Lovely Dark Things

TWENTY-EIGHT (RUBY POV)

"Oh God, baby, don't stop..." I whisper gritting my teeth when feeling her fingers rubbing my throbbing flesh, tilting my head back while a gasp escapes from my throat.

"I'll hurt you..."

"No, it's okay, I love it... Fuck!" Her thumbs put pressure on a spot of my shoulder and my entire body shudders in pain and pleasure at the same time. Iselen's fingers coated with oil massage my muscles again and again till I relax and lean my back against her torso, the advisor puts her arms around my waist and hugs me tight against her body, kissing my nape while I heave a sigh watching the green flames of the witch fire in front of us.

"Aren't you cold?" I shake my head despite I'm almost naked from waist up, my breasts are covered with a thin blanket, and we're sitting at the door of our tent on the high mountain pass, surrounded by snow, under the shiny stars, there're no grey clouds hiding them tonight and temperature feels a bit warmer. We've killed all the chaos demons that tried to destroy the world which means seasons make sense again and this is the end of summer. "Here, my love, this will make you feel better. I still can't believe how close you were to die because of that damned demon."

"What's this?" I ask taking the glass and drinking a sip of the hot liquid.

"Red wine, honey, orange zest, cinnamon, cloves... An old recipe from my family to fight cold. Gotrek gave me some little bags of spices as a present while we were talking about methods of excavation in mine tunnels before we had dinner. He's grateful because I gave him a couple of new ideas that will make things easier for his people."

"Delicious... You get on well with the dwarf," I answer leaning my head on her shoulder again. I feel comfortable and sleepy in her arms, it's been a hard day and I'm exhausted.

"He's a pragmatist and a good engineer," Iselen mutters while her fingertips touch my shoulders gently, following the lines of my tattoos.

"Do not trust him, he's also a politician and loves plotting like any other noble in this world. Why did you say that these days would be very hard?" I ask remembering her words on the rock ledge while we tried to dodge Katal to be able to reach a doctor's tent in order to check that there was nothing broken in my injured shoulder. I was still in shock back then, I couldn't believe what my girl had done: she'd moved mountains, literally, to help us to win a war. Never, not even in my wildest dreams, I could imagine that the advisor was so intelligent and brave. The perfect partner for a temple assassin... I touch her hands on my waist and move closer to her, Iselen hugs me tighter and smiles.

"The water is still filling caves and the plateau, creating a big salty lake, but it'll stop at some point," my girl tilts her head to point at the other end of the mountain pass. "The problem is that I don't know when and it could overflow. I can't tell the allied army that we're going to climb down to the valleys and walk to the sea shore where the ships are waiting because it could happen that the mountain collapses behind us due to the water pressure and a giant wave could engulf us. That's why we have to wait here, on the highest area of the mountains, for two or three days till I know for sure that the water will stay on the plateau definitely."

"Okay, so what?" I frown, confused.

"The problem is boredom, babe. We have enough food, witch fire, tents to seek refuge... but nothing interesting to do. We're not at war anymore but we have several armies with soldiers from different races sitting on their hands, waiting. We must live together for three days on this small mountain pass, very close to each other, without killing the others and having nothing to do apart from plotting and looking at each other with hate in our eyes... I hope we can make it."

"Oh, shit," I grumble when I understand the mess we are into. "We're at a disadvantage because elves and humans hate us, dwarves mind their own business and ignore us all but if the Phoenix King's people, the Emperor and Ariel reach an agreement to screw us... we'll be in big trouble. Have you told the King?" I ask straightening my back and trying to move away from my girl but she hugs me again and forces me to lean my back on her torso.