Nine Shillings

A Pretty Face

London - 1842

'You're not asleep,' Bran murmured, tracing his fingers up and down the back of my thigh.

I was lying half atop him with my leg across his waist. 'I was thinking.'

'What about?'

I folded my arms across his chest and rested my chin on them. 'You've got a very pretty face. It's so pretty I'll sit on it whenever you want.'

He chuckled. 'A pretty face? I thought you had good judgement.'

I slapped his chest lightly. 'Don't knock the face, I like the face.'

He touched a bruise under his eye. 'I think Josef knocked it first.'

I kissed the bruise. 'Which is why we don't start fights we don't plan to win.'

'Still not what you were thinking about,' he murmured.

I drew circles on his chest with my finger. 'I think I invaded your dream a few nights ago. You were dreaming about Josef and I –'

'I know,' he said.

'You know?'

'Sometimes I can feel you,' he said quietly. 'I was so used to being able to feel Richard I thought...' He fingered a strand of my hair and switched to Irish, 'I thought I was imagining it to fill the space Richard used to be in. Replacing fear with love.' He brushed my hair back behind my ear. 'Richard was cold weight, you're warm light.'

'And you didn't say anything?'

'I don't trust my own mind,' he whispered.

I kissed his nose. 'I trust it.'

He smiled faintly. 'It keeps telling me all the reasons you should choose Josef.'

'If it wasn't for you, Josef and I would've killed each other by now,' I replied.

He caressed my back. 'If I stop you exploring your feelings for Josef, I'll lose you both.'

'Never.' I kissed him.

His hand settled at the small of my back. 'After all the things you've given me, demanding eternal monogamy is unfair.'

'Meanwhile, you will be...' I considered him.

He stroked my spine softly with his fingertips, his gaze fixed on my chin. 'Maybe... Maybe we could all... share...'

My eyebrows shot up but I got them back under control. 'Share?'

He sighed and lay back. 'It's silly.'

'It's not silly,' I murmured and shifted to fold my arms against his chest. 'It's surprising. You always surprise me.' I kissed his chest. 'In a good way.'

He gave me his look that said he was worried about my reaction but wasn't sure he should be worried. 'Only surprising?'

I smiled. 'All three together, together is a very... Josef or me suggestion.'

'I don't necessarily mean...' He cleared his throat. 'You know... But not necessarily... not, you know.' He flushed

I propped my head on my fist. 'I know. We'll figure that out as we go.'

He played his fingers through my hair. 'And if you want to... make love to Josef. You can. Explore that. Explore everything.'

I frowned. 'You're taking this far better than I expected.'

He caressed the curve of my back and he smiled slightly. 'When the three of us are together, laughing and talking, everything is perfect. I want it to be like that all the time.' He smiled wider and nuzzled my nose. 'I've never had so much fun.'

I wrapped myself around him, inhaling his scent of books and whiskey. His power was hot beneath his skin and buzzed against mine. I could taste it in the citrus tang of his blood lingering in the air. Threads of energy ran between us like veins. I wanted his energy as much as I wanted him.

I snuggled into him with my head tucked beneath his chin and my face against his warm chest, his heart settling into a slow thud as he relaxed.

This was where I belonged. Perhaps everything would be alright after all.