“Damn.”  Tara kept walking.  “So… you and Bacchus?”  She said glancing at Ori.

“I’ve known him since I was sixteen. He and his people helped… train us. You have to remember that, at the time, Francesco was thought to be a man serving his country, not… everything else he was. Bacchus was always kind to us. We loved him. Most people weren’t so kind.”

Tara paused, stopping her walk to the door.  “If I had known…” she said sadly. “This place, I …”  The conflict in Tara’s eyes was clear.

“Don’t. This place has always been good to me. Even during my worst times, this place was… a break from reality.”

Tara lowered her voice, “Are you sure?  I mean it Ori. I won’t lay a finger on you here if this is even remotely a bad thing.  I don’t want our life together to be connected to anything that hurt you.”

“Do you honestly think I would have fucked you here if I felt bad about the place?” Oriana stepped closer to Tara and laid a very carefully placed finger on her.

Tara lowered her voice, breathing her words, “I think you would have made love to me in Hell if you could have had a moment of respite before facing what you thought was death.  And I would have done the same - but this, now, it’s different. Today you’re free of everything in the past. If this is a place you hold dear, then we’ll find a bed and I’ll make love to you again.  If it’s not … say the word and I’ll take you away from here to a place you’ve never been before and we’ll make a new memory - a better one.”

“I like this place. I wouldn’t have come back if I didn’t.” Oriana moved her finger slightly, and Tara shifted.

Tara nodded, her eyes soft, “Alright.  I believe you. Now… there must be an open room for us somewhere in this blasted place.  If not I’ll find a damn manger…” She laughed at her own joke.

“Do you want to try the next door or should I?” asked Oriana with a smirk as she removed her hand from Tara.

Tara walked boldly up to the next door and reached out for the handle, not having heard anything inside she opened the door to find a man and woman involved in an act which involved more than a fair amount of rope.  Tara threw out a quick, “Sorry.” and shut the door.

She looked to Oriana, “Well, I see this place comes equipped with it’s own boxes.”  she shook her head trying not to focus too much on thoughts of her parents and what they did in their private time.

“Another door then.”  She said moving down the hallway.  “It could be worse I suppose… not sure how, but I bet it could be.”  She smirked. “You can open this one. Maybe we should place bets - open or occupied.  Male on male. Female and female. Man and woman…”

“I bet… locked.”

“Open.  Man and woman.”  She said with a smile.  “$100?”

“Fine. If this one’s taken, you’re asking Bacchus for a private room. Agreed?”

Tara sighed.  “I got the distinct impression you weren’t fond of my interactions with the God-King.”  

“I’m just not fond of the fawning, God-King, Master stuff.”

Tara nodded.  “Tattaglia then.” she said nodding firmly.  

“Bacchus. Let’s not get too crazy. He doesn’t like his real name.”  Ori smirked. “Although he seems like to calling you student. Maybe stick with “Bacchus” or “mentor”.

Tara smirked and inclined her head to Ori, “As you wish.”  She was obviously teasing and proceeded quickly to the next door.  “My turn to open?”

Oriana nodded. Tara opened the door to find Renato sitting on the bed. A woman with a familiar looking short haircut was kneeling in front of him. “The door has a lock!” yelled Ori.

“No it doesn’t!” yelled back Renato. “And get out!”

As Ori closed the door, she heard Jo asked “Do you think they knew it was me?”

“Yes,” said Tara and Oriana simultaneously before turning to go.

Tara giggled madly as they fled further down the hall.  “I think Bacchus must love this game… watching people like us desperately trying to find a quiet room to ourselves, wondering at what point we’ll just say screw it and stop trying.”

“Sounds like him. Also, these doors use to have locks. He took them out since our last visit.”

“Maybe he was disappointed he could not walk in and enjoy the sacrifice of my virtue on his alter.”  She winked at Oriana. “Or the intensity of our star-crossed love?” She made a grand gesture clearly mocking the whole enthusiasm with her story.

“Frankly, it might be more likely that he had them installed for you.”

She blushed.  “If he did, he is a nice man.”

“Well, go find your nice man and beg for help. He likes begging.”

Tara sighed.  “Very well.” Taking Ori’s hand she began walking back the way they came, towards the feast. When they approached it, Bacchus was already standing, almost as if he was waiting for them.

“Back so soon? Don’t tell me you’ve already tired of each other?”

Oriana shook her head as Tara seemed to prepare a response, and Bacchus looked steadily at the Italian assassin.

“Ah, well it appears that there was no point in you rushing off, was there? Perhaps you should have let your friend finish her story?”

Tara had never seen someone so clearly imply a sigh through the silent nod of her head. Bacchus exhaled an audible sigh of his own, then glanced at Tara. “This one… always trouble. Good luck with her.”

“She has the utmost respect for you who was kind to her as a young woman.”  Tara said flatly.  

“She was wronged and you gave her refuge in a world that had nothing good or soft for her.  I would beg you to be that refuge for us both, once again.” She looked at him with pleading eyes.  “Please, won’t you you have one of your many lovelies take us somewhere we can give to each other all the love we have and return to you in gratitude to regale you properly with our exploits?  I would come back to, to learn at your feet a time, before I return home but… I would also happily share with all the details of our time together - if only we could have but a little while to rest in one another’s arms?”

“No.” He paused, then grinned. “I’ll take you myself. You do have a way with words, Tara Mastrosimone.”

Tara smiled and inclined her head to him.  “You honor us, Bacchus.”

Bacchus led the two women to the same carpeted stairs. He was a man of average build, but Tara suspected that he would look better in a vacuum than he did when compared to the many muscular men filling his palazzo. He had a short, close-cropped brown beard, and brown eyes that seemed to glow with an inner light. They followed him through a closed, secret door in the wall that he’d opened with a key and through a passage. Halfway through, he stopped and looked back over his shoulder.

“As a purely philosophical question, do you have any desire to check in on your friends?”

“A question to answer your first question,” Tara offered.  “You call me by my first and last name - very formal. I stumbled on why that was for a time but now I think I might know.  If I guess it, would you confirm for me that it’s so?”

“That seems a fair bargain. However. If you guess wrong- what do I stand to gain?”

“There seems nothing that happens here in this palazzo that you could not have if you wanted it, Bacchus, what do I have to offer that you could ever desire?” Tara arched an eyebrow.

“A wager every now and then could make things interesting. A small favor then, in addition to the aforementioned very large one?”

Tara nodded.  “I do enjoy gambling.  Let us bet then.”

“Then make your guess.”

“Isabella Luciano Byrne and Gavin Byrne.”  She smirked thinking of the many exploits her grandmother had written about and how many others she might not have wanted to put to print.  “You know my family. I’m not the first you’ve dealt with. I’m not the first to come here.”

Ori snickered. “Definitely not.”

Tara looked at Ori, surprised by her input.

“Ignore her, Tara Mastrosimone. She delights in simple humor. And you are innocent. Delightful.” Bacchus sighed.

Tara tilted her head to the side, confused by what it was she’d clearly missed.  

“I’m afraid you’re wrong, Tara Mastrosimone, and I’ll happily call you something else if you prefer. I suppose I tend toward formality… well, in some things, at least. That’s probably the more dignified answer. However, I must admit that I knew a Tara a few years ago, no relation I’m sure, who I spent quite a bit of time with. It felt strange to have your name on my tongue when thinking of what this other Tara could do with hers.”

“No, it’s quite alright, it was merely a curiosity.  You see I met someone on this trip already who had met my grandparents and they were quite well known for their … frivolity.  I thought perhaps your treatment of me might have been out of respect for them… or my Aunt Tara, perhaps though I can’t imagine someone like her coming here.  From all the stories I’ve heard of her she never would have indulged in such luxury and decadence as this.”  

“Well, no mortal is perfect after all.”

Tara smirked.  “Maybe. Maybe she was as lonely as I was before I found Ori.”  she glanced at Ori. “If you did know her, I’m happy for that. My mother speaks fondly of her.  She died before I was born.”

“I’m quite sure it’s a different Tara. The ages don’t quite match up, I’m afraid.”

“Of course.  Well, it would seem then I’m in your debt again.  A debt I look forward to filling.”

“Indeed. Speaking of “again”, any interest in checking in on your friends? Concern for their well being? Curiosity?”

“Perhaps if I hadn’t already had delights of my own to enjoy, but there is nothing anyone has here for me that interests me half as much as the room you’re leading me to, Bacchus.”

“Marvelous answer.” He was already walking. A couple of minutes later, they climbed another long set of stairs and emerged in one spacious, opulent room. The bed was bigger than some bedrooms, a large, marble bath dominated one side, and there was a fireplace with couches and chairs. Art adorned the walls, mostly nudes in the renaissance style, although there were several graphic sculptures around the room as well.

Tara marveled at the room for only a moment before she turned and kissed Bacchus on the cheek.  “Thank you.” She said with deep sincerity. “Will we be able to find our way back to you for tomorrow’s breakfast?  Or can we expect someone to come and lead us safely back to you?”

“Whichever you prefer, I’m sure.” He sat down in a chair facing the bed. “Although I do have some questions, first. Consider this my small favor.”

Tara glanced to Ori, but remembering the cautions she was given about her host, she nodded and made her way to a seat and settled in.  “Of course.”

“You just enjoy making us wait,” said Oriana, whose hand had already moved toward Tara. Not bothering to sit in a chair, Oriana slid onto the bed, resting her hands under her chin and kicking her legs up behind her.

“Guilty,” said Bacchus. “So hard to find good tension these days.”

Tara smiled.  “I’m happy that we entertain you.  You should have pleasure in this place too.”  She said clearly trying to tease a little.

“I do,” said Bacchus. “Particularly here.”

“Well, you had questions… I’m ready to answer them.  I have nothing to hide from you of all people. And, as you know, I feel a great personal debt to you - not just for the men, but for the kindness you’ve shown me.”

Bacchus inclined his head respectfully.”Earlier, you spoke about your first time. Was this poetic license? Or a statement of fact?”

Tara shook her head.  “I’d never been kissed before Ori.”  She admitted. “The only sort of intimacy I’ve ever really known is… well, here.  A man, at a party once tried to kiss me, but I didn’t want it. I ran. Since then I’ve found ways to keep unwanted attention away.  It was only on this trip that I began to consider that … it had a value I’d not considered. If it got me closer to finding Ori, it was a chip to be bartered to some.  I hated thinking of it that way and thanks to you, my first act of that sort was one of love. Passion. The way it should be. Yes?”

“Of course. Yet it strikes me that your lover has had many partners. I assume this fact excites you?” Oriana's eyes narrowed slightly, and she uncrossed her ankles, letting her legs fall flat to the bed.

“I haven’t given a lot of thought to the men and women Oriana has been with save for two.  And honestly, I couldn’t say that it excited me considering the nature of those unions. That’s not to say that I shouldn’t like to think of Oriana having a good time - I do.  I’m happy if she’s known joy. It’s just, not all of her experiences are the sort I should think on. She would rather those things are hers and hers alone. I respect that. If I never learn about a single lover in her past, that’s fine.  She and I will explore passion together… make new memories. Leave behind the pains of the past and if she wants to share something of pleasure with me from her past well… of course I’d listen. But that’s her decision.”

“And do you have any attraction toward men?” Tara looked down and fell silent, thinking for longer than was probably comfortable for anyone. Bacchus paused. “No? This is not a judgment, Tara. This is you indulging my curiosity so I can better teach you.”

“I once saw a man and a woman together.”  She said very quietly. “It wasn’t disagreeable but it wasn’t… what I feel when I look at a beautiful woman.  I’m not entirely certain it was the man so much as maybe it was how they were together or…” She struggled with her thoughts.  

“It’s complicated.”  She allowed herself to admit. Oriana smirked.  “I do prefer, strongly, women of that I’m sure and I’ve yet to find myself in a situation where I wanted to kiss a guy.”

“And the idea of a man joining you and Oriana? Not emotionally, but simply for the fun?”

Tara sat like a deer caught in bright light for a moment, a glance then at Oriana to see her face, to try and discover if she was wanting that, or if she was repulsed by the idea.  She had said she didn’t like to share, hadn’t she? And yet, this man had all the power here in this place and perhaps Ori and he had a past she didn’t know enough about? She’d said that she was happy here and that she’d loved him… hadn’t she?  Tara’s body was a bundle of tight muscles and nerves and she hardly knew what to say or think as she tried to read Oriana’s expression.

“I…”  Tara looked back at Bacchus and found her courage.  She sat up straighter, “I think that if you’re asking to enjoy my physical virtue as your greater boon, Bacchus, that it is a thing we can discuss but I won’t share Ori with you.  Not without even speaking to her yet about how she feels about such things and surely not after all she’s been through. I will protect her, not just from bullets but all snares that would hurt her.  I love her.”

“An admirable answer. I was not talking about myself, to be clear.”

“I would not offend you by suggesting it was you that made or broke my decision on the matter.  I like you. You’ve been good to me and Oriana obviously feels a fondness to you. I could not possibly thank you enough for being that for her - even more than what you  have been to me. If there is a man that wishes to be with us, perhaps we can speak a little more openly about it? I…” She bit down on her tongue.

“Orlando may have made a comment, but I was truly asking to know you better.” He paused. “If I made you uncomfortable, that was the opposite of my intention.”

Tara looked at the floor, “It’s okay.  You have to understand, the topic of men and me it’s… most of the time,”  she let out a chuff of air. “Most of the time I can’t think about it in a positive way because I’m too busy being reminded how I’m not like everyone else.  And it does make me uncomfortable. Not because I can’t find the beauty in men or conceive of them as being… I don’t know, maybe something interesting. I just… don’t usually think about them.  And when I do it’s a point of stress and feelings of failure.”

“Then do not think about them here,” he said with finality.

“BUT…”  Tara threw out clearly needing to add another point and sighing before speaking.  “I have to admit that I was feeling a weird relief at the thought that you were sending a man to see me when I first came here.  I don’t like that I am different than other women. In some ways, I think that if I were to be with a man I would just know for sure it wasn’t… that may be all that talk about me not finding the right guy wasn’t just…”

Bacchus and Oriana shook their heads simultaneously. “Enough of this,” said Bacchus. “Tell me, instead, of the things you do enjoy. What fuels your engine, Tara? What gets your blood pumping?”

Tara blushed.  “Other than, Ori?”  she chuckled. 

“Other than her. Or something about her specifically.”

“Do you know that when she and I first met, she was putting a knife to my throat?”  She chuckled. “She was busy trying to kill my mother when I came home unexpectedly.  Oriana used me as a shield to make her very strategic exit.” she glanced to Ori and gave her a smile.

“I was… instantly interested.  I know it’s insane, but I knew she wasn’t going to hurt me.  The fear was, not a bad thing though. I mean I spent days wondering what the hell was wrong with me to be dreaming about a woman who tried to kill my mother and this person who held a damn knife to my throat… I mean who gets turned on by a woman who might kill you?  But, her breath on my ear. I can still feel it. The steel at my throat…” Tara’s words faded as she blushed brighter and looked at the floor again.

“She’s always so damn confident.  She’s not afraid of anything and she constantly has to be right and it drives me nuts which also kinda… drives me nuts.  Fighting with her is … a turn on? I know that also sounds about the most backward thing in the world. But I get so damn mad and then all I can think about is want to shut her up with a kiss!”  Tara laughed again, nervously.

“Please leave,” said Oriana, looking at Bacchus. The god glanced back at her with a raised eyebrow and a stern expression.

Bacchus stood slowly, then bowed his head toward Tara, but he motioned Oriana towards the hallway. Sighing, she rolled off the bed and followed him out of Tara’s sight. She heard a brief, heated conversation- but it ended in laughter and Oriana soon returned.

Tara sat tense, straining to hear, not daring to move.  Only after Ori returned did Tara let out the breath she was holding.

“I think he’s interested in you,” said Ori. “Not sexually. Well, that’s a lie. But mostly not sexually. He’s done his research on you, I think.”

“What’s to know?  I’m the most boring person in the world outside of what I’ve shared with him already.”  She shrugged. “Can’t imagine any research on me would prove anything more than quite dull.  Likes books. Likes woods. Has some strange tastes… has much more interesting siblings.”

“Shut up. And get over here. And don’t worry about being watched in this room. It’s his. Probably one of the only places in the whole palazzo where you can confidently be private.”

Tara stood up and walked over to Oriana.

“It’s a shame, you know,” said Oriana. Tara arched an eyebrow.  “I liked that dress.”

As Tara got closer, Oriana deftly stepped behind her and sliced through one of the dress’s straps with the knife she’d apparently received from Bacchus. With one arm around Tara, Ori held the knife at Tara’s throat- albeit a safe distance away. 

Tara shuddered, goosebumps instantly appearing all over her body.  “I wanted to tell you when you were telling me how weird you were… that you weren’t.”  She whispered holding perfectly still.  

“Just because you’re fucked up too…” Oriana slowly, skillfully dragged the edge of the blade down Tara’s neck and across her shoulder to the other strap, which she cut with a swift motion. “... doesn’t mean I’m not. But at the moment…” Ori dragged the knife in a straight line down Tara’s chest, slicing through the fabric but avoiding cutting her. “... I’ve got to be honest and say I just don’t care.”

Tara’s breaths were ragged, there was no small amount of fear. It wasn’t that she thought Oriana would stab her, she was confident the other woman didn’t want to kill her, but she might cut her.  The memory of the bullet passing through her side was still fresh and the desire to not feel that sort of pain again was all too real. Tara tried not to let her fears get the better of her and tried to control her breathing.

“What did you you say… in the hallway?”  She dared not move a muscle as she spoke.

“I told him that I don’t share well,” said Ori,  “I also told him, very politely, that we can handle any dicks that show up in our… whatever this is… without divine intervention.” The dress was now thoroughly sliced, and Ori expertly slid the knife down Tara’s hip, slowly cutting through that fabric as well, even as the safe, flat edge of the blade rested against Tara’s skin.

“You’re very … good with that knife.”  Tara said, letting out a little nervous laugh.  “I wonder, you knew everything I told him already… didn’t you?  I mean, I wasn’t unclear with you about there being no one else before you?”

Tara could feel Oriana agree behind her, but the Italian was getting too distracted to focus on the conversation. As the blade moved back in the direction of Tara’s throat, clothing slid off her in strips and clumps.

“Go to the bed, Tara.”

Something about how she said her name made Tara smile and obediently Tara did as she was told.  The smile on her face suggesting that whatever fear she felt about the knife was overcome by the joy at hearing Ori just speak her name.

As Tara walked, she heard the knife slice through the straps of Oriana’s “dress”. Then, as Tara climbed on the bed, Oriana closed the shutters on the large windows and plunged the room into dimness. Thin slivers of light still provided some illumination, and Tara smiled as she saw the look of pure lust on Oriana’s face. 

Tara reached a hand towards Oriana, a look similar to her own reflecting back at her.  “I’m cold. Come warm me up.” She invited, moving to offer a space beside her on the bed, lying comfortably on her side watching Oriana walking across the room - drinking in the sight of her long legs and powerful body.  Her eyes lingering on the wounds that would now become scars. The thought of which, unsurprisingly, excited her.

Ori, now the obedient one, lay next to Tara and watched the other woman curiously. Tara, realizing now she had more time to explore than she had before, had to resist the urge to begin kissing down Oriana’s body because her face - those gray eyes - deserved attention first.  Tara stared into them a moment before finally kissing Ori. It felt like finding air again, like that time she’d fallen into the river as girl and had been swept downstream before her father’s giant hand had reached in and pulled her up and out. She thought she might die only for a moment, and then, air.  Life. Ori.

“I wish I hadn’t said so much to him, those your things.”  Tara whispered between kisses, her hands gently running over Ori’s curves, savoring the feel of her. 

“What things?”

“Everything.  My feelings about you.  My passions. You should be the one to ask me those sorts of things.  To peel me back a layer at a time and know me. That’s the fun of it… learning about each other.”

“I prefer other methods.” As she spoke, Oriana demonstrated an example that made Tara bite down against Ori’s shoulder.

Startled at her own visceral reaction, Tara blinked and tried to form the words to apologize before kissing Ori again, this time harder than before.  In some distant part of her mind she realized the act was almost a violent one though kisses, from all she’d ever read, were tender things. Somehow this felt right though.  Ori wasn’t a soft thing. She was hard in some ways, and Tara wasn’t afraid of hurting her. It felt good to be kissed in such a way, and she hoped that her lover enjoyed it too.  As Tara came up for air she bit a little on the other woman’s lower lip, dragging it out a ways before letting it go. Tara trembled.

Oriana made a sound that seemed like a half-growl and half-purr, then Tara felt teeth at her neck. This time, as Oriana made her way southwards, she left the marks of her progress with her teeth, salting Tara’s pleasure with the perfect amount of pain. When Oriana’s tongue took over, rather than her teeth, there was nothing Tara could do except grab the other woman’s ponytail and lean back, as Tara’s eyes rolled to the back of her head and she lost all track of time.

Tara woke some time later.  It only been a few hours by her best estimation, but she hadn’t meant to fall asleep.  Her body was recovering still, she decided. The wounds hadn’t slowed Oriana down that much it seemed but maybe that was all her training showing through.  Tara had never been through anything like what these last few months had done to her. Sex was one of the least of all her new physical experiences.  

Languidly she rolled over to look at Oriana.  Finding the other woman asleep on her belly beside her she traced a finger down her spine slowly and spoke in a quiet whisper, “God must have made you for me… and I for you.  How else could you explain this? Who else but you could ever have fit me so well? Or understood? Not just the parts I knew about, but all the rest too. The things I keep learning about myself - the things I didn’t want to accept.”

Tara leaned over and kissed the skin on the small of Oriana’s back gently and began to kiss her all over.  Exploring her more completely than when she had washed her or in the heat of passion. “I’m going to take some very serious time, learning you.  A layer at a time. You take me how you will.” She lay her cheek against her lover’s back then, and listened to her breathing.

“Again?”

She chuckled.  “However you will, but don’t rush on my account.  I like this. Us. Just… being. The world can wait.”

“For a little while, at least.” Then, with a grin, Oriana reached out to Tara again.