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Karlach sat crosslegged on Haarlep’s bed, sinking into the mattress. She could see why Hope had kept it, if it was this soft. At least she couldn’t recognise the sheets? “Could you stop being so noble for a fucking second, and come sit down?” she called out to Wyll.
Wyll knocked the hell-dust off their boots over the balcony railing. He came in, and set them down on mat. “I would not want to make work for Hope.”
“And I am sure she appreciates it, but she is not married to you.”
He smiled, and sat down on the bed in front of her. “Fair enough.”
She touched her finger tips to the back of his neck. Yep, those were knots. Impressive ones, actually. They twitched under the light pressure. He carried a lot of tension in his neck. It made sense, he’d only had six months to build the muscles to hold up his horns. Plus, it wasn’t like living in Avernus was a lifestyle for the un-tense.
She circled her thumbs over them, increasing the pressure bit by bit.
The knots slowly unravelled. Wyll sighed, and slowly sunk further into the bed.
She dug her fingers in. Even in the Hells, she had warm hands, and that had to be good for something.
“You’re good at this,” Wyll said, slow and syrupy, the way he was when he was thinking seriously about falling asleep. He had fallen asleep sitting up before. He’d even fallen asleep the second time she had done this to him.
They may have all but married under that tree in Baldur’s Gate, but it was only once they went to Avernus that he would let her touch his neck. She understood. There was a lot of shame there— from nearly taking her head off at the neck, from that sinking knowledge that she might not have been the first time he’d been tricked— and that shame had to live somewhere. Not all of the ache in her chest could be from her infernal heart.
But you couldn’t wander around in pain all the time just to punish yourself.
She worked her way down, digging the heel of her palm into his trapezius muscles. “Learned from the best,” she said.
“Oh?”
“My mother.” Right there was another knot, and it melted as she worked away at it. “Anyway, I have to do it for you, or how else will you learn how to do it for me.”
He laughed. “Oh, ulterior motives, I see.” He rested his chin on his hand. “Perhaps you also have knots in your back and shoulders from swinging axes all day?”
And from someone else, it wouldn’t have sounded laviscious at all, but she knew Wyll. She cackled. “Who has the ulterior motive now?”
She could hear the smile in his voice. “Aren’t I allowed to be noble?”