This,I think.This is the Lissy as she’s supposed to be.
Until now, after four more rounds of worshipping her body and making her too loud for the rest of the wedding camp, I thought she was asleep.
I give her a sly smile. “Want another go, my lady?”
She swats at me playfully. “Don’t tempt me.” She searches my face for a moment, her long lashes lowering slightly. “I was just... wondering.”
I slip an arm around her. “I don’t sleep very well.”
“Never?” She sounds surprised.
“Never.” I think carefully about my next words, because I know why. It’s just never bothered me before. “You don’t sleep on a battlefield. That kind of vigilance never really leaves you.”
Especially when we’re lying in a tent with fires burning around us. Without the wedding noise, I could close my eyes and believe we were in a war camp.
“Orc insomnia.” She lets out a dry chuckle. “Who knew? I would have thought I wore you out.”
I snicker. “Never.”
Her eyes sparkle. “That sounds like a challenge.”
But she looks tired around the edges, and I know she’s had a full day. While I could ravish her another time or two, I need to give her time to recover. Not just from our lovemaking, but from the triumph that was Saskia’s dress and everything the wedding demanded of her.
“Tell me a bedtime story instead,” I say.
For a moment, I think I’ve lost her, because she goes so quiet. I’m about to ask what’s wrong when she speaks.
“Have you heard the fairy tale The Oak and the Needle?”
“No.”
She settles against my chest. “It’s not that popular. It’s less of a fairy tale and more of a... warning, I guess. To the right ears.” She traces a line down my bare chest. “Once upon a time, there was a dressmaker who made the finest clothes in all the land.”
“Hey, I know her.”
I feel her smile against my skin. “She was in high demand, with clients lined up outside her door and commissions booked for years. One day, a lord came to her shop to see what all the gossip was about, and he fell in love with both her clothes and her. She fell in love with him too. He was strong and steadfast, as strong as oak. She was fast and nimble, a needle that tied them together.”
She pauses, her finger still moving over my chest.
“He promised she would never want for anything and that they would have a beautiful life together. His family didn’t approve, but they didn’t care. They married and had a daughterthey both loved very much. Life was good, except the lord had a jealous friend. Another lord. He tried to lure the dressmaker away with gold and trinkets and presents, but her love was steadfast. So he did what all jealous, jilted lovers do.”
“What?”
“He killed the lord.” Lissy’s voice drops to a whisper. “The dressmaker was so heartbroken that she left her daughter with her grandmother and disappeared for years.”
My heart beats harder. “That’s... not a nice fairy tale.”
She shakes her head. “It’s not. And that’s not the end.”
“There’s a happily ever after?”
“No.” She sits up, like she needs to do something with her body. Her expression is stricken as she looks down at me. “The daughter grew up to become a dressmaker. The finest one since her mother. Then a lord came and...”
“Fell in love with her?”
She nods. “And the cycle happened again. And again. That’s why I said it’s more of a warning. The Oak and the Needle never has a happy ending, no matter how many times it happens.”
“Like a curse,” I murmur, taking her hand in mine.
