~ 20 ~
ANYA
Holy shit.
My chest is heaving as I come down from the high. It takes a few minutes for me to find my words.
“Wow, Sab...” I have to pause to take another breath; my heart is still racing and I bet it’ll be awhile for my brain to catch up. “So you do know how to curse. Never thought dirty words could sound so good coming from you.”
Next to me, Sabri makes a low sound that I’ll choose to interpret as a laugh.
We lay there for a few moments. Now that the heat from the hot spring and our… activities is settling down, a chill is threatening to return. The hard tile beneath me is also fucking uncomfortable. I know my back is probably shredded—Sabri ground me hard against the floor. Part of me hopes I’ll get a new scar to add to my collection. It’d be a nice souvenir.
I pull myself up into a sitting position and look over at Sabri.
She has an arm flung over her eyes. What I can see of her face is flushed in an after-sex glow that trails down her neck to where her breasts are rising and falling. Her nipples are still hard.
Cute.
It’s the most vulnerable I’ve ever seen her, and I love every second of it. I could get used to having her like this. If only… I stop the thought immediately.
No point wasting brain power on dead ends.
I push aside the ache in my body and suck in enough air for a soft laugh.
“That council of yours would lose their wigs if they knew what their pure little princess was up to.” I wink at Sabri, even if she can’t see it. “Not just laying with some commoner, either, but the leader of the Thieves’ Guild. You sure outdo expectations, Sabri Melsbrand.”
Sabri scoffs from beneath her arm.
A comfortable quiet falls over the cavern, disturbed only by the soft drip of water.
“Anya...”
“Hmm?”
“About your… proposal.”
“What—oh, yeah?” It’s not like I had forgotten about the purpose of getting the princess alone—just that things took a decidedly more decadent turn that I may have gotten a little caught up in. “What about it?”
She pulls her arm off her face, but doesn’t look at me.
“I’ve been thinking…” she drifts off.
When? Sure hope it wasn’t while we were fucking. I’d be so offended. Then again, Sabri doesn’t seem like someone who needs a lot of time to make decisions. For all I know, it just popped into her head right now.
“Thinking, hmm?” I encourage, trying to keep my hopes in check.
Her gaze goes from unsure to steely so fast that it’s almost unnerving. “I won’t do anything that goes against the good of the country.”
“I’d never ask you to.”
Where is she going with this? Did I literally fuck this answer out of her?
“And.” She clenches her fists at her sides. “I cannot do anything that would hurt the stability of the Crown. I have a responsibility.”
“Okay…?”
“But!” She sits up, curls of tangled wet hair plastered around her shoulders. Her blue eyes are blazing. “Regardless of your methods, I do believe you’re trying to help people, Anya. And someone who genuinely wants the best for the people shouldn’t be an enemy of the Crown.”
Her words catch me by surprise. A flicker of hope starts in my chest, but I keep it firmly in check.
“Is this you rationalizing fucking me as the princess, or…?”
“What I’m saying, Anya—” I can hear the exasperation in her voice, but now that she’s charging full force into whatever direction she’s decided on, she’s not even stopping to berate me “—is that I’m willing to work with you.” She pauses. “For the good of the country.”
“Oh.” I’m too surprised to find the right words. “That’s great.”
Am I hearing this right? She’s going to help us after all? All that run-around and it was hot spring sex that won her over. I’ll be damned.
Sabri nods. “I just have to tell the council—”
“No!” I cut in. She can’t be serious. The council would never agree to working with rebels or let Sabri make any kind of alliance outside of their greedy reach. At best, they’d pretend to go along with it in hopes of luring us out and then cut us down.
“Do you really think they’ll just suddenly change the status quo?” I urge. “Especially when they’re the ones profiting from all this? No, you can’t tell them.”
Sabri’s bottom lip tucks in as she worries it with her teeth.
“Fine,” she says after a moment, even if she doesn’t seem pleased about it. “I won’t tell the council.”
I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding.
“But,” Sabri continues, and I suck in another a gulp of stress air, “at least let me tell the captain? He knew you as a child. I bet he’d be okay with—”
“Sorry, Sab.” I stop her. “You can’t tell anyone.”
I trust the captain as far as keeping Sabri safe, but I’d never trust the old bear with the lives of myself or the guildies. He’d run right to the council and blab if he thought it was in Sabri’s best interests. And who knows what those jerks would do if they thought they’d lost control of their puppet?
“It’s not just for the safety of the guild,” I persuade, “but for your safety too. So not a word from those pretty lips, got it? Not about the guild, not about me, and most especially—not about us.”
“About… us,” Sabri echoes.
There’s something unspoken in her tone, lurking beneath the surface like a thief in the dark. I don’t know if I’m cunning or a coward to avoid it, but the reasoning doesn’t matter—there’s no point in discussing impossibilities.
“About us,” I repeat, using every ounce of acting I have to keep my tone light.
Our little rendezvous hadn’t gone how either of us had planned it would, and while it looks like we might miraculously both walk away with our necks attached, there’s been an exchange of far more than blows between us.
It seems like I got Sabri to agree to work with me and the guild—and that’s already a huge stroke of luck. I’ve spent enough time in the gambler dens to know not to push something, no matter how tempting it is or how much you want it.
Not to mention that it would be stupid of me to let Sabri know how much I enjoyed sex with her. I’d do her again in a heartbeat—but when you know what someone wants, you have an advantage over them. The Thief Lord is many things, but they can’t be an idiot; not if they want to survive.
Better to just take what I got and move on.
“No, Sab,” I say gently. “If we’re going to be allies, we have to do it from the shadows. So not a peep to anyone—about anything . Okay?”
Sabri doesn’t look thrilled. She worries her lip for a few seconds before her eyes harden. “Fine.”
I nod. Relief settles in my mind.
We’ll just leave it at that. It’s safer for everyone.
I’m about to cash in whatever motivation I can to get onto my feet when Sabri grabs my arm. I almost go tumbling back to the ground, but catch myself at the last second.
“Heck, Sab—”
“Anya.” Her eyes dart to the floor, then back up to me. “Is that all we are? Allies?”
The intensity in her gaze triggers my fight-or-flight instincts, but she’s got my arm in her death grip.
Fucking damn it all.
“Don’t forget childhood friends,” I stall, “and also ex-enemies now, hopefully.”
She shouldn’t be nearly this intimidating when she’s sitting naked and dripping on the bare floor of some underground cavern.
“And?”
If I was a lesser woman, I’d cave in immediately. Luckily for me, I’m full of spite and defiance in the face of nobility. That would usually be enough to weasel my way out of a clingy lay or slip out of the grasp of the law enforcement, but unfortunately, it seems like I’ve got some sticky feelings for this particular noble.
Don’t give in, don’t give in, it’s way fucking safer to cut off intimacy right now, just say no—
“How about,” my traitorous mouth offers before my brain can stop it, “allies with benefits?”
Sabri frowns. “Allies with… benefits? What kind of compensation are you proposing…” she drifts off. Her eyes widen slightly and she twists her head, but I see a new blush flaring on her cheeks.
She catches on quick.
“How about it?” I ask, using the distraction to twist my arm out of her grip. I’m also hoping I can keep my voice smooth and teasing, and that none of the absolute panic inside is showing.
“Depends.” Sabri retracts her arm to cross them over her chest. “How many other people are you ‘allies with benefits’ with?”
“That’s classified.”
Not a single one, but Sab doesn’t have to know that.
Why would it matter? Sabri’s the fucking heir to the Kingdom—she’ll be hitched up with some brown-nosing suitor sooner or later. Knowing her and her sense of duty, any little trysts would be cut off guillotine-style the second she ties the royal knot.
Our tentative little alliance that we’ve freshly forged is already risky. Adding on some steamy exchanges ups the stakes significantly. Anything more would just be downright impossible—neither of us can afford for feelings to get involved.
Sabri’s frown is fierce. “If we’re going to be… allies with benefits, then I demand priority.”
The laugh that comes out of my mouth is reflexive. “I was that good, huh?”
“Do we have a deal or not?”
This is getting a whole lot riskier. At the same time, I do like a challenge. And getting to fuck Sabri again? I’m way too greedy to turn that down.
“Deal, Princess.”
Sabri nods. Her face relaxes.
“So…” I make a point of dragging my gaze down her body. Isn’t she getting cold? “You gonna put your clothes on, or are we consummating our new alliance...?”
Sabri, the absolute beast, furrows her brows as if she’s actually considering it. After a moment, she purses her lips. “Your lips are blue, Anya.”
“Back in the pool, then?”
There’s a loaded moment where I get to watch Sabri’s self control and sense of responsibility spar across her face.
With a forceful sigh, she shakes her head. Sabri swings up onto her feet. “I really do need to get back to the others.”
“No worries. My guildies are keeping them entertained,” I say, but my teeth are chattering too much to be convincing.
Sabri walks over to the pillar with my clothes on it. “Another time.” She tosses my shirt into the air. “After all, that is our arrangement. Is it not?”
I catch the fabric; it’s stiff and still a little damp, but it’s better than it was before. I slip the shirt over my head and grin at Sabri. “It is.”
There’s a subtly pleased expression on Sabri’s face as she turns to pick up her own clothes.
I work my arms through the sleeves and head to collect the rest of my clothing.
“So,” Sabri says as she laces up the ties on her pants. “For this blasphemous plan of yours—”
“ Our blasphemous plan,” I cut in, “you’re half to blame now, too.”
Sabri ignores me. “How will I contact you? The council monitors most of what I do. I had to apply for special permission to leave the palace grounds for this mission. Will I have to come back here?”
“Nah,” I say as I work the buckles on my belt. “I’ll have to reach you another way, which I’ll need your help with. We have some details to work out before I let you go.”