*Lordaeron, Pre-Plague, The Woodbury Estate*
She felt warm all over, the sensation flowing through her veins as if little bits of fire were swimming in her blood. On a cool autumn evening it was not an unpleasant sensation, and Beckyann closed her eyes for a moment, simply enjoying the light-headed feeling that came with being halfway through a bottle of a good red wine from Lordaeron's vineyards.
She lay on a warm fur blanket, the softness covering the stones beneath her as she snuggled in closer to the man laying beside her, pressing her head against his chest and listening to his heartbeat. The scent of metal, oil, and leather filled her nose as she nuzzled him, the familiar smells that came from his armor now well-known to her and associated only with him. She pressed against him, her golden hair flowing across his chest with each rise and fall of his breath, her body snuggled in beside him, the hem of her powder blue dress trailing out behind her where she lay.
She and Fred had been in a whirlwind romance for the past three months, sneaking moments like these whenever they possibly could. He was House Woodbury's Captain of the Guard, and she was the tutor to their children. While their stations and lot in life were similar, the Woodbury family would not have approved of their guard captain having a dalliance within their estate, especially with another of their servants. As a result, the two had begun to meet in secret, at first merely as friends and later more romantically as their relationship grew.
This evening Fred had surprised Beckyann by carefully arranging it so that a bottle of the Woodbury family's private stock of red wine had managed to mysteriously 'break' during dinner service, the real bottle being secreted away for their private moment together later. Fred had known that Beckyann was going to sneak out of her quarters after her charges were in bed so that she could see him that evening, so he had done his best to make the night extra special.
He had more than succeeded. He'd ensured that his men knew Beckyann was coming, allowing her passage through the tunnels and gates that defended the Estate's grounds against intrusion, letting her pass through the secret paths that the guards used on their patrols and in their duties. Although the Estate was in the center of the countryside, it still had a rather impressive exterior wall and one singular guard tower overlooking the grounds to ensure that trespassers were turned away. It was to that guard tower that Beckyann had come and the guards there had smiled at her and allowed her passage up to the tower's top.
Although their relationship was 'secret', it was possibly the worst kept secret in the entire Woodbury Estate. All of the servants and all of Fred's guards knew of their blossoming friendship, and many smiled at the young couple when they were seen together, silently approving of the pair. In a small community like the Estate, the approval and encouragement of the rest of the staff went a long way towards making the stolen moments that much more special.
Beckyann and Fred lay atop the guard tower's uppermost observation platform, the fur blanket beneath them arranged on the stones for comfort and the bottle sitting beside them, forgotten for a moment in their mutual affection for one another. As she lay with her head on Fred's chest, Beckyann stared up into the night sky of Lordaeron, the stars glimmering in all their glory above the pair. It seemed like an endless world of possibility was open before her, the beauty of the night and the warmth of the man beneath her fitting seamlessly together. She sighed in contentment, not even wanting to move, never wanting that moment to end.
Fred stirred beneath her, a hand coming up to run through her golden hair. Her green eyes slipped closed as she enjoyed the feeling of him touching her gently, hugging him and sighing again, "I wish that nights like this never had to come to an end."
"They don't really end, Becky. They stay with us, or at least they do with me," Fred replied, his voice softened by the wine he'd drank. "I look forward to times like this all the time now. In all my life I've never felt like this before, never felt so content. The day you stepped off the carriage that delivered you here I knew things had changed forever. I knew in that moment I first saw you."
Beckyann shifted, her eyes opening and peering into his from her place on his chest. She smiled, her voice soft, "I feel the same way, Fred. I never thought that I'd find more than just a job here. Never thought...well, I never thought about all of this."
Fred looked into her eyes, seeing the reflection of the torches that lit the top of the tower as she stared back at him. He ran his fingers through her hair again, watching the delicate blonde strands fall through his fingers. In a soft voice, he whispered to her, "I love you, Becky."
Her heart raced in her chest and she took in a gasping breath. She scooted her body up so her face was inches from his, still looking into his eyes and seeing the truth of the words written there. Happy tears glimmering in her own eyes, Beckyann whispered back to him, the words feeling right and the truth of them settling comfortably in her mind, "I love you too, Fred. I think I always will."
They kissed then. Not their first kiss perhaps, but likely the most important one. The two lovers holding one another atop the tower beneath the starlit sky as they felt their love bloom. Thought time and disaster would test that love, the moment was one that would never be forgotten, the happy time kept forever in their hearts.
For the rest of time itself Beckyann Eastberg would always associate a good Lordaeron Red with true love itself.
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