Damaged but Unbroken Ch. 02

Damaged but Unbroken

Chapter 2: Home Sweet Home

They exited the large court chamber with their arms interlocked and their feet moving in unison. They were greeted by the crisp morning air and the smell of fresh cut grass, as the court chamber opened directly into the royal gardens. As soon as they heard the heavy oak door thud shut behind them, Avalon burst out laughing. "Did you see their faces in there when I called your name? Priceless! Reckon it's the only way to shut them up sometimes." As Avalon laughed hysterically, they began walking brusquely towards the large ornate gate that led right into the town square. After only a brief, albeit very enjoyable, moment of laughter, Circi gently elbowed him in the ribs. This seemed to grab his attention immediately. She leaned in close and whispered to him, "Wait until we're clear of the palace. Walls have ears here." They walked across the lush, verdant garden arm in arm, pretending to engage in googly-eyed small talk if anyone walked by. Although it had only been about 15mins until they reached the gate, Circi was sure that every cook, spy, guard and handmaiden knew about the 'unorthodox' betrothal.

As they approached the guards standing at the city-side exit, one of them handed Avalon a large, plain key with a message wrapped around it. "Came for you five minutes past, sir." The message was an address, and the key seemed to be to his new lodging in the city. Thanks to royal influence, his lodgings were very close to the town square. After a very brief walk, they arrived at a heavy oak door with a dragon head shaped knocker in the centre. Despite everything else, Circi couldn't help but crack a smile and stifle a little laugh. "At least you'll always know which house is yours," she said, trying to stifle even more laughter. As the door opened and they stepped inside, they felt an immediate sense of amazement.

The house was much bigger than one would expect so close to the town square. It was split into two levels. The downstairs had the kitchen, dining room, study and sitting room. Each of a more than comfortable size. The bedroom occupied the entire upper level. It had a large balcony from which one could see the town square and the glittering majesty of the Royal Palace. Besides the rooms in the palace, this must've been the greatest apartment in the city.

Before continuing their much-desired exploration, they headed upstairs to help each other doff their armour. Over the years, this had become standard practice for them. Avalon didn't know anyone else in Tempeste city, and didn't trust pre-pubescent squires to treat his armour with respect. Circi on the other hand, had found that not many men could be trusted to help her doff her armour. More than a few had gotten too handsy for her taste. As she began to undo the knots and straps of his armour, Avalon shared some tales of travelling the countryside and the fearsome creatures he had encountered. They seemed embellished for dramatic effect of course, but Circi didn't mind for she heard the life and excitement in his voice. As she removed more of his armour, she noticed, in a way she never had before, his toned muscles. While they were not excessively large, they were strong and well defined. She removed his chainmail hood and turned out to let him undress the rest of the way, as she had always done.

He took off the chainmail hurriedly like an oversized jumper due to the intense heat of the mid-morning and post-noon hours. He breathed a deep sigh of relief as the he felt the fresh, cool wind on his skin, which was covered only by a pair of linen smallclothes. He turned around and started undoing her armour, admiring the craftsmanship of the royal smith. Just has he had, she shared tales from her time in the city of knocking skulls and uncovering secret plots. As she spoke, he recognised the mark of an embellished tale, though he felt that that tales sounded better with a little dramatization. As he took of the last of her armour, he noticed how beautiful and melodic her voice is and how much he missed hearing it on his travels. He turned around, like she had, to let her finish undressing herself. After a minute of what he could only assume was quite struggle, she asked, "Could you help me with the chainmail too? It keeps getting caught in my hair, and it's a pain to untangle afterwards." He placed his hands on her arm and began to slowly and methodically remove her chainmail without touching her hair. As it came off, he noticed that she was only wearing white woollen smallclothes. Her top cut off right beneath her breasts and her high-waisted, V-shaped underclothes left much of her toned and shapely buttocks uncovered. He reached out and traced the shape of a thin scar on her back, "This one's new." He traced another at her waist with his other hand, "So is this one." He stopped himself from going any further. "What's two more scars when you have 200?" she replied as she turned around to face him, a tinge of sadness in her voice.

For a moment he was stunned to silence as he looked her up and down. Though he had never noticed it before now, Circi had quite a beautiful figure. As if struck by lightning, he suddenly viewed her differently. The way her rough, light brown hair framed her soft face and her bright yellow eye glowed in the gorgeous sunlight seemed to have escaped him before. He looked down and saw her ample, perky breasts above her toned abs. He was mesmerised for a moment, unable to speak, frozen staring at her beauty. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to hold her tight, kiss her and never let go. Avalon felt his loins begin stir, hoping it wouldn't be noticed. Upon realising that he was staring, she gave him a light, playful jab in the ribs and joked, "Don't get any funny ideas, I've seen the women you look at that way..."

She sauntered over to the large cedar wardrobe and began looking around for some suitable clothes. All she found however was corsets and skirts. Seems the king had rather different company in mind. She sighed exasperatedly. Avalon remained rooted to the ground, his back to the wardrobe trying to calm his lust. He resolved to take his leave before it got any more visible. He walked to the wardrobe hurriedly, picked out a gold-rimmed white doublet, black linen breeches and a fresh pair of smallclothes. He placed the clothes in front of him to hide his growing erection, and said "I'll give you some privacy," as he raced out of the room, closing the door behind him.

After getting dressed, Circi and Avalon spent 15 minutes simply waking around the apartment on their own, examining it in all its glory. The awe, however, was beginning to wear off, and Circi's patience regarding her impending marriage grew thin. After concluding their own assessments of the place, they headed towards the stocked bar in the pantry to discuss the events of that morning. As she entered, Avalon couldn't help but stare. She was wearing a deep red corset and black leather trousers. Around her waist she wore a black leather belt with a gold buckle studded with small rubies. The corset, however, was not designed for modesty and as such, she had removed her top woollen undergarment and let the corset squeeze her bosom until it was pleasantly visible above the hem. "You look..." beautiful, he had wanted to say. He recalled that, in their many years of friendship, he had hardly ever seen her wearing civilian clothes. Even when she had, it had been simple and modest, nothing quite so decorative and sensuous. Perhaps choosing Circi as his wife had more meaning to him than he imagined. The words that finally escaped his lips were, "... like a pirate queen. An eyepatch and a tankard, and you'd fit right in." He chuckled a little as he got two large wooden tankards out of the cupboard while Circi opened and poured the ale. They toasted and drank their first deep sip, commemorating the occasion.

"You feel like breakfast or is that a bit too domest---" Before he could finish the thought, her hand arced through the air and landed a firm slap on the back of his head.

"Explain the betrothal, Avalon. NOW," she said, glaring daggers at him for she was sure was a ridiculous stunt.

"Now you really do sound like my wife," he quipped, but saw her glowering intensity rise to dangerous levels. "Come off it, already. We're just getting married; we're not becoming husband and wife."

She paused for moment, trying to make sense of it in her head but ultimately failing. "What on earth are you on about?"

He sighed deeply. "I knew that the reward for killing the dragon came was a seat at the court. I didn't realise that the King planned to enact in that way, but I suppose it makes sense if you have a castle full of young horny women without any suitable husbands. I also knew that regardless of what I said or how much you helped me, no one there would have given you even a silver piece as reward. I never wanted to marry one of those vapid nobles, though I never expected that all of them would want to marry me. All except Lady Stoneheart, obviously. And I felt that you deserve the reward for the dragon just as much as I do." He paused and took another large sip of ale.

He put the mug down and continued, "The way I see it, you get the best apartment in the city for free all year round, the nobles of the court can never look down on you again and I got make a fool of 50 powerful, noble dimwits in front of the King and lived to tell the tale." He took another sip then tenderly held her hand and added sheepishly "Besides, I figured that this would get your parents off your back for a little while. I know that you don't see eye to eye on the marriage thing, so I thought getting married without really getting married would sate them."

"Well, when you put it that way, it really doesn't sound so bad," she said, holding his hand lovingly in her own. "How much was that dragon worth in parts?"

Avalon let go of her hand, walked around to the other side of the pantry and started rooting around for food. "Crown paid me my half of over 50,000 gold pieces. The other half is yours. It's sitting in the royal vault just waiting for you to claim it."

She looked at him puzzled. "My half? I thought you said that the crown wasn't extending your reward to me..."

He chuckled a little, "They're not, but I am. Final reward was 104,000 gold pieces. I only accepted half, and made it very clear to Master of Coin that you would collect the other half."

"Besides," he said as he inched closer to her, "was it really so bad," he asked as he stepped in a little closer with each word, "pretending to be married to me?" He stopped just as their hips and chests were moments from touching. His arms rested just past her waist on the bar top behind her. His face was so close to hers that she could smell his light vanilla and sandalwood soap, and his lightly perfumed aftershave. As she felt his warm breath glide across the skin of her neck, she sensed a tingle racing up her spine turning her cheeks a flushed red colour.

In that moment, she felt something new stir in her. Through their many years of platonic friendship, she had never considered him as an option. Yet now, all she wanted was for him to hold her, kiss her... make love to her.

"I... I... erm It... uhhh" She steadied herself on the bar top, and yet she seemed unable in that moment to take her eyes off him. He then cracked another devious smile and pulled out a small box of eggs and large leg of ham from the open shelf behind her. It was nothing more than a tease, she realised. Avalon casually walked to the stove and started lighting the fires. Within minutes, the fire had grown to a respectable size and the copper pan on the stove was hot.

"Was that a no on breakfast, by the way? I've already got the stuff out; another portion won't take long."

"No, that's okay. I'm not that hungry right now." She sat back down at the bar and sipped her ale slowly as the smell of bacon grease began to fill the air. She began to think about her feelings for Avalon. Were they truly as platonic as she thought? She reflected on their many years of friendship and noticed that perhaps it was not the first time she had wanted him, but perhaps this was only the first time her desire had truly been noticed.

Just as Avalon was plating the food, Circi felt her stomach rumble. Torn from deep thought, she asked Avalon, "Can you make me a portion too? Looks like I was hungr--" Before she could finish, Avalon placed 2 steaming portions of eggs, bacon, sausages, and toast on the bar top. She smiled and blushed a little. Moments later, Avalon sat down on the opposite side of the bar with cutlery and a small bowl of fruit. She looked at him amazed, "How did you know?"

He tenderly kissed the top of her head. "I noticed you hadn't had anything since the soldier's breakfast this morning, so I figured that you'd be hungry by the time the food was ready."

She looked up with a loving smile and said "Thank you"

As they began eating, a thought occurred to Circi, "This place only has one bed and the chairs in the sitting room are hardly comfortable for sleeping in. How do you intend we share this place while you're in the city?"

He laughed lightly, and replied "The bed is more than wide enough for 2 people to sleep side by side."

Her brow furrowed and, in a mocking, somewhat playful tone she responds, "What makes you think I would be okay sleeping beside you?"

"Oh, come now, I can hardly be the first man you've shared a bed with," he said through a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

Circi froze on the spot. Her fork, with a piece of sausage on it, was frozen in mid-air as her face took on the deep crimson shade of embarrassment. In a stiff, forced motion, she put the fork down. The rest of her body was completely still, as if frozen solid.

Avalon looked up and instantly recognised the error in his words. "Not like that! I meant to share... on opposite sides of the bed, keeping our hands to... ahem... ourselves," he tried to explain, though his voice came out unsure and nervous.

As they sat and ate together in silence, Avalon noticed that Circi kept looking down so that her hair would cover most of her face. Wanting to restart their conversation, he reached out and affectionately tucked her hair behind her ear. "Much better, I could barely see your face through the hair. I hardly travelled all the way here and made breakfast for both of us just to sit here and talk to your hair. Now, what have you been up to for the last 6 months?" he asked, an excited grin across his face.

She slowly looked up at him, unsure at first but grinning broadly moments later. As she began talking, the tension in her shoulders melted away and she began to move as if animate again.

"So..." she said excitedly.

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