Weee! I'm back from Newfoundland, and boy am I glad to be home. I mean, travelling is nice and all, but we were getting such little sleep, we were pretty much at each other's throats by the end. And I missed my sweet computer (myyyyy preciousssss, as I like to refer to it) and Jarrod and Fiona. I apologise, but this chapter is really mainly fluff, to make up for a complete lack of fluff for the past two weeks.
livingdead2010: I love Canada! (And I do live there, just waaaay on the other side)
Tiger Lily21: Yes, the assassin is back and in a meaner mood than ever. Your scarf sounds really pretty! We met some women from Argentina, and they had, pretty much, the prettiest clothes I've seen.
PrincessofRain: Yeah. Fire hurts. Bad. I'm just kidding ya. Thanks. :cD
awaiting impatient person: You're not the only one falling for Jarrod. And if you think he's sexy in the last chapter... ((wiggles brows suggestively)) Actually, in a way, Fiona has saved his life. Twice, in fact. Once when she ate the pudding meant for him, and then again when she shot the guy who was going to kill him in the woods. They have a sort of symbiotic relationship. Unfortunately, the killer thinksFiona weaker, so more of the life attempts will be made on her.
dreamingdaemon: Haha, yeah. It was kind of a last minute title. I was like... 'What in the world could I name this, now that I've written three chapters and want to post them?' I love how you did the little heart thing, that's awesome!
cokefizz-and-chocolate: Your name is possible my two favourite-est foods in the entire world. Well, maybe actual coke, not just the fizz, but still! Thank you for all the cookies! ((hoards them))
wishingIcouldthinkofsomething: Nope. It's going to be one dramatic rescue after another, after another, after some lovin', after another... Oh em gee, Fiona's got the hotts for him real bad-like. Except, she's a big chicken. And, by god! Jarrod's the most patient guy I know!
rootbeergirl19: Ah! Not with skewers! Anything but skewers! I know! It's so weird! It make my mom and my sister total angry witches with a capital B, but it makes me really really giddy. :c/
Glitterpoison: Oh, there would be too much! It's weird. Half of my choir keeps journals. I didn't but I took a lot of pictures. There's so much pretty architecture in St John's! there were some phenomenal choirs there as well, from all over the world, and we sang pretty much the best mass piece ever! I had a blast!
fell4adeadguy: I'm sure that Jarrod would agree with you fully.
Phillipa of the Phoenix: Yikes indeed. It's not really a secret. His family was killed in a fire. That's why he didn't want anyone else to die by fire.
cinnimon: juicy.
Glaze: You know what? I'll try and bring back the sheep in one of the chapters, just for you! I love whipping cream, especially when it's sweet and good. And on strawberries. Thanks for all the complements, and you work on that plot.
CalliopeMused: That's what I think too. I hope the romance is progressing alright. I haven't had a grand mutiny ('just get together already!') but there does seem to be a little disatisfaction in the ranks.
LadyBriseis: First of all, thank you for all your kind words! I try to make a mixture of easily solved problems and harder problems for variety. Hmm... it's hard to explain, basically because it comes fairly naturally to me, but I would suggest you thinking through your characters, making sure they have strengths and flaws (flaws are almost more important than strengths) and that they have a past beyond that of your story, something that gives them drive to what they do. For example: Suzy Beth was accidentally locked in a chest while playing hide-and-seek at age six, and is now claustrophobic. After that, I usually if not write, at least think through a rough timeline (I want this to happen, then that, etc) and make sure that not everything happens in one day (unless that's part of your story). I've read too many fictions where they're like 'They went here, then travelled here, then met this guy' and I'm thinking, 'They've got to sleep sometime!' After that, I think it's all just trial and error, writing and editing. The chapter I put up is very rarely exactly what I've written. I add things, I change things; in fact, I changed something right before I put this up. There was a sentence where the flow wasn't right... well anyway, now that you've got me going, I've started to blather on. I think you have an excellent grasp on English (from what I can see) and I look forward to seeing your first story!
iridescent mists: Thank you! I'm glad you like my stories, they're just such a blast to write, and putting them on here is such a learning experience! I feel like I've come such a long way since BatW.Don't worry, you'll get no blame from this department for skipping studying. You are talking to the'Queen of Cram' here. This story is three generations after Danni and Aiden.
letylyf: Just before I respond to your review, I'd just like to say, I love your name! It looks pretty. I know I probably just classified myself as weird, but anywho... Thank you for the compliments. I like to thinkthat my writing's improved, but it's more like my editing'simproved as well. Fiona has a little habit of putting her foot firmly in her mouth, especially around people she likes, but she's tenacious almost to a fault. If anyone is going to dreg up Jarrod's past, it'll be her.
little miss tiny shoes: Ah. Work. I love my work, even though it's slightly tedious and I'm on my feet all day.
mistyqueen: Thank you! Ilove to hear that people enjoy my twists (and what I think are twists, other people agree)
Arieda Rivers: Jarrod is a kershmexie beast. Thatis probably the best compliment I can receive! You can bet that if I do publish a book, you guys will all be in it. I've always wanted to go to Chicago! I hope your trip was as fun as mine!
virgo-valentina: Thanks. :c)
trillian225: I can't believe you read through all my stories! That is so cool! 4:30? I didn't know time existed then. I'm usually dead by about 2:00. As a side story, while in Newfoundland, my friend and I went into a jewelery shop, and there, sitting in one of the display cases, was the exact (practically!) ring that I had imagined in my mind! I really wanted to buy it, but it was a $100 I didn't really want to spend.
Fluff and... er... nakedness! Woooooo!
-Lulai
Chapter Twenty-Four: The Bath
"Thank you all," Fiona said to the servants that finished filling the large tub with warm water. Jarrod was standing beside her, his arm around her waist possessively. She probably should have scolded him for treating her like his property, but in truth, his strength made her feel safe.
He probably wasn't making the servants feel any better, though. His countenance was blacker than an ink well, and he seemed to like to glare at anyone who even talked to her, especially if they were male. She frowned at him, and he merely raised an eyebrow at her and held her closer to his side. She sighed. There was no getting through his stubbornness.
"It wasna no problem, yer majesty," one of maids, Vera? said, drawing Fiona's attention back to her bath. "We'll heat some more, just in case ye want another one after ye get all that soot off."
The servants all left except for Elsie. Fiona cleared her throat, looking to the bath, and then back to Jarrod pointedly.
A flicker of amusement shone in Jarrod's dark eyes, sending a shot of heat to pool low in Fiona's abdomen. That just caused her frown to deepen. She was just in a fire for goodness' sake! Yet her body betrayed her at the slightest provocation from her husband.
The man was just too appealing for his own good.
"If you'll excuse me," Fiona said, irritation clipping her words, "I'd like to bathe."
"Go ahead," Jarrod said, motioning to the tub.
Fiona scowled and pulled away from him to give him a good glare. "I may have been careless enough to let the wind and the door to push me over, but I'm not so clumsy as to fall in my own tub. I can bathe on my own."
Jarrod gave her a look that she couldn't read, but then he nodded. "Alright then." He paused to give a kiss to her frowning brow, then left.
Fiona sighed and started to strip out of her gown. It was hard with the bandages on her hands.
Jarrod had been quite insistent on that. He had brought her back to her room where she sat on her lilac coloured bed while his doctor, a quiet frank man by the name of Dr. Broughten, examined her hands. She had to refrain from swearing (although her swearing was probably pretty mild in comparison to Jarrod's) as Broughten picked all the little rocks out of her palms. He put a soothing balm over her scrapes and wrapped them in crisp white bandages.
She had to admit she felt a perverse sort of justice when Broughten made Jarrod sit so that he could pull out his stitches 'just while he was there.' Jarrod's lips pressed together until they were a white line, but he didn't say anything either.
"Did you do these?" Broughten had asked her as she lay a bandaged hand on Jarrod's tense shoulder. He was stoutly looking away from where Broughten was leaning over his arm.
"Yes," she said.
"I'm glad. The gash wouldn't have healed nearly as nice without them." Fiona beamed. She could at least do one thing right.
"Let me help ye," Elsie said, noting Fiona's fumbling with her buttons.
She sighed. "Thank you, Elsie." With her maid's help, she managed to strip down out of her dress and white shift. She managed to get her own shoes and stockings off with her thumbs, to retain at least a little bit of her dignity.
She stepped into the tub, careful not to burn herself in the still-hot water. It was hard to sit down without getting her bandages wet, but somehow she managed it.
The bath was very soothing. The warmth of the water seemed to relax muscles that she didn't even know were tense. Elsie undid Fiona's bun and let her hair stream down her back.
Fiona dunked her head underwater, keeping her hands on the edge of the tub. Elsie poured some sort of soap into her hair and kneaded her scalp.
"That feels really good," she said, closing her eyes. She let the water carry away her worries and the memory of being trapped in the fire.
Fiona rinsed out her hair (or rather, let Elsie rinse out her hair) and put it back up into a messy knot on the top of her head. She didn't like the feeling of damp hair on her face, so she decided to just keep it out of the way instead of dealing with it.
"Elsie," Fiona said, as her maid was busy picking up her sooty garments, "would you mind getting me a cup of chocolate and some of that 'lost toast'? Jarrod wanted me to bathe before I ate, but I'm dreadfully hungry."
"O' course, milady," Elsie said happily. She put all Fiona's dirty clothes into a basket, which she then rested on her hip. She left to get Fiona's food, closing the door behind her.
Fiona lay in the bath, completely content. It was silly of her to have become trapped in the archery range shed. She'll have to be more careful in the future.
She didn't know how long she lay there, eyes closed, but she heard a knock on the door.
"Come on in," she said, not opening her eyes. She heard the door open and close. "Just put it on that table over there."
"Put what there?" a familiar deep voice asked.
After Fiona had told him that she could bathe on her own, Jarrod had stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. He noticed a familiar face standing not too far away, and he called him over.
"You, Parkin."
"Aye, yer majesty?" the man said with a bow.
"Can you use a sword?"
"Aye, yer majesty," he answered.
"Good." Jarrod placed the man in front of Fiona's door. "Stand here, and don't let anyone besides me and Elsie into my wife's room. Got it?"
"Aye, yer majesty."
Jarrod stalked down the hallway. Tyrell fell in step beside him after a few short minutes.
"Talk to me, Tyrell," Jarrod said, not slowing pace.
"No one saw anything," he replied. "But it's not like anyone ever does."
Jarrod scowled. "Someone did that deliberately. I feel like I'm no longer the target. Perhaps I never was."
"Does Fiona know?" The brothers entered Jarrod's study. Jarrod stood, looking out the window, while Tyrell sprawled in one of the large wooden chairs.
"No," Jarrod replied, shaking his head. "She thinks the whole thing was an accident."
"But it wasn't an accident. There was a board holding the door closed."
"I know; I was the one who kicked it away," Jarrod said darkly.
Tyrell nodded and sat forward, pressing his fingertips together. "This is serious. We're going to have to guard both of you."
"I don't need to be guarded," Jarrod protested, moving forward to lean a hip against his desk. "We should concentrate on protecting Fiona."
Tyrell gave his brother a strange half-smile. "We're going to protect both of you. I'm sure Fiona would probably be just as angry if something happened to you as you would be if something happen to her."
He knew it was irrational, but the thought of Fiona caring if something happened to him filled him with warmth.
"Go," Tyrell commanded, standing up and laying a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Be with your wife. It'll be easier to guard the both of you if you're together."
Jarrod nodded, and clasped his brother's hand in camaraderie.
"Anything happen?" he asked Parkin as he returned to his wife's room.
"Her maid went out ta get her somethin' ta eat," Parkin replied. "That's it."
"Good." Jarrod knocked on the door.
"Come on in," his wife called.
He entered the room, shocked and pleased to find Fiona still in the bath. Her head lay back, her eyes closed, her hands hanging outside the tub. His eyes caressed the graceful curve of her neck that flowed into a beautiful ivory shoulder, down a wonderfully tapered arm, into her bandaged hands. Unfortunately, the tub itself hid everything else.
Not that he really needed to see that much more. He had managed to keep himself busy enough to not imagine her during the day, but at night while he was alone in his huge bed, he found that his imagination was sheet-wrangling thorough.
And the fact that she was only a door away was close to driving him insane.
"Just put it on that table over there," she said, breaking his daydream. She was pointing to a small wooden breakfast tray beside her bed, her eyes still closed.
"Put what there?" he drawled.
Her reaction was instantaneous. She gave a small shriek, her eyelids shooting open. She pulled her knees up and covered her breasts with her arms before giving him a glare that nearly turned him to stone. A good amount of water sloshed out of the tub while she moved.
As Jarrod sauntered towards her, Fiona curled up tighter, fighting the blush that was staining her cheeks. Several thoughts ran through her mind at once.
What in heaven's name is he doing here?
I'm NAKED!
He has some nerve, coming in while I was having a bath.
Where's Elsie? Why hasn't she come back? Oh god, what if she does come back?
Why isn't he naked too?
She shut the last one up quickly, not wanting to see where it was going. Her eyes grew wide as Jarrod shrugged off his still sooty coat. He wasn't psychic, was he?
"Wha- what are you doing here?" Fiona stuttered. He was rolling up his sleeves, and bother it if she didn't admire his strong forearms with their sprinkling of blond hair.
"I was going to walk you to dinner, but now that I'm here, it seems you've missed a few places. I'd be remiss in my husbandly duties if I didn't help you out."
He was going to wash her? That means he'd have to get very, very close. A rush of liquid heat coursed through her traitorous body.
He picked up the washcloth and dunked it in the warm water. Then, with so much tenderness it nearly brought tears to her eyes, he began to stroke the soot from Fiona's face.
Fiona stayed completely silent under his ministrations. He seemed to be weaving a spell around them, a silence broken only by the splashing of him dipping the cloth back into the scented water.
"There," he murmured when he was done.
Fiona gave a little nervous laugh. "Thank you. It was hard to wash with my hands." Without moving her arms, she gave a little wave with her bandaged hands.
"No problem." He moved behind her, and Fiona twisted slightly, trying to see what he was up to.
Jarrod had to admire the smooth creaminess of Fiona's back. Even though he had memorised every detail of it from the night she had worn the backless dress, it was still a compulsion. His eyes followed the expanse of pale flesh down past her shoulder blades, down the small knobs of her spine until it curved into the small of her back. The bottom tucked under, hiding the rest of her rear from view. A tendril of her red-brown hair stuck wetly to the side of her neck, the water swirling it into a strange pattern on her shoulder.
"You wear your hair up even in the bath?" he asked, tugging at the lock of hair affectionately.
"Not while I wash it," she said indignantly. "But if I leave it down to dry, it sort of goes… poofy."
"It smells good," he murmured, his breath warm on her cheek. Goosebumps travelled all down her arms, causing her to shiver. She tried to quell it, but Jarrod saw and a positively possessive look came into his eyes.
"I use lavender shampoo," she said, trying to keep the conversation blasé.
"Why not use lilac?" he said, leaning towards the side so that in her slightly twisted position she could manage to see his face, or, more accurately, his sly grin. She felt very much like a mouse being stalked by a very handsome cat.
"Because no one has made lilac shampoo," she replied. She almost laughed again from sheer nervousness. They might have been having the most inane conversation with their mouths, but Jarrod's dark eyes were saying quite a different thing. More along the lines of you, me, bed, now.
The scary thing was she wanted to agree to it.
"That's disappointing," Jarrod said, running a finger down her jawline. She looked down so that he wouldn't see the budding desire in her eyes. She was within inches of pulling him into the bathtub with her.
"Very much so," Fiona agreed. A loud knock sounded at the door. "Oh my god, that's Elsie! You have to get out!"
"I'm sure she can wait."
She gave him a frumpled look, her emotions too mixed up to give him a proper glare. Jarrod chuckled.
"If it wasn't time for supper," he said, straightening to his feet, "I'd probably just wait in my room, hoping we could finish our… conversation."
Fiona gasped. He chuckled again, the sound causing her heart to swell with happiness, which in turn caused her to frown. He was going to leave her there, frustrated and wanting him. The last comment was just a reminder that she was going to have to go to him, that he was going to keep his promise. It would be very easy to hate him right then, if she didn't want him so badly.
"Just go away," Fiona muttered, completely petulant and not caring if he noticed.
He crossed to their conjoining door and opened it. He paused halfway through and turned to give her a rakish smile. "Don't make me wait too long."
Fiona blushed straight to the roots of her hair at his double entendre.
The door clicked closed just as Fiona called Elsie in.
If Elsie wondered why her mistress was sitting in the bath alone, red faced and scowling, she had the good insight not to ask.
…
Fiona sat down, feeling quite a bit more confident now that she had several layers of fabric separating her from the outside world. Jarrod had waited patiently for her, and it looked as if Tyrell had come to dinner as well.
"Where's Warren?" she asked about the quiet cousin. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen him in a couple of days.
"He is not here right now," Jarrod replied, starting to serve the food that was laid out on the table. "He's on an ambassador mission for me to Tolaro. He'll be gone for a couple of weeks."
"Oh," Fiona said, scooping up some carrots onto her porcelain plate. After the first few dinners, she had asked the servants to set only three forks out, one for salad, one for entrées, and one for dessert, instead of the usual eleven. They seemed quite happy to do so, probably more for the fact that then they'd only have to wash six forks, instead of twenty-two.
"How are you feeling?" Tyrell asked her.
"Much better," she replied. "And while I was getting dressed, I was struck by a fantastic vision of what I could do with the range."
Jarrod looked at Tyrell worriedly. They seemed to have some sort of conversation without any words. Fiona didn't really understand what they were saying, but knew they were simply reading each other's facial expressions. Her own sisters and her did it often enough for Fiona to recognise it.
Jarrod finally turned a resigned look on her. "Alright," he said. "But don't take on too many projects at once. We are opening the People's Court tomorrow and that is sure to be hectic for the first few days until a routine is settled upon."
"I had completely forgotten about that!" Fiona exclaimed. "I'm going to be busy." Far from causing her worry, all the projects she was taking on was causing her to glow from the inside out. Jarrod just hoped that the glow wouldn't burn itself out.