This will make more sense if you read the earlier parts. Don't worry, they're fun, action packed, and build the tension. Read them first! Also, all characters in sexual situations are 18 years or older. Enjoy.
"Do you two always sleep so soundly?" Dellia shook Naevia's arm. Her cousin's stola was no longer soaked through, but still moist to the touch. The water on the floor of their cabin had drained away, hopefully finding the pumps down below. The ship listed to starboard, but not badly. "Wake up." She punched Vel in the shoulder. Her cousins were still cuddled together. The comfort they seemed to find in each other's arms needled at Dellia a little. She had never had siblings, and wondered if she was missing out. Then she thought of Fortinbras, shuddered, and decided it wasn't a die she wanted cast.
"Is it breakfast?" Naevia opened her eyes. Pale sunshine angled to the battered floor from the round, dingy window. Feeling her brother's arm around her, she snuggled back in. Warmth radiated from him all along her back.
"I don't know about breakfast. But I was going to check on our luggage. I hope our pigeons have not drowned." Dellia stretched out her arms with a yawn. "Do you want to come with me?"
"What?" Vel opened his eyes, realized that his sister was still in his arms and that his cousin hovered over them. He sat up quickly. "Yes, yes. I'll help check our things."
"Whoa." Dellia turned her head in a show of giving him his modesty, but her eyes crept back to look at the tent in his robes. She had heard that those of giant blood were bigger than men of the Surround. "Your Grace may want to give himself a minute to settle before leaving the cabin. You could take a person's eye out with that thing. I strongly doubt any sailors want to be accidently foisted on the end of your spear, Cousin. What say you, Naevia?"
"Oh. Oh, my." Naevia's pale cheeks turned red. She jumped up from the cot. "I would not be stabbed. No, never. I ... we only slept like that because ... well ... my cot." She pointed to the corner where the crumpled cot was wedged.
Dellia laughed with good nature. "Of course, Cousin. I would never dream that you two would ... well ... never mind." She glanced back at Vel, and laughed harder when she saw how mortified the lad was. "I hope the presence of my feminine form does not cause your condition to linger."
"No ... it's only ... it's morning ... I'm sorry." Vel turned his hips sideways, trying to hide his hardness.
"You look like you've been bitten by an adder." Dellia held up her left hand and pointed at the iron ring on her finger. "Do you think I do not know the strange and involuntary habits of a man's body? My husband has a similar morning affliction. Though, perhaps, not quite on the same magnitude."
"Your husband. How is he?" Vel wanted Dellia to leave, but couldn't tell her directly.
"Changing the subject, are we?" Dellia smiled. "He has new work from the crown, actually. But you would find it all quite boring." She put her hand on Naevia's shoulder. "Come, let us make our way to the holds. We'll give your brother time on his own without the torment of the feminine species. Perhaps then he can calm himself." She led Naevia to the door.
Naevia looked back at Vel and gave him a look to apologize for leaving him. She didn't want him to think she was angry again. She caught his eye and then they were out the door and into the corridor.
~~
How odd a thing it was to make preparations for a wedding in the midst of all that chaos. Cassia's family had been in Ostia Novus for centuries. She wondered if there had ever been a wife and mother among all those merchant families that had a similar tempest spring so suddenly in their lives. She shook her head and leaned back in the velvet chair. Maybe. She watched Bantia stand with her chest strap and elegant linen underwear as the seamstress measured her on the other side of the room. The woman with the measure had to stand on a stool to do her work properly, and kept clucking her tongue at Bantia's height.
"I little less complaint, madame. Those are noble measurements you're taking," Cassia called across the room.
The seamstress turned toward the duchess and curtsied. "Apologies, I wasn't aware of my own complaints. Of course, she will cut the perfect figure in her gown when I have finished. She is a beautiful, and very tall, woman." She curtsied again.
"I don't mind, Mother." Bantia smiled over at her Cassia. The mood around their home had lifted considerably with Gallio turning up alive and half the family on their way to find him. "She's about her task."
"Yes, of course. Carry on." Cassia nodded. If her daughter was happy, Cassia was happy. And that was just the thing. She had lost her eldest, and that was a hole that would never fill. But she still had her other children, and they had each other. And her husband was a clever man, and he would elude the Vulpes. They would pave things over with the crown, whatever the trouble was. The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that, among her ancestors, she was the lucky one. They all must have faced times harder than what she currently faced. Just like the seamstress, Cassia should not complain. Even to herself.
Cassia settled further into her chair. She smoothed her stola out on her legs and watched her eldest daughter's fitting. She would be married soon to a fine man of noble birth. She hoped they would find Naevia a man just as fine. She imagined having grandchildren around the castle and smiled.
~~
"There you are." Vel heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Naevia hurrying toward him. He had to stoop to walk in the ship's corridor, which made his progress slow. But his sister had room to spare above her head.
"I'm sorry," Naevia said in a hushed voice as she lifted herself on her tiptoes to embrace him. Then she held him at arm's length to get a good look at him. He seemed more handsome every time her gaze was lucky enough to fall on him. "Dellia wanted to check everything. The birds were okay. But some of our cases were not watertight. I came back to you as soon as I thought proper."
"Of course." He resisted the urge to kiss her lips and kissed her forehead instead. She was a fresh spring in a barren forest. The lamplight emphasized the angles on her face and her body's curves. "And where is our good cousin now?"