This story is Part X of the Series and is rated M for graphic scenes of sexuality, and nudity.
Volume 2, Part XIV: Of Such Small Things Are Loyalty Made
Torio was dead to the world; there was no concept of time passing, just utter blackness; when she finally opened her eyes again, she hadn't even moved. She still sank against the mattress and Sand's body the same way she had before...
Before when? How long have I been asleep? She shifted carefully, barely depressing the mattress as she sat up; Sand made no move next to her. She craned her neck, trying to get a glimpse of the candles scattered around the room. Almost morning. The wax nubs were nothing more than melted piles of goo, flames flickering over them weakly. She rubbed her eyes; she felt sticky and overly warm, her head pounding slightly as she moved, but at least the latent exhaustion was gone from her limbs. She delicately slid off of the bed, eyeing Sand carefully; he made some insensible noise and shifted, falling into the indent in the mattress left by her body, settling deeper into sleep.
She turned, tiptoeing through the small structure; one door revealed a small, cramped privy, another revealed a room with a large tin barrel, half fill with fresh water. The last door, hardly more than a hinged hole in the wall, revealed a smallish cubby room with a round tin bath, a brazier with coals, and a few large, flattened rocks.
She still had dried blood caking her skin beneath her clothing; the dust and dirt of the tower's dungeon; Orban's touch...She shuddered and quickly began moving silently between the water barrel and the tin bath, filling it with clear, cold water. She lit the coals on the brazier with one of the candles and placed the rocks across it, heating them up. As she waited, she peeled off the clothing and examined her body, running her fingers across the marks on her stomach; the skin puffed out, rough against her fingers.
Tentatively, she ran a hand behind her, touching her back, and nearly flinched at the spiderweb work of rough, edged skin that met her touch. A souvenir, I suppose.
She carefully picked up the heated rocks, sucking in a sharp breath as she balanced them back and forth on her fingers before dropping them into the tub. The water hissed, and after a moment she stepped in, sighing in relief as the heat enveloped her. She began scrubbing at herself, hard but slow, rubbing every last trace of Luskan off of her skin.
When Sand awoke, the first thing he noticed was that Torio was gone. He sat up in a panic and stumbled out of his bed, his eyes darting around the room. She was nowhere to be seen. It was morning; apparently they had slept away the entire evening and night.
He had no idea how long she had been gone. Cautiously, he went to the storage room and peeked in, then began opening the other doors, each door that didn't reveal Torio fueling his anxiety. She couldn't be gone - he had just found her!
Last door - and she was there, sitting in a bath scrubbing herself raw until her skin was red. The relief he felt was palpable. "Oh, I'm sorry for interrupting, dear girl. I was just...wondering where you were."
Torio jumped only slightly when Sand spoke, pushing the short, wet clumps of hair out of her eyes. Seeing him made her entire body run cold, and then indescribably hot; she paused in her scrubbing, examining his face; it looked slightly worried, relief evident in his voice.
"Where would I run off to?" She asked, lightly. "Into the streets of Luskan?" She chuckled and shifted onto her knees, bending her head down into the water, and scrubbing out her hair, her heart pounding. "I'll be finished in a moment, Bodaes," she said over the splashing noises. "You probably need one, as well."
"I probably do but don't hurry on my account." Sand stripped down and wriggled himself into the small bath in front of her, grinning. "We can certainly share." The water was only lukewarm, the bath barely fitting the both of them; there was only simple washing soap and none of the Seven Sails' fancy oils and creams. He felt himself begin to harden at being naked with her again but he quietly pushed the arousing thoughts out of his mind. He would let her come to him when she was ready. "Here, dear girl, let me get your back..."
She stifled a laugh at the ludicrous way they were rather squished together...
...oh, but how she had missed seeing his smooth, angular, elven body... Sand as a human was still delectable...but it hadn't been Sand...
She paused for a moment, wiping water from her face, watching him. "All right," she said a little anxiously, and turned around, settling her hips between his legs. Would he think she was still attractive? Her skin had been so perfect...she remembered how his mouth had trailed up her back in the past, the image he had fed into her mind in the carriage of her smooth-skinned flesh...
She leaned forward, feeling his thighs pressing against her sides; she exhaled slowly, huddling against her knees, and waited, biting her lip nervously.
Sand could feel her anxiety tugging at the back of his mind. He slowly ran his hand down her back, across the crisscrossing faint white scars. He traced the maze of barely healed flesh with his fingers tenderly. He leaned forward and kissed her between her shoulder blades before wrapping his arms around her small body and pulled her to him in a fierce embrace. "Lle naa vanima."You are beautiful. "I'll find a way to remove these scars, Torio. I will." He was surprised at the choking intensity of his voice and he held her, rocking her slightly in the warm water.
She leaned back against his body, his skin relatively warm compared to the slowly cooling bathwater. She felt completely enveloped; his legs bent slightly, rising on either side of her, and she leaned her head back against his shoulder. "Are you going to move all of Faerun while you're at it, Sand?" she asked quietly; but her mouth twitched in a smile, and she turned her head, pressing her lips against his neck.
There was a soft, fuzzy moment where her head buzzed as her lips touched his skin; her skin felt slightly raw where she had furiously scrubbed at it, and it tingled warmly where it pressed against his body.
She slid a hand up to the other side of his face, holding his head still as she kissed his neck; she felt a dull, thrumming ache in her chest as she tasted his skin; his skin, not Tanith Cloulevra's or Orban Asrar's or anyone or anything else.
He relaxed and closed his eyes. "Move all of Faerun? My dear girl, I would move all of Toril if you asked it of me. I look forward to the challenge of such a request." He began stroking the skin of her stomach and with a pang realized she was marked there as well. Gods, Keldrin had been so cruel and so very Luskan. How could it have been that she seemed to have taken the brunt of their vindictiveness? The whole city must have been crying out for Garius' - and her - blood after their scheme had been revealed.
"All of Abeir-Toril, is it? I might ask you to do that; I'd be curious to see how you'd accomplish it." She reached up, brushing his hair off of his forehead, dripping little droplets of water across his face; her free arm tighten around his, hugging his arm to her.
Sand picked up a washcloth and began slowly and gently soaping down her back, washing away the crimson layer. "A really big magical lever?" He cringed at the bad joke. "Can I take that back? I'm afraid that wasn't up to par to my usual cunning wit."
Torio snorted with laughter as she leaned forward, letting Sand work the washcloth over her back. "A really big magical lever," she repeated. "Oh no. There'll be no taking that back, Sand. I'll have to write it down...scribe it?" She shifted slightly so her could reach her lower back, and glanced back at him over her shoulder. "Engrave it, maybe?"
Her next indrawn breath shook into her lungs raggedly; she felt solidly anchored, with his arms around her body, and she shifted slightly, her backside brushing against the metal floor of the tub and the slow, steady hardness between Sand's legs as she inched her face forward again and licked the clinging droplets of water from Sand's neck. "Eller naa n'at sol tanya ant caelol, vee' eithel, bodaes." There are other things that need healing, as well.
"Sael shi shor caer saes oli pae eir ei sosti, Helkaer." Then we will heal them one day at a time. He leaned forward even as she kissed his neck and began gently kissing her shoulder.
Torio shivered as his lips touched her skin. She felt her heart give a little sigh; it was things like this, she figured wryly, that had caused her uninhibited mind to blurt out feelings she hadn't even realized she'd had. His words were uncharacteristically kind...she sighed against his neck, nuzzling him.
Of such small things are loyalties made. He had said that before. Maybe it made more than loyalty.
"One day at a time," she said quietly. "I suppose I could manage that."
The elf rinsed out the cloth and continued wiping down her back. "And...as for us...it's up to you." He left the comment purposefully vague, for her to answer or ignore as she saw fit.
She bent her head forward when he spoke again, her heart pumping nervously. She had never felt this damned vulnerable before in her life; she wasn't positive that she liked it. She reached up, squeezing the water from her short hair, her fingers massaging her head for a moment. "Sand," she said quietly after a moment; she focused on the small, slight movements against her back. "I..." She swallowed, took a breath; she felt the warmth of his body sitting in the water behind her, let out a sigh...lost her courage. What would you say to him? I love you? "I'd never ask anything of you." She shrugged her slender shoulders. "I would merely wish to continue in your company..." Her voice lightened considerably as she said, "...as per our agreement, of course."
Sand's hands only paused for a fraction of a second when she spoke, betraying his surprising disappointment. "You don't have to ask for something I'd freely give. And I don't give much freely, I'll have you know." He tried to make the last phrase light and joking but his heart wasn't into it. "Very well, dear girl," he said. "As per our agreement. I am beginning to think that contract is more binding than Nasher's."
He examined her back. Clean at least. Seeing the scars still made his heart clench painfully. "You realize we may have to change the terms of the agreement. I left Vale's ring at the tower...They'll have to either re-enchant the bracelet or remove it entirely. We should have them remove it. I think you've proven your trustworthiness. And paid for it dearly."
Torio half-turned in the tub sharply, her hands gripping the edges...the water sploshed around their bodies noisily for a moment as she stared hard at him. "Would he...you think they would?" For a moment a shrewd look entered her eyes...she tapped her fingers against the tub, chewing her lip while she thought. Working for Neverwinter... Well, technically she already was. She'd almost died for the city.
Her eyes snapped to his face, a strange, hungry light in them. "Freely given, is it?" She said quietly. She shifted all the way around, crawling her hands forward along the tub until her face was inches from his. "Yes, I know you don't give much freely...you'd hardly budge an inch if it suited you, you caustic, stubborn elf." She pressed her mouth against his roughly, plunging her tongue into his mouth without warning; her insides burned fiercely underneath her skin, but not just with passion. "So what," she said against his mouth, "Are you freely offering, then, viper?"
Torio was on him so quickly that all he could respond was with a muffled, "Mmph!" He pulled her closer to him, the water spilling over the edge of the tub. "Snake! You lull me into a sense of comfort and security and then you attack." Her short wet hair was sticking up in all directions, giving her a slightly wild and feral (some may have even described it as crazy) look. Her eyes were boring into his eyes, the pupils dilated. He pulled her back in for another kiss, his skin heating up under her presence. "What am I freely offering you? The only thing I can - me." He paused. "Would that satisfy you? A caustic, stubborn elf, with magical skill, limited patience for the boorish, and a weakness for wine and books. You must take this elf as is, seeing as how he has sustained some damage -" Here Sand rolled his mended shoulder. "But it's a great deal, let me assure you. I come with a lifetime guarantee."
Torio slid her hands around the edge of the tub until she gripped the edge behind Sand's back, pulling her knees up along side his hips. His body felt suddenly hot as she pressed against him, much warmer than his normal skin temperature. "Hmmm," she said, turning her head slightly as she considered his face inches below her. "A lifetime? And what makes you think you'd survive another forty years with me?" She began kissing him intermittently between words; her heart hammered against her ribs, sending her blood rushing through her so fast she almost felt light-headed. "We shall have to see if you do, won't we? Starting now? Oh don't worry, my magically skilled, slightly damaged elf, I have faith in you." Her voice was lilted with slight mockery...but her eyes were bright and intense as she stared down at him.
She kissed him fully, her arms encircling his neck; her body was shaking slightly as she felt his skin slip against hers under the water. "A great deal, indeed," she muttered against his lips.
She was seducing him with her maddeningly playful words; her voice though had a strange, dangerous, almost desperate tinge he had never heard before. It made his heart skip a beat and the adrenaline was shooting through him. For the first time, Sand was nervous as to what she had in mind.
"I didn't say whose lifetime it was; if you choose to use and abuse this elf then that is your prerogative and liability if you wear him out into an early death." He kept his tone professional, lawyerly-like even as he slowly began nudging her legs open. His arms went automatically under her arms to hold her upper back. "He has already started to suffer from sleep deprivation since meeting you. But...your faith is appreciated." His blue eyes met hers. "I'm telling you, take this offer, dear girl. It only comes once every few hundred years. You won't regret it."
Torio's eyes narrowed shrewdly...she settled her weight onto his lap, feeling him press up between her legs, his length hardening against her even as she spoke. "A few hundred years, is it?" She bent her head, kissing along his jawline. "What a rare opportunity; I suppose I'll have to take it." She could feel his chest pushing her own breasts flat, could feel their stomachs brush together under the water (which was sloshing about dangerously thanks to their antics). The tip of her nose found the upswept curve of Sand's ear...his pointed ear...and she traced the edge of its elegant shell, breathing lightly into it and whispering, "Tell me, do I get any perks with this deal?"
He fought to keep his breathing steady, his tone detached. "Perks? I believe...ah...I believe you're sitting on one of them." His eyes rolled back in pleasure. He had forgotten what having Elven ears meant, how much he had missed them during his stint as a human. His fingers tightened their hold on her.
"You are also assured trust, loyalty, affection, earth-shattering lovemaking and all the healing potions you can drink!" His fingers trailed down her spine, to her backside, then slipped around to the V of where her legs met her body. It was tremendously awkward, but Sand slipped his fingers along her folds, searching, until he found the small engorged swelling of flesh. "What other perks would you require before we seal this deal?"
She began nibbling on his ear as he spoke, her eyes rolling shut. Trust, loyalty, affection... "I suppose I could...accept...oh gods..." His fingers had wriggled between their bodies and were now touching the sensitive nub between her legs; she twitched at the barest of touches, gasping into his ear. "What did you want in return...oh Sand." Her body was in a frenzy, suddenly coming completely alive at his touch; the deadened, heavy feeling that had plagued her ever since walking into Orban's mansion suddenly lifted, and she rubbed her hips against him, the water churning between their bodies.
With his free hand, Sand cupped the back of her head and pulled her face to his, kissing her passionately. "I want nothing in return, Torio - hence freely given. If you choose not to give me anything return, I can accept that."
He inhaled sharply as she began slithering up against him, the water making both their bodies totally slippery. Her face suddenly seemed to brighten, her body infused with a spirit he hadn't seen since he had found her at Asrar's. His erection was pressed painfully between them, the water adding a new dimension of sensuality to the experience. "Take me. I meant what I said in the carriage all those days ago about being yours."
Torio held his face in her hands; her hips lifted, the strain of his erection lifting his shaft upward as she pulled her weight off of him. Her lips found his mouth, the bridge of his nose, his eyes, his forehead; she shifted slightly, positioning herself over him, and slowly slid down over his length. Her knees pressed down against the bottom of the tub, the smooth, hard metal a sharp contrast to the smooth skin that brushed along the inside of her thighs as she pulled him into her body.
As her hips fused completely against his, she whispered, "Freely given or not, viper...I want you to say it." Her mouth found his, but she held it back, her eyes half-hooded and staring into his. "Say that you want me...I want to hear it coming from your mouth." She took his bottom lip briefly between hers, nipping it gently and releasing it. "Tell me."
Sand closed his eyes and then opened them slowly, his blue eyes dark. "I want you, Torio Claven. I want you in which ever capacity you are willing to give to me - friend, confidant, lover or wi-" He bit off the last word and blinked. He nuzzled her, hoping to hide the slip of his tongue. It would have been a nice dramatic little word at the end of his sentence but they were still barely past the hatred stage. It would have been too soon for such thoughts.
He tried thrusting his hips against her and realized it was quite impossible from his seated position. "I want you so much, dear girl, if you'll let me have you." He caught her bottom lip between his teeth and returned the tender bite. "Please?"
Torio felt her eyes widen imperceptibly in surprise; Sand was rubbing his cheek against hers, biting off his sentence. She opened her mouth, but then he pulled back and caught her lip in his teeth, and she let out a small, ragged moan.
She wordlessly kissed him, removing her arms from around his neck; they were rather confined, and her legs pressed in against his almost painfully in the small metal tub. She gripped one side each of the tub with her hands, and slowly lifted herself up, drawing his length vertically as she rose off of his lap...and then sank down again, pushing her hips down against his with a satisfactory displacement of water. She whispered against his mouth, in a parody of that afternoon in the carriage so many days ago, "I'm yours." She could hardly tell how much of her she actually meant was his; he had her coiled tightly around his capable little finger and she knew it. And she loved it.
...and she loved...?
She slowly began thrusting against him, pushing up against the tub with her hands, her pace unhurried and languid. For a moment a ludicrous thought crossed her mind...Again, Bodaes...a perfectly capable bed and yet we do not use it for its intended purpose. She sighed in pure blissful pleasure as she felt the entire front of her body run up and down against his, the water splashing gently against her skin.
"You're mine," he whispered quietly, satisfied, not needing anything else. Sand let his head fall back against the edge of the small, cramped tub, sinking slightly beneath the rapidly cooling water as she casually began sliding up and down his hardened shaft.
Helkaer - save the bed for when we're back at the Keep and confined to our rooms...
It was true. They would soon be back at the Keep and back to pretending they hated each other. Sand had to admit they probably fought a lot less compared to other couples simply because publicly they were always fighting.
His hands wandered to her face, touching her cheeks before moving down to her full breasts, her hips, her whole body. It was all his. "Oh gods, Torio..." The realization that she had both nearly died, that they were still in danger but they were still alive finally dawned fully on him. He sat up suddenly, the water splashing onto the floor and wrapped his arms around her. He pressed his head to her chest, his ear over her heart, listening to the steady beating of her warm life. He squeezed her tight and then began guiding her motion up and down along his length.
"Sand..." Her head tilted back, her eyes half-shutting, focusing on the low-ceiling above them. She felt the crooks of his elbows around her waist, his hands pressed against her lower back, the fingers barely brushing the top of her backside; his pointed, elegant ear rested between her breasts, and for a moment, as she tilted her head and looked down at the top of his, she could see the long lashes of his eyes and the tilt of his nose, pressed against her flesh. A wave of sharp, painful tenderness shot through her, and she moved with the guiding motions of his hands, quickening her pace slightly; she shifted her knees forward slightly, holding him possessively between her legs and down-jutting her hips against his, hearing the rhythmic splashing in time with their movements.
She released the tub with one hand, running it up the back of his neck; her fingers delved into his hair, holding him to her. She bent her head down and pressed her lips against the top of his head, inhaling deeply...dormant magic, barely there, and a much stronger smell of soap... She held against her body, pushing her hips against his over and over, the fingers still holding the tub gripping the edge so tightly that she was white-knuckled within moments. Her muscles shivered, stretched, constricted; she gasped out, "A'mael..." Beloved.
Sand could feel her tightening further and further around him. Her heart was racing, he could hear it deep inside her chest, hear her breathing, hear her voice and feel that she was here, alive, with him. His mouth began kissing her breast, which bounced with each one of her firm thrusts, his lips moving lightly over her damp skin. Torio's tunnel was engulfing him wholly; his hands urged her on, faster, his hard member burrowing deeper and deeper inside her.
He raised his hips in response to hers, the water splashing up between them, and over his shoulders. He could feel the way his hair fanned out behind him in the cool bathwater. He pushed her down all the way, as low as she could go in the tub and held her there, savoring for a moment the warmth of her walls compared to the cold of the water. The contraction of his shaft was steadily increasing...
And then she cried out "A'mael!" Her voice thick, longing - but it was colored with unclad emotions which burned through his mind. He could feel the warm, kind thoughts of her mind - so foreign compared her usual cold crispness - and it settled over him like a blanket. He exhaled irregularly, "Melamin." My love …and he pushed himself as far in as possible, her whole body seeming to take in his engorged organ.
His back tensed with a conspicuous shudder of pleasure and then he bucked, the orgasm exploding from the middle of him and spreading outward. "Oh gods, my gods...girl..." It seemed everything in the room - him, Torio, the water - was quivering with him as he writhed inside her, ejaculating his hot fluid into her hot centre. He threw his head back, his mouth open, a slight frown on his face as his shaft emptied itself. His mind reverberated from the climax and every thought, memory, feeling, image from the past few days flashed through it
...fighting her in front of Gend, knife to each other's throats...coupling in the carriage...watching Torio stand by Asrar's side and the ugly pang of jealousy...punching the wall...collapsing to the floor...flying over the city...the pain - oh so much pain - from Falathiel...
And then the absolute horror of seeing Torio's bloodied and torn dress. That memory seemed to parade through him slowly before the memory of being dragged in front of her flashed through him and the sheer ache of seeing her like that... then he was cradling her, running - the mute terror of trying to get out, trying to keep her alive, the helplessness of not having a potion on him... then he was holding her in the bed, his lips pressed against her forehead, whispering quietly...
Sand's eyes snapped open and he sagged in the tub, nearly slipping under the water, feeling mentally, physically and emotional drained and yet utterly satiated.
Torio was nearly rocketed fully out of the tub when Sand's body bucked upwards against hers; she gasped, feeling his member pulse and push indescribably deep inside of her body, the tip rubbing erratically inside of her as he spilled his essence. She released her hold on him, gripping the sides of the tub painfully tight and holding on for dear life as her muscles contracted, released, and then tightened again in a long, drawn out climax, her hips pushing against his in a staccato rhythm as her entire body shook.
Images, thoughts, scatters, flashed through her mind; she caught snippets of the torrent that barraged Sand's thoughts; his face was contorted with agonized ecstasy below her, his fingers digging into her back; she saw flashes of her own face as Nagendra, a flash of a knife blade, a wash of senseless jealousy and painful misery, and fear...so much fear and pain that adrenaline shot through her body like the crack of a whip, sending her heart racing and her breath gasping as if they were running, running once again...
...a cacophony of emotions, sounds, images, and her body was shot with a bolt of sheer bliss as her climax began to ebb and she felt Sand's lips against her forehead, brushing against her hair and whispering...
And then she fell forward, her arms shaking and trembling and unable to hold herself up anymore. Sand was sagging against the back end of the tub, his body completely flaccid as she splashed across his chest, gasping for breath, leaning on him and entirely unable to move. The small room was filled, for a moment, with nothing but the sound of settling water splashing against the sides of the tub...(she was amazed there was even water left with how much had ended up being tossed over)...and their breathing, sharp and heavy and then slowly quieting down.
After a long quiet moment, Sand opened his eyes and looked at Torio and then around the poorly lit, poorly furnished room. How much of his thoughts had she seen? He found he didn't really care during this sweet afterglow and kissed her neck, the sweat and bathwater sticking to his lips. The air in here was humid and warm but the water was now cold and Sand shivered. He kissed her fingertips, noticing the way they were wrinkled. "All right, dear girl. I better get you out of this water before you completely turn into an Amnish prune. I loathes prunes, by the way."
Torio rested against him for a moment, her chest tight. An echo, barely a flicker; for a moment she was in the tub and simultaneously on the bed in Sand's memory, and she could hear the fading whisper in the back of his head...Amin mela lle...
Her fingers clenched against his body for a moment; he was talking, saying something about loathing prunes. She lifted her head, water dripping from the ends of her hair. Her mouth twisted in an amused smile for a moment, her eyes inordinately bright, before she pushed herself up to her feet, water cascading off of her in a whoosh! "Then the heavens forbid I ever look like one, Bodaes." She shook out her hair, sending water droplets flying; some landed with a hissssss on the still smoldering brazier, and she stepped from the tub, flicking water from her feet. "I'll see if I can find us towels to dry us off. Or a blanket...or a small animal of some kind, I'm sure this place has them in droves." Her voice was clipped and sarcastic, but her steps were light as she pulled open the smallish door and walked to the storage room, dripping a wet trail after her.
She peeked into the main room; still no sign of the spies returning, even though it must be dawn by now. She crept into the storage room and started ruffling through the various items; she found two, long, rather worn looking towels that didn't match and looked as if said small animals had been chewing on their edges for quite some time. She made a noise of distaste in the back of her throat, but hurriedly dried herself off, rubbing the fabric over her head and drying her short hair before wrapping it around her body. She stole back to the little bath room with the other towel, pushing the door open and tossing it at Sand. "Well, it's certainly not the Seven Sails...but I suppose there's a bonus in that it doesn't come with the magical scrying, the spying servants, and the possible instant death if you say the wrong thing."
Sand caught the towel and began drying himself slowly. "No instead of magical scrying we'll just get normal scrying, instead of spying servants we'll get servants who are spies and instead of possible instant death of you say the wrong thing now we have the possibility of a delayed death for lingering too long in the city." He followed her into the small room. "Any clothes for me in here? And my dear, you certainly seem to be in a good mood now."
Torio felt her cheeks flush slightly, and she scowled at him as she began pulling on her clothing. "Certainly better than I have been. Count your blessings, wizard," she said caustically, but her eyes were warm as she glanced at him. "There should be clothes for you, albeit nothing as fine as what we had." She belted her tunic around her waist, and walked with him to the storage room; she bent over the disorganized piles of clothing, shifting through them; most of the articles were tailored for larger people. Even her own outfit hung slightly loose on her smaller frame, and Sand was nearly the same size.
She finally handed him a pair of black trousers and a faded, dark blue tunic. She watched him pull the trews on over his hips, his head bent forward as he concentrated on tying the laces together, dark, damp hair spilling over his shoulders. The muscles in his forearms clenched slightly as his fingers worked, making her heart beat suddenly fast. As he slipped the tunic on over his shoulders, she stepped forward, stopping his hands with her own.
She held her breath, lacing up his tunic herself, watching as the cloth closed over his lean, smooth chest, her fingers brushing against him unabashedly. Sand watched her fuss over his shirt, slowly dressing him. He had never had her dress him, only undress him and he decided immediately that both were pleasant options as both indicated nakedness at one end of the process or the other. She tied off the neckline, tugging him forward for a moment, pressing her mouth to his roughly...
Knock.
She cursed against his mouth, stepping back quickly. Giving him one last, resignedly longing look, she smoothed out her hair. "Back to it, I suppose." She turned and walked towards the stairs that led up to the door; she waited until she heard another sequence of knocks and then carefully unlocked it, pulling it open.
The knock interrupted their hungry kiss and Sand remembered he hadn't eaten in a very very long time. His stomach gave a plaintive growl. The three spies re-entered and Sand sat on the edge of the bed, realizing belatedly that his pillow was still beside hers and the bedroll was clearly not slept in.
You make a lousy secret agent, Sand. You're lucky to be alive in spite of it.
The younger spy took his seat at the table. "I hope you understand but we cannot give you our real names, only our code names. I am Lightfoot, Torio knows old Silverfox here by his reports and she is Ringside Molly. I hope you are both well rested, Molly wouldn't let us come in until she was certain you had had your full nights rest."
Sand replied casually, glancing at the woman who was carrying with her a loaf of bread, "The dear girl is very kind. Thank you."
She offered him the bread, "We're a tad hard pressed at the moment. Your antics yesterday have Luskan all shaken up - patrols have doubled, the Hosttower is busy accusing one another of the damage at the tower. There's even talk of imposing a curfew but that won't happen; the city would riot before then."
Torio sat down at the table as well, running a hand through her still damp hair. "No, a curfew won't happen...but if the Hosttower's involved fully, now, we'll be harder pressed to get out." She glanced up at Silverfox, her face thoughtful. "What does the harbor look like?"
The man snorted. "A right mess; they've blocked in all the exits out into the Sea except one, and they're searching every ship leaving the harbor for both you and Sand. Well," he said with a wink towards the elf, "Nagendra and Tanith Couleuvra, that is. Apparently a very prominent artificer and merchant was murdered in his home yesterday morning."
Lightfoot grinned at her. "A mere coincidence, I suppose."
She very politely ignored him.
Molly frowned at them. "Still, we've got a bit of time until we get word on our ship. And we need accounts from both of you, as well as time to work on your disguises." She went to a cupboard and pulled down a small cordial barrel of water, pouring the tapped stem out over small clay cups and passing them around. "Why don't you both start from the beginning...Lightfood, can you scribe?"
Torio took the cup offered to her and drank deeply, wetting her throat. It looked like it was going to be a long morning...