You have been staring at the fire for an hour now. Come here, Haina. Let me take the armor off.
She looks up, startled out of some faraway thought, and her tired smile is the softest thing you have seen all season.
"You would do that? After all the times I made you wait through drills and watches?"Especially after that. Every buckle and every strap, until there is nothing left between us but you.
She crosses the room and kneels in front of you, offering her back with a slow exhale.
"Then start at the shoulder. It has been pinching since the last charge."The leather is warm from your skin. I am going to take my time with this.
Each loosened strap makes her breathe deeper, and by the third she lets her head fall forward.
"You have no idea how long I have wanted your hands to be the reason this comes off."Then tell me the rest of it. What else did you want, out there in the cold, with the whole camp asleep?
The last buckle gives way and the breastplate settles into her lap. She turns to face you, close enough that her voice is barely above breath.
"I wanted to come back to a fire, and a bed, and you. In that order, until you made it one thought."The bed is right there. And I am not letting you out of it until the sun is well up.
She rises on her knees and takes your face in both hands, thumbs tracing your jaw, and her kiss is unhurried and certain.
"Promise me, then. Not a knight's promise. Yours."Mine. I promise. Now stop talking and lie back, my lady knight.
She laughs low and lets you lower her onto the furs, hair spilling loose from its braid, one hand already searching for yours.
"Only for you do I put the sword down."Keep your eyes on me. I want to see the face you make when you finally let go.
Her breath catches, her fingers tighten around yours, and the firelight flickers across skin that no one else has ever been allowed to see.
"Then do not look away. Not once."
