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Eivor rolled over and let out a frustrated sigh. Hitting her feathered pillow into a more comfortable shape, she flopped down and looked to the faint silhouette of the woman laying beside her.
While it was absolutely incredible that they had started sharing a bed as a couple, Eivor would be lying if she said she was completely happy with their sleeping arrangements.
It had been two weeks since Gunnar’s wedding and the official dissolution of Randvi and Sigurd’s marriage. They had approached him a few days later to speak openly and honestly about their relationship. Eivor had been quite surprised at Sigurd’s reaction - her brother smiling almost knowingly and giving his blessing.
Eivor had moved into Randvi’s chambers that night.
While they had been in love for the better part of their time in Ravensthorpe, their fleeting rendezvouses were often in the dead of night or a secluded area of forest far outside the borders of the settlement. Never had Eivor had the pleasure of falling asleep beside her beloved and being able to wake beside her the next morning. Gone were the days of sneaking back to her chamber after a blissful night of silent love making then feeling the looming sadness as the inevitability of their separation forced them apart.
Eivor sighed again as she thought of their many years moving stealthily around each other; loving from afar and yearning for the time that they could be together as they wished. To have that now was a dream come true…
…but it didn’t make sleeping on the wrong side of the bed any easier.
“Are you trying to recreate a fish out of water or are you not comfortable, darling?” came a sleepy murmur from beside her.
Eivor groaned and buried her face into the back of Randvi’s neck.
“I’m sorry for waking you,” she whispered. “I just cannot seem to get comfortable.”
Randvi stretched slightly as she slowly woke a little more and rolled to face Eivor. Reaching out, she ran her hand along the shaved side of Eivor’s head.
“This is the second night in a row. You’ve never had an issue before?” Randvi noted quietly.
Eivor let out a soft huff of laughter. She knew exactly why she’d never had this issue before.
“Care to share the joke?” Randvi probed.
“Every night that I have fallen asleep beside you, there has either been the impending danger of being caught and I’ve had to cherish every moment I could spend with you in my arms.”
Eivor faltered, her next thought perhaps a little too crass to say out loud.
Randvi hummed and moved in to embrace Eivor, her leg slotting between two muscular thighs and her arm pulling her love in tight.
“Or…?”
“Orrrr,” Eivor chuckled, “you’ve fucked me so thoroughly, I’ve fallen asleep in an instant.”
“Eivor!” Randvi exclaimed with a scandalised laugh and a swat to the hip. “Gods, you certainly know how to make a woman blush.”
Eivor continued to laugh softly and pulled Randvi in tighter. “It’s what I’m good at,” she murmured into her hair.
“Right, so you have neither of those things tonight but it still doesn’t explain why you cannot sleep.”
Sighing, Eivor moved from the embrace and propped herself on up her elbow.
“I’m sleeping on the wrong side of the bed.” she stated, motioning to where Randvi was laying.
“What?” Randvi asked, a little confused at Eivor’s sudden change of position and her very vague explanation.
“The wrong side of the bed.” Eivor repeated. “I usually sleep on that side.”
Randvi moved to mirror Eivor’s position, her mind trying to catch up with the conversation.
“My love… you’ve never had to share a bed. How can you have a side?” she asked, utterly bewildered.
Eivor scoffed. “Just because I haven’t had to share my bed, doesn’t mean I don’t prefer a side. It’s about the positioning.”
Randvi collapsed back down on her pillow and looked at the ceiling. "The positioning of what?” she asked, a little exasperated, “the moon?!”
A twinge of annoyance flitted through Eivor’s chest.
“No. It’s about being closest to the door so if anyone comes in to harm me or the ones I love, I can be ready to defend in an instant. I will not die a coward in my bed.”
Eivor’s tone was slightly clipped, causing Randvi to turn towards her and sigh.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, reaching out to pull Eivor down. “I didn’t mean to make fun. I have slept on this side of the bed since being wed. I can't remember anything different. I’m not sure I could swap either.”
The two lay facing each other in the darkness for a short while, both unsure how to fix their problem. Randvi, ever the diplomat, was trying to think of solutions that would benefit them both.
“What if we moved the bed?” she asked hopefully.
Eivor raised an eyebrow. Even in the darkness of the room, Randvi could feel the sceptical look she was receiving.
“So anyone walking in the map room can see straight into our bed? No thanks.” Eivor grumbled. “It still wouldn’t really help. I’m used to that side of the bed.”
Randvi sighed and ran a hand over her face. This really was an impossible predicament to fix without one of them relenting. She pondered Eivor’s reasoning - it was far more noble than her own explanation of “habit”.
A brilliant but utterly debauched thought popped into Randvi’s head. They could both win here.
“How about…” Randvi started a little mischievously, “we come up with a compromise?”
Eivor chuckled at Randvi’s tone. “I’m either going to love this or hate it.”
Randvi giggled, the sound warming Eivor’s heart.
Throwing a thigh over Eivor’s hip, Randvi shifted herself so that she was laying on top of the blonde with her legs straddling each side. Ducking to whisper in Eivor’s left ear, she nipped lightly at her ear lobe.
“I will move…”
The sensation sent goosebumps across Eivor’s skin in an instant. Gods she loved this woman.
Moving to the other ear, Randvi repeated her process.
“... to this side of the bed, if…”
Randvi rolled off of Eivor to the opposite side but ensured she brushed over every sensitive part of her lover’s body before settling beside her. Laying on her side with her hand propping up her head, she fixed Eivor with a look.
Eivor groaned almost wantonly. “If?” she whispered.
Randvi smirked.
“If somehow, each night this week, I am so utterly drained that I couldn’t possibly care if I had a pillow under my head, let alone what side of the bed I sleep on.”
Mirroring Randvi’s smirk, Eivor moved to nuzzle her face to the exposed underside of Randvi’s neck.
“And how could I manage to do that?” Eivor purred into her impossibly soft skin while leaving feather light kisses.
Randvi hummed and stretched her neck up for better access.
“I think you’ll find a way.”
.
Eivor was the first to wake the next morning, the chorus of birdsong and morning light filtering through the rafters pulling her into the land of the living.
Looking to her right, she smiled at the stirring form of her love.
“How did you sleep?” Eivor asked quietly, knowing Randvi was almost awake.
Eivor’s eyes devoured the woman as she let out a high pitched mewl and stretched, the furs falling to expose her naked form.
Opening her eyes and smiling crookedly, Randvi looked at her with all the love in the world.
“Deliciously.”