort of caper, might not realize just how things might go off the rails if Edwin’s thirst for revenge got the better of him. If he wanted to get himself killed, that was his call, but if he put Nico at risk, she’d make him wish he was dead.

She felt her lover stirring back toward wakefulness at her words and tightened the circle of her arm ever so slightly. “Hopefully he will not see them at all,” she murmured, her hand warm atop Celeste’s, her heart beating steady beneath it. “There would be no reason for either of them to wander beyond the walls at night.”

Unless they were expecting Edwin to try to rescue his sister, waiting for it. Celeste had them both pegged as cowards who would prefer that others took the risks, but the dynamic between Edwin and Sterling was the wild card that she was trying to anticipate. Sterling had been in the doghouse with his father since his little misadventure at the Hanged Man; he might feel that being the one to take down the prodigal once and for all might be his way to return to favor. The impulse was strong to ask her lover to sit this one out, but she knew what her own response would be to such a request; all she would allow herself to do was to warn her of the danger and bid her to keep it in mind.

After a moment, Nicolette rolled to face her, one hand cupping her cheek and those glorious eyes watching Celeste, the emotions in them calling up something in her chest that she didn’t quite have the nerve to put a name to.

“I will,” she promised. “And the same to you. Be safe as you can.”

“If all goes as planned, they’ll never know I was there,” Celeste replied, but her cocky grin didn’t quite reach her eyes, because if those in the mansion didn’t detect her presence, it would be at least in part because Nicolette had distracted them. That … didn’t set well at all.

Nicolette caught up her hands, lips brushing feather-soft across the knuckles. “Come back to me, after.”

“That’s a promise.” Celeste let her fingertips slide lightly over her minstrel’s cheeks, weaving into the soft fall of her hair and drawing her forward into a kiss. Perhaps she wasn’t quite ready to sleep just yet.