Disclaimer: They still aren't mine. They're just following me on this little misadventure.
There was a chill in the air. Daine wriggled away from its cool touch, deeper into the warmth enveloping her, enjoying the way it wrapped around her, filling her with a sense of safety and security and... and completion. She took a deep breath, enjoying the familiar scent of sandalwood and spice, and some other unnameable quality that she associated with comfort and love.
Her sleep-fogged brain did a slight double-take when her warmth shifted as well, its grip tightening, pulling her closer. Daine slowly became aware of the arms wrapped around her, the slight tickle of chest hair under her cheek, the reassuring rhythm of breath against her hair and heartbeat under her ear.
She had awoken in Numair's bed before, and even in his arms, when their nighttime talks had stretched into the mornings, or when they were travelling and away from palace chatter. But this was distinctly different. Now she felt not as though she was merely awaking beside him, but rather that she was wrapped in him, as if he was a piece of her that had been missing and had finally been added. That she was whole. And she was so incredibly happy. She wanted to lay like this forever, Numair's long limbs tangled about her small body, his skin pressed to her skin.
Daine marveled at where she was. Sarra's bastard child, the shame of Snowsdale. How often had she been told that no respectable man would ever want her? How often had she been turned away, taunted, ignored, even hunted? She had spent so much of her life feeling inadequate and incomplete. But here, in Numair's arms (a fleeting thought wondered whether Snowsdale would consider the tall, eccentric mage "respectable") she was none of those things. She was simply his. His magelet. His love. His wife.
She had just decided to enjoy a few more minutes of sleep in her husband's arms when she suddenly heard a sharp noise outside their room. She looked to the door, which was closed. Had Numair closed it last night? She couldn't remember his having done so. There was another noise. Daine tried to rise, but found herself held too tightly.
"Numair! Numair!" she whispered urgently, trying to twist out if his grasp. "There's someone here! In the cottage! Numair!"
"S'ardith," he mumbled sleepily, trying to pull her back into his arms.
"What?!" she said insistently, still trying to rise and batting his hands away.
"It. Is. Ardith," he repeated slowly and sleepily, barely opening his eyes as he gathered her back to him. "My housekeeper. Lovely woman. Not as lovely as my wife. Come back to bed."
The words had barely left his mouth when the door to the bedroom opened and a short, plump, round-faced woman bustled in. Daine quickly pulled away from Numair and gathered the blankets and sheets to cover herself. Numair finally released her with a chuckle. He settled himself back against the many pillows on the bed, hands behind his head.
"Good morning Master Numair," the older woman chirped in a bright, sunny voice that perfectly fit her visage. "And good morning to you as well, Mistress Salmalin. I must say but you was the most beautiful bride I ever saw yesterday, up there at Pirate's Swoop. And that party was just the most joyous time ever. Did you ever see the King's Champion like that? But I s'pose, she's a woman like the rest of us and it's good to see she loves her man. Master Numair, I'll just build up this fire so's you aren't dressing in a cold room and then be gone. I've laid your breakfast on the table like you like, and I unpacked all your bags yesterday and set out today's clothes so's that they'd be ready, and the bath water is drawn and warm. I hope you don't mind, Mistress Salmalin, but I took a guess at what day dress'd best suit you for the day-after celebrations. Blue's such a pretty colour on you. Now don't layabout all day Master Numair, that bath will get cold and you've places to go and things to do and so do I. I'm not your mother after all, though I daresay you've needed a good firm hand these past few years. But you'll do better now with your pretty wife. And I hear you're awful smart, Mistress Salmalin. I'm glad to see Master Numair finally realized he needed a smart bride, not those empty headed tarts. Well, I'm off to do my baking. If you need me, send Owen. Nice meeting you, Mistress Salmalin."
She said all this with seemingly one breath as she bustled about the room, picking up their discarded clothes from the night before (Daine flushed with embarrassment), straightening furniture, and building the fire. There was no break in her monologue until she nodded sharply at Daine and Numair, who was still reclining lazily, and headed for the door.
"Thank you, Ardith," Numair called mildly after her. She waved her hand and pulled the door shut as she left. He laughed as he caught sight of the dumbstruck gaze on Daine's face. "That was Ardith. I hired her as a housekeeper when I first moved here. She had been recently widowed, and needed some help. She's stayed on ever since. She lives in the small place at the corner of my land and tends the house when I'm away. I told her we'd be here, and she said she would take care of everything for us. Owen is her nephew and cares for Spots when I'm here."
"She just walked in on us... in bed," Daine said, her face flushed crimson.
Numair sat up, his hands caressing Daine's back and shoulders. "Daine, you're my wife. Why shouldn't we be in bed together?"
She opened her mouth to respond, then closed it. Of course servants would come in and out of their shared room, especially when they returned to the castle. Surely neither Alanna or Thayet would feel embarrassed at being found in beds with their husbands. Ardith hadn't shown any sign of embarrassment. She shook her head with a small smile. "This is going to take some getting used to."
Numair pressed a kiss against her lips. "Take all the time you need," he quipped, starting to trail kisses along her jaw and neck. "I'll just entertain myself in the meantime."
Daine giggled, which turned to laughter and shrieks as Numair knocked her back against the pillows, brushing feather light kisses anywhere he could reach while his clever fingers began tickling her ribs. She tried to twist away, but found that his much larger frame had pinned her against the bed, so she instead tried to capture those wandering hands. She finally succeeded in capturing both, holding them tight in both of hers.
"Tickling is not fair," she said, with mock sternness in her voice as he looked down at her.
He planted one kiss on the end of her nose. "All's fair in love and war, magelet," He sat up, pulling Daine with him, and wresting his hands free, wrapped them around her, pulling her tightly against him as he covered her mouth in a deep, passionate kiss. When he finally pulled away, Daine was breathing heavily, her cheeks flushed.
"We... we should probably get up," she said with some reluctance.
"I'm quite enjoying where we are," Numair said with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not sure we've fully explored our possibilities here."
Daine laughed. "I suspect this will be less enjoyable if Alanna comes breaking the door down demanding to know why we aren't at her mid-day feast today." She pulled away, then realized that Ardith had set her shift all the way to the other side of the room. She would need to cross the room, naked, in front of Numair, to retrieve it.
Numair had noticed her glance across the room at her folded shift with some amusement. Boldly, he climbed from the bed and walked across the room, retrieving both their nightshirts from where they had neatly hung, unused, since the night before. He pulled his own over his head and crossed back to the bed, handing the smaller to the red-faced woman there.
He leaned close to her as she took it. "I've already seen it all," he whispered lasciviously, his grin wide.
Daine flushed even deeper, dropping her eyes from his, and Numair noted her discomfort with some concern. "Magelet?" he said softly. "Is everything okay?"
"I'm sorry," she said softly. "The other women... I mean... I'm know you're used to..." She stopped, holding the nightshirt in her hands. "I know I'm not very experienced," she finally finished quietly.
The words pierced at his heart. Did she think he wanted someone else, that he could ever want someone else? When all he had wanted for so long was her?
He gently took the nightshirt from her hands, and slid it over her head, guiding her arms through the loose sleeves. As it settled over her body, he took her face in his hands, sitting on the edge of the bed as close to her as he could.
"You are perfect," he said earnestly. "You are everything I have ever wanted and I have not known any happiness like that I felt this morning when I woke up holding you. You are perfect, and I don't deserve you, but I am going to love you every day with my whole heart so that you never realize how much better you could do."
She suddenly wrapped her arms around him, resting her cheek against his chest in a warmly familiar embrace. "You are everything I want too," she said quietly.
They spent several long moments enjoying simply holding one another before Numair drew. "And now, my love, in the spirit of magnanimity, I shall suggest that you take advantage of the bath water while it is at its warmest."
"Magna-what?" Daine said.
"Just go," Numair laughed. "We shall leave the vocabulary lessons for after breakfast, at least.