Chương 56

The medic worked quickly and said little. He rewrapped Louis's knee, adjusted the brace, and pressed along the joint before saying only, "Keep weight off it whenever possible." Then he left. Other soldiers collected the cloches and water glasses. When they left, the bolt slid into place again. Louis sat in the armchair nearest the hearth with his injured leg stretched out before him. After the footsteps faded, the room was quiet. Angelique had changed into a plain night shift and a dark dressing gown.

Gladice had changed too. She sat cross-legged near the foot of the bed, one bare foot on the coverlet and a pillow held against her stomach. Louis looked from Angelique to Gladice. He did not know what to do with the quiet.

"They will say it did not happen," Angelique said quietly. Louis looked up.

"What?" She went to the window and rested one hand on the frame.

"The marriage." She did not look at either of them.

"Whatever happens with Theodore, whatever they decide about us. They will say the marriage did not happen." She paused.

"I know that."

"Yes," Gladice said. Angelique's fingers closed around the window frame.

"But my body doesn't know that." Louis did not move. Gladice lowered the pillow to her lap.

"Angel." Angelique turned toward them. Tears filled her eyes but did not fall. Her mouth trembled.

"I stood there," she said.

"I listened to that man ask the question. I heard him tell me what I was promising. And I knew exactly why he was asking it that way. I understood every word. I understood what Theodore was doing. And I understood what he meant to do after." She raised her voice.

"And then I said yes anyway." Louis opened his mouth. Angelique shook her head before he could speak. Gladice waited before answering.

"He forced it out of you."

"Yes. He did." Angelique looked down at her hands.

"But it still came out of my mouth." Louis leaned his head back against the chair.

"It wasn't completed," he said. Angelique stared at him.

"I mean it." He sat forward despite the pain in his knee.

"Listen to me. It did not finish. The ring didn't go on your hand. There was no pronouncement. No signing." He looked directly at her.

"Whatever you said. It didn't happen." Angelique kept looking at him after he finished. Then she nodded. Gladice exhaled through her nose and looked between them.

"We're all going to need to find ways to live with this." Louis looked at her.

"You didn't do it. You didn't say anything." She lifted her chin.

"No. I sat there and let them put a gun to my head so Angel would say yes. So don't talk as if I wasn't part of the thing."

"You didn't have a choice," Angelique said. Gladice looked at her.

"Neither did you." Louis leaned back and stared at the ceiling.

"The call worked," he said. Gladice snorted.

"I've said that already."

"I know." He swallowed.

"I just want to say it again." Angelique's mouth relaxed.

"Yes," she said.

"It worked." Angelique faced him.

"You did something none of us could have done. You made them come."

"It doesn't feel like much of a victory."

"It isn't," Gladice said.

"But it's not nothing either." He nodded. Angelique leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. For the first time in hours, she no longer held herself upright.

"What happens tomorrow?" Louis waited before answering.

"Vance keeps us here until the Council decides what to do with Theodore."

"About Theodore," said Gladice.

"Yes."

"And us," Angelique said. Gladice looked at her.

"Us too."

"They are not going to return us to the house. That much is obvious."

"No," said Louis.

"And they are not going to simply hand us back, either."

"No."

"So what are we?" she asked. Louis looked down at his braced knee before answering.

"Assets," he said.

"Valuable ones." Gladice nodded.

"Yes."

"They will trade us."

"Probably," Louis said.

"For what?"

"Hostages," Gladice answered.

"Leverage. A way to make the Dominion and the Free City behave in whatever way the Council wants them to." Angelique looked at Gladice before asking quietly, "Is that better or worse than what we were ten hours ago?" Gladice tightened her arms around the pillow.

"Ask me in the morning." None of them said anything for a minute. Angelique crossed the room and sat on the hearthrug beside Louis's chair.

"We need rest." Louis looked at her.

"Hard to get," he said.

"When I can't stop thinking."

"About what?"

"Everything." Angelique looked toward the hearth before speaking.

"When he said he would take Gladice below and shoot her, I believed him." Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Gladice did not move. Louis watched Angelique.

"I know," Gladice said. Angelique's voice remained quiet.

"I couldn't do it. I couldn't let him kill you." Gladice left the bed and sat beside her on the hearthrug. She put a hand on Angelique's arm.

"I know." Angelique closed her eyes. When she opened them, she turned to Gladice.

"I am sorry."

"For what?" Gladice looked back at her.

"For everything." Angelique looked back toward the hearth.

"For dragging you into this mess."

"Don't be," Gladice said.

"I know you would have done the same for me." Louis said, "You both did what you had to. We all did." Angelique looked at him. She looked unguarded for the first time since the ship.

"I would have made a terrible wife," she said. Gladice laughed.

"Darling," she said, "you would have been the worst." Angelique stared at her, then smiled faintly. Gladice squeezed her arm before letting go. Angelique looked away and said, "You know, I've hated you for a while." Gladice sighed.

"Of course you do."

"I mean it." Angelique kept looking down.

"You kept noticing things, and then you made jokes about them."

"Yeah. I did. You and Louis were so damn proper about everything. I liked messing with that." Gladice turned toward the hearth as well.

"Call me a bitch if you want, Angel."

"I don't want to call you that." Angelique shook her head, tired but still smiling.

"But you are a funny woman, Glads." Gladice blinked, then looked away, smiling.

"I'll take that." Louis watched them, and his throat tightened with relief. He cleared his throat.

"We're going to get out of this. All of us. Together." Angelique looked at him and nodded. Gladice stretched and said, "And when we do, I want a vacation."

"Hawaii," Louis said. Gladice nodded.

"Yes." Angelique laughed for the first time that night. The laugh was brief and tired.

"Hawaii sounds wonderful."

"Well," Gladice said, "that makes three of us." Louis watched Gladice as she leaned against Angelique. Angelique hesitated, then rested her head on Gladice's shoulder. Louis felt his own body respond to the sight, a sudden heat beneath the exhaustion, an instinct to bring them both closer, to hold, to touch, to make the distance between their bodies and his disappear completely.

"Come here," he said. He had not known he was going to say it until it came out. But once spoken, he did not regret it. Angelique lifted her head from Gladice's shoulder and stood. She faced him, her eyes dark in the low lamplight. Gladice watched them with one corner of her mouth raised. Angelique stepped in front of him and slid her fingers into his hair gently. She bent and kissed him. The first press of her lips was soft, almost careful, as if testing whether this was still allowed. The second wasn't.

He drew her down onto his left thigh, one hand cupping the back of her head and the other at her waist. She tasted like salt and coffee. His cock hardened against his trousers. When they broke apart to breathe, Gladice was watching them with heavy-lidded eyes and parted lips. He looked at her and nodded. She rose without hesitation and came to him. He caught her by the waist and drew her in, kissing her with the urgency still running through him. Her mouth was bolder.

Her body pressed against his side, alive and solid after days of fear. She closed one hand around his wrist, and he wrapped an arm around her waist. Louis cupped Angelique's breast through the thin fabric of her night shift and slid his other hand over Gladice's through her clothes. He squeezed them as both women pressed closer. Angelique's mouth moved to the side of his neck. Her breath warmed his skin before her lips closed over it. A sharp gasp escaped him.

"Careful," Gladice murmured, her voice low and teasing.

"He's injured."

"Not that injured," Louis said, still catching his breath. Angelique pressed her forehead to his temple.

"I'll be careful," she whispered. Their bodies crowded around Louis, still separated by thin layers of clothing. Angelique's face was flushed. Gladice remained pressed against his other side. He leaned back and slid one hand beneath Angelique's night shift and the other beneath Gladice's wrapper. Angelique pressed her breast into his palm and sighed. Her skin was warm and soft, her nipple firm against the center of his hand. Gladice pulled his shirt open and kissed the center of his chest.

Her hair brushed his face and smelled of plain soap. He untied her wrapper and pushed it from her shoulders. Gladice pressed against his side. She kept one hand around his wrist and ran the other along his ribs. Angelique knelt beside the chair and watched them. Then she ran a hand down Gladice's back and cupped her breast. Gladice gasped and turned toward her. Their mouths met above him. Louis watched them. He put a hand in Angelique's hair and drew her mouth down to his.

Gladice leaned in and kissed Angelique again at the corner of her mouth. Angelique turned between them, kissing Louis and then Gladice. Their breath warmed his face, and he tasted salt on both their lips. Louis pulled Angelique's night shift down and closed his mouth over her nipple. Gladice leaned in from the other side, her bare breast pressing against his cheek. He turned between them, sucking first Angelique and then Gladice, his face held between the soft weight of their breasts.

"Bed," he said, the word rough and low in his throat. Gladice stood first and pulled Angelique up with her. Louis pushed himself up from the chair. Gladice helped him sit on the edge of the mattress, then pulled his shirt from his shoulders. Her palms stayed warm against his skin. Angelique knelt before him and loosened the straps of the brace one by one. Her fingertips brushed the swollen joint, and pain shot up his thigh. She stopped and looked up at him.

"It's alright," he murmured, brushing his thumb across her cheek. Angelique nodded, stood, and ran both hands up his chest. Gladice opened his trousers and pulled them down over his hips while Louis braced one hand on Angelique's shoulder. His cock sprang free, hard enough to strike his stomach. Gladice licked her lips. Angelique's gaze dropped and stayed there. They eased the fabric over his injured leg, then freed his other foot.

When the trousers were off, Angelique put an arm around his back and helped him lie down. Louis lay on his side with Angelique facing him. Her bare breasts pressed against his chest. Gladice settled behind him, her breasts warm against his back, one arm resting across his waist. Gladice ran her hand up his thigh and wrapped her fingers around his cock. She stroked him firmly. He groaned against Angelique's lips. Gladice laughed near his ear, her breath warm against his neck.

"Like that?" Louis rolled onto his back, keeping his injured leg straight. Gladice leaned over his shoulder, and he turned his head to kiss her. Angelique kissed down his neck and chest, then moved between his legs. Her breath warmed the head of his cock. She dragged her tongue across it, then closed her lips around him. His hips jerked.

"Easy," Gladice whispered against his ear.

"Let her have you." He moaned. Angelique kept most of her attention on the head of his cock. She licked slowly beneath the rim, then closed her lips around it and sucked with gentle, steady pressure. Her hair brushed his stomach, and both hands rested high on his thighs. Gladice watched them, breathing faster. She slid a hand between her thighs and touched herself. Louis saw her. He closed his hand around her wrist and drew it away. Gladice gave a low sound of protest.

"Let me," he murmured against her lips. Angelique lifted her head from between his legs. Gladice nodded and climbed over him, planting her knees on either side of his hips. She reached between them, took his cock in her hand, and pressed the swollen head against her opening. The pressure in him had become almost painful. Then she lowered herself, and slick, hot flesh closed around the head of his cock. The sudden softness and pressure pulled a groan from him.

Gladice moaned above him as she took more, her body stretching around him until she settled against his hips. Angelique watched Gladice take him. Gladice lifted herself until only the head remained inside her, then lowered herself again. Angelique brushed her fingers over Louis's cheek. He reached for her, and she bent to kiss him. Gladice began to rise and fall faster, each downward stroke driving him deeper inside her.

In the quiet room, Louis could hear the wet slap each time her body met his and the bed creaking beneath their movement.

"I want to taste you, Angi," he said against her mouth, voice rough. Angelique shuddered.

"Yes." She crawled higher and straddled his head. Her thighs settled on either side of his face, her swollen lips already slick and parted above his mouth, and he caught the faint musk of her arousal. He liked it. He placed both hands on her thighs and drew her down until his tongue touched her wet pussy. Then he flattened his tongue against her and licked upward. When her breath caught, he pressed harder and worked the tip of his tongue over her clit. She tasted faintly salty with a soft tang.

He felt Angelique lean forward to kiss Gladice. Their breathing broke between kisses above him. The taste of Angelique on his tongue and the tight heat of Gladice around his cock struck him at once, leaving him barely able to hold a steady rhythm. Angelique rocked against his tongue until her thighs began to tremble. She came with a broken sound of relief, her pussy pulsing against his mouth.

Louis kept his hands on her thighs and licked her more slowly as the contractions passed, tasting the wetness she left across his tongue. Above him, Gladice lost her rhythm. Her hips pressed down against his, and her walls contracted around his cock. Each contraction squeezed the swollen head until Louis could no longer hold back. He gripped her hips, gave one short upward thrust, and came inside her. His cock pulsed inside her until the last spasm passed.

Gladice lifted herself off him and lay on his right, draping one leg across his uninjured thigh. Angelique moved down from his face and curled against his left side, her damp hair cool on his shoulder. Louis wrapped an arm around each of them, pulling them closer, feeling the living warmth of their bodies, the soft press of sweaty skin, the simple, profound fact that they were alive, together, and still their own. Gladice lifted her head from his shoulder and looked across him at Angelique, then at Louis.

She exhaled.

"That was not how I thought this day would end." Louis felt Angelique smile against his chest.

"Better," Angelique said quietly.

"Much," Gladice agreed. Louis kissed Angelique, then turned the other way and kissed Gladice.

"Stay with me," he said. They did not answer. Angelique folded an arm across his chest. Gladice moved closer and slid one leg between his without touching the injured knee. The bolt on the door remained in place, the house remained full of soldiers, and the future remained uncertain. But for now, in the dark, they lay together as if nothing beyond the room existed. When sleep finally came, all three of them were still tangled together tightly enough to resist the nightmare waiting outside.