Part II

“Mhm…”

A quiet moan of dissatisfaction escaped Yuri’s lips once Tiffany broke their passionate kiss. She wanted to resume the action, but the girl would lean back every time she tried to reclaim her sweet lips again; and judging after Tiffany’s amused grin, she highly enjoyed the control she had over her. Then a swish of unsheathing sword was heard; Yuri blinked her eyes astonished when Tiffany jumped away from her and pointed the sharp tip of her own rapier at .

“You know how to woo a lady, indeed. A dance partner you are the best I have ever danced with and a kisser... even better, but you have one grave weakness my dear and that is, you lose your head too easily,” Tiffany remarked triumphantly, not lowering the sword and flashed her prey her signature eyesmile.

“I can assure you that it is not my weakness, but it is you, Milady, and only you who are to blame for my thoughts to flee from my mind. After all, how I, the poor jester, could resist your charms? Tell me to dance and I shall dance, tell me to kiss and I shall kiss.” Yuri gazed at Tiffany with her meek eyes almost coyly.

“It is hard not to agree with your words.” Tiffany enjoyed how the solider tickled her vanity with the bold compliments. “Then I tell you: speak the truth!” She swung the sword and the jester’s mask fell of Yuri’s face.

“I don’t understand for I told you who I was,” Yuri smirked as she did not care that she was deprived of her cover, for she instinctively suspected that Tiffany might have already discovered her little secret.

“Do I look like a fool? A soldier who saved the King and then became a Colonel? Surely, your legend would precede your presence. Now tell me your true name!”

Tiffany was too amused to sound menacingly, but that was not her true goal anyway. All what she wanted was to enjoy herself tonight, and the handsome stranger in front of her was a great source of entertainment. Now she only had to make sure whether her suspicions were right, and to do that she flicked one of the golden buttons off the soldier’s uniform, using the sword she stole.

“And what if I do not tell you?” Yuri threw her a challenging look.

The second button fell off and rolled on the ground under Yuri’s feet.

“We shall see.” Tiffany bit her lower lip, feeling the excitement building up inside her.

It was quite a long time since she had felt so exhilarated, and she almost forgot how pleasant the feeling could be.

The third button fell, then the fourth and Yuri neither stir nor uttered a word of protest, with the fifth one, the lapel was freed and Tiffany drew it slightly aside, revealing the tightly wrapped white bandage. The wide grin that spread on her lips afterwards proved Yuri’s suspicions to be correct. And here Yoona said they would not return their desires. Shame she was not here now.

The tip of the rapier scraped slightly the white material up and down until it succumbed and slid off to Yuri’s waist. Unwarily, Tiffany lightly her pouty lips as she took in the alluring view with her greedy eyes.

The night was still young, but Yuri already had a feeling it was going to be an unforgettable one.

“So what is your name?” Tiffany uttered in a husky voice, lowering the sword and coming closer to the girl.

She knew almost from the moment when she laid her eyes on the solider that it was not a man, and then the sweet scent lingering on her body and the gentle yet passionate kisses only deepened her belief of that. Yet, she was far from complaining at that fact.

“Yuri…”

The girl whispered hoarsely against her lips and she smiled.

“Much better,” she said but before she was able to capture Yuri’s lips, she was grabbed by the waist, turned around and pressed to the apple tree with Yuri’s body leaning into hers.

“Having any objections against continuing this at some more comfortable place?” Yuri whispered to her ear and nibbled on it teasingly.

“Not at all,” replied Tiffany.

And so they left the castle, mounted Yuri’s horse and fled toward the inn.

~*~*~*~

“Quite impressive I must say,” Jessica murmured as she curtsied, ending her dance with the solider.

“Well, thank you,” Yoona bowed her head slightly.

Thank God for the dancing classes she used to take with her sister once they were still at the palace.

“But I assure that it was all thanks to the great partner I had,” she added and Jessica responded with an acknowledging nod and a smile.

“Let us go for a walk.” The smile on Jessica’s lips suddenly spread wider as she grabbed Yoong’s hands again and rushed out of the ballroom and to the gardens.

“Isn’t the sky of exceptional beauty tonight?” Jessica inhaled the sweet flowery scent which lingered in the air around them as she looked up at the sparkling with stars sky.

“Very much indeed,” Yoona murmured, yet her gaze was not at all fixed at the sky above them but at the person walking by her side.

“I think I may not sleep a wink tonight,” Jessica said as she sat on the nearest bench.

“And why is that?” Yoona inquired with concern and sat next to her companion.

However Jessica did not give an answer; instead, she leant forward and pressed her lips against soldier’s.

Yoona’s eyes widened in shock as her mind went blank and a wave of scalding heat flooded her body. She did not know what she supposed do when Jessica began gently massaging her unmoved lips with her own, but it lasted only until Jessica’s warm tongue gently slid into Yoona’s mouth, then she simply closed her eyes and let herself be guided by the seemingly more experienced about the matter Lady. Their tongues danced slowly, brushing against each other ever so slightly as they savoured the sweet affectionate moment. Yoona’s hand somehow found her way around Jessica’s waist and tenderly pulled her closer to herself as though subconsciously wanting to feel just a bit more of her warmth. Meanwhile, Jessica’s hands crept up soldier’s torso, caressed lightly the smooth neck then the flushed cheeks and finally, reached for the black mask.

“No!” Yoona pulled away abruptly, grabbing Jessica’s palms. She swallowed nervously, noticing her perplexed expression. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be doing this.” She stood up from the bench.

How shameless it was of her to use Jessica like that? She misled Jessica into thinking that she was some lieutenant and appeared to her as honest and trustworthy, while in reality, she was nowhere near that person whose image Jessica held now in her mind. She felt sudden abhorrence with her whole presence.

“But I don’t have anything against this.” Jessica firmly grabbed Yoong’s arm. “Please stay, I promise not to try to take off your mask again.”

Desperation and something else, something more difficult to define but equally intense flashed through Jessica’s eyes; Yoona noticed that as her gaze was unable to leave Jessica’s countenance. She reached her palm and gently cupped girl’s cheek; heart was shouting to stay, but mind was already on the escape route.

“Forgive me Lady, but I am not who you presume me to be,” she smiled sadly and fled before Jessica would utter a word and made the parting even harder to bear.

At the castle’s gate Yoona realized that her sister was missing. Neither was she in the gardens nor in the ballroom. She whistled calling the horses and as she thought, only her Thunder came.

“Where have you lost your companion?” Yoona asked the animal gently its nose. The horse replied with vigorous neigh. “Take me to Yuri.” She mounted the horse and they set off into the night.

At the back of her mind she knew exactly where her sister was and, probably, what she was doing, though that she preferred not to imagine; however, she would also hope for her suspicious to be wrong, or else that would be a very long night for both of them.

~*~*~*~

Being aggravated beyond words with her sister’s recklessness, Yoona barged into their room and immediately froze in her steps; all the words she wanted to say fled her mind in an instant and she felt extreme heat accumulating somewhere in the proximity of her nose.

“Yah!” Yuri yelped, reaching for the sheets to cover her and Tiffany’s bare bodies.

Yet it was too late and the damage was done. Yoona her heel and marched out of the room and outside the inn. She brought her hand to her nose as for a second she felt as though she bled from it, but fortunately, she did not. Still she wanted to dive her head into a barrel with cold water hoping it would cool her off as well as would flush away the indecent image out of her head; sadly, there was no such barrel.

“Yoona!”

She suddenly heard her sister’s voice calling her. She turned around and saw Yuri running her way while still pulling at her galligaskins trying to button them up.

“For Heaven’s Sake, had no one ever taught you to knock?” Yuri asked visibly displeased with what had happened just seconds ago.

Never in her life had she felt so humiliated! And to think that it was her own sister who made her feel that way! That was beyond belief! What was worse, she interrupted them in the most -- decisive moment.

“Gah! I cannot believe this Yuri! You left me alone in that castle, and now when I come back, you scold me for not knocking to the door of my own room!” Yoona retorted angrily.

“You were not alone when I left you.” Yuri crossed arms at her chest and smirked knowingly. “I’m sorry that you weren’t able to bring her here with you; however, I’m not to blame for this.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?! Do you even listen to what I’m telling you?! You didn’t even think for a second what would have happened if I had been ambushed on my way here! And what if someone from the inn would inform against you and you were to end up on the scaffold?! One random damsel, about whom you know nothing, is enough to make you forget about the whole world including your own sister!” Yoona burst with all the reproach that she had buried deep in her heart.

“Do not drag Tiffany into this,” Yuri remarked almost threateningly.

Yoona could not believe her own ears and burst with bitter laughter.

“And have your Tiffany told you that she was going to marry one of our brothers?!” She screamed into Yuri’s face as her outrage intensified with each second.

“I am not!”

A third voice joined in; Tiffany scurried to Yuri’s side leaping onto her arm.

“I shall stay with Yuri,” the girl announced with determination and confidence that slightly took Yoona aback. “If of course she agrees,” she added, smiling charmingly at Yuri.

“Of course I do! I love you Tiffany and I wouldn’t ever let my brother to take you away from me,” Yuri pulled Tiffany into a tight embrace and planted a tender kiss on her forehead.

“Love?! You have barely met each other! It is lust that you are feeling! Lust has confused your senses!” Yoona felt nothing but contempt toward her sister who appeared to choose a stranger over her.

“Why are you telling me what am I feeling? I surely can tell this better than you! And Tiffany is to stay with us hereafter!”

Yuri could not comprehend why her sister attacked her like this. Was she jealous of Tiffany or was there some other meaning to her words?

“Why? And why you always tell me what shall I do?” Yoona’s voice softened and tears shimmered in the corners of her dark eyes. “Let us escape Yoona; let us steal; let us fight; let us go to the ball; you always repeat ‘us’, but the truth is that it is you who craved for all of those things. You never asked me what I wanted to do; what were my dreams and desires.”

“Yoona,” Yuri whispered stunned at the sight of Yoona’s tears.

The last time she saw them was when Yoona fell off a horse as a small child, ever since the girl never showed any signs of weakness, at least not to Yuri.
Please Subscribe to read the full chapter