" I'll have ye here, Englishman, for we must wed, and we must bed, but nowhere is it said by law or duty when the bedding must commence, only that it does," Alaw said, leaning forward so as to stare into my eyes. Blue eyes ringed in green spat sparks at mine, and her hand was now gripping mine so hard the bones were meeting. " I want ye, and I want ye on this table, and," she slowly, so slowly, rolled her hips forward, until our faces were no more than a handspan apart," so do ye, Englishman." She moved backward, the material of her petticoats rustling like spring leaves. "And ye may as well admit that ye want me, too, if ye don't want me speaking Latin, gwr . Carnal pleasure, " she hummed, her eyes now full of glee, "consummation of our marriage to be. I'll not have you wed me without this."
I pounced.
Her eyes flashed wide, and she started to speak, but I had heard enough. I shut it for her.
It was my turn to torment. I drove my hips hard into her, just once. And was rewarded instantaneously when her head hit the tabletop on a moan.
I lifted my head, smirking." You sly, clever Welsh vixen. You've planned this since my father met with yours, have you not?"
She smiled, a wicked, wicked smile. "Aye, I did. Seems the Englishman isn't so thick as all that, then?"
I shook my head. "Go on. There must be more."
"Delyth sat him. She went upstairs and listened to them speak from the hearth above the study. She came to me, and together, we started planning..this."
"And the two of you contrived it so that we wouldn't be missed at out own engagement party? That wasn't planning, someone is bound to notice... the blackwine. You..."  full appreciation of their cleverness struck me speechless. "You two poured blackwine worth a years wages down the throats of the guests, just to ensure no one noticed you dragging me off to the docks?!"
Amusement was trying to overtake my moral outrage, and having Alaw wriggling underneath me wasn't helping my hold on it either.
It occurred to me that even blackwine wouldn't be enough to keep all the guests blind, and said as much.
"Oh, that. We have that planned for, as well."
"How can you have a plan that will keep two hundred people blind?" That was laughable.
"Hmm," she said, this time outright writhing under me," oh, fire."
"WHAT?!" Horror rippled like a dark stain across my mind.
That stopped her, cold. "Only a bit of one, Carlisle! In the back shed, we passed it on our way here! They'll have it our before dawn has fully broken, and no one the wiser to our absence,  and nothing else harmed!"
"And what of the ship hands? And the guards?"
"Old friends, from Wales. The guards are my fathers, from his first voyage,  and the hands are Delyth's, picked up from her last. If asked they'll have no more knowledge of our whereabouts as our fathers'. "
"And they?"
"Delyth served them Scotsman's whiskey when the dancing began, and undiluted blackwine when the toasts were made, when they retired to the study with both decanter and wine-butt. They'll be sleeping long after the sun rises."
"I see. It seems as though the sisters Llewellyn would not be denied. What of your sisters husband?"
Alaw snorted, a very unrefined gesture I found rather more distracting than I would have liked admitting, perched over her with her left hand high over her head. "You think some sotty old Englishman with a taste for lads a hindrance to a healthy young Welshwoman wi' no tolerance for cuckoldry? "
I laughed. "So the truth comes to those who seek, does it not? I suppose a goodwife might let her displeasure be known,  in such a pass as that. She hasn't murdered him, has she?"
"No. Not yet. Delyth has her mind set in justice, not revenge.  She's slipped him a bit of herb that will keep his mind off anything other than his chamber pot for perhaps a week. And his favor shan't be bestowed upon the stablelad for a while."
"The filthy sodomite." I said." He out to be town from polite society for such devilry."
Alaw smiled, and this time the was nothing of glee or laughter in it. "Ostracizion from society would merely be revenge. Delyth will have him condemned out of his own mouth for the wrong he has done her."
This time the horror manifested in a shudder." She wants him hung?!"
"Shouldn't she? Being cuckolded in her own house, her marriage never consummated, hearing her 'husband' romping nightly in the bed she should be warming, with lads who've no way to refuse him? Duty, she was willing to perform, but to be blatantly ignored,  with naught a thought spared for her after her dowry plumped his coffers?"
Realization dawned in my mind like a brick to my skull. "Now I see truth. You planned this with your sister in mind. No." The last bit of truth lit my mind like a torch. "No. She planned this. With her husband in mind, is that so? Since she was robbed of freedom and duty, she would make so you would not?"
Alaw nodded. "She could have forgiven him marriage,  and her duty to stay aground as a wife, if her had not robbed her of her hopes as a woman. What is a wife, who is not allowed children? Who is a wife who cannot mother her child, denied that one gift to make a difference in the world? She is no wife. She is not even a concubine."
True pity flooded me, this time for a woman I hardly knew. To have given all up, for one hope, and to have had that hope thrown back in her face...
Delyth was caring, and beautiful,  and kind. But to know what had been taken from her, I could not bring myself to fault her. Not for this elaborate scheme, and not for her fury at her husband.
"She wanted to be sure you had one child, at the least, did she not?"
"Yes." Her conformation hadn't been necessary.
I marveled at the love and steel fury that was Delyth Llewellyn, her icy deliberation, and her absolute refusal to let her sister risk losing all she was, as she had.
"Your sister is as indomitable as Paul, Alaw. If only we all had such a woman on our sides, watching for the wolves, and trapping them before they strike."
"Aye," she agreed. "She is not to be taken lightly. It was she who saved me from the plague. She said 'I will not allow you to die, ' and nursed me herself. I was the only one to survive. Delyth wasn't affected by the sickness."
She shook of her melancholic memories, dispelling the heartbreak of the plague years. "So do ye forgive us our deception,  Carlisle? "
"There is nothing to forgive.  I cannot hold you rightly in anger for this, now knowing the cause of your scheme. I cannot overlook your impertinence, but forgive you I shall. "
"Impertinence,  is it? In our case, I should have believed it precaution."
"'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet', or in our case, pricked as much my pride!"
She shouted with laughter. "Oh, pricked your pride, have we? Was it the insinuation of buggery or my seduction that stuck ye with the thorns?"
"The buggery. Shame, woman. I'm the son of a minister of God. Did you really think so little of me?
Still shaking she said, "Nay, Carlisle. How could I? I did not know ye, and Delyth did not either, and what other course of action could we have used?"
"You could have saved much effort am merely asked me. I would have only been offended and angry for a moment."
This brought on a fresh tide of mirth." Oh, aye? Let us see." She pitched her voice several octaves higher than her usual. "My dearest betrothed,  might could I be allowed to ask of ye a question? Aye? Oh, I thank ye! D'ye prefer the kitchen boys bent o'er the table, or the chambermaids on their backs?"
It was my turn for hilarity. I roared with it. We laughed together for several minutes, our shared mirth a link we did not wish to sever.
"I see your point. Perhaps this was the best way to ensure my preference  of bed mate was compatible with wedlock. More belittling, certainly,  but not less humiliating. "
Her wicked smile came back. "Oh, I'd not say belittled was what I felt, just the now," and she rucked her skirts from the tangle, pulling them higher," just the opposite,  hmm?"
My next words were delayed by a growl the incessant wriggling provoked.
Word limit! Authors note concerning the views expressed by Alaw Llewellyn concerning her sisters husbands sexuality will follow the next two parts. No answers to comments regarding them will be answered til then.