To Die As Lovers May, So That They May Live Together

Susanna

Susanna Nádasdy smiled seductively at the young lady, Mircalla Karnstein, who was kneeling at her bedside with her hands under the coverlet. There was a kind of pleased wonder in her bright brown eyes as she beckoned for Mircalla to come closer. Mircalla obeyed and withdrew her hands from Susanna's coverlet and began to caress her body instead. At last, Mircalla even laid down beside Susanna on the bed, and drew her in close, smiling languidly as she did so. Susanna made a purring noise and felt immediately delightfully soothed.

"Dearest Mircalla," she whispered, voice low and husky with love.

"Susanna," Mircalla's voice was even lower and raspier. "It has been far too long since last we've met."

"Well, I scarcely can get a day to myself," Susanna replied ruefully. "You know how domineering my father is. I can't even breathe without his permission, just in case I ever do something to slander the Nádasdy name."

"Well, whatever happens, I doubt that it will be your breathing that slanders your family," Mircalla replied cheekily, shifting under the covers until she was straddling Susanna. "That is, of course, unless your breathing comes in too fast or too hard," she continued to tease, giving the woman beneath her a wink. Susanna only laughed in reply, watching with excited eyes as Mircalla lowered her head until their lips were touching.

Susanna and Mircalla were countesses of neighboring estates and had met not too long ago when their fathers arranged a meeting with one another to discuss a possible alliance. While they were busy making treaties, their daughters were busy making acquaintances. The two became fast friends, and then they became something even more... In time, the two women were constantly on the lookout for any chance to be together again. As of this particular night, Mircalla had managed to sneak away from her home in Karnstein to come and visit Susanna's estate. She was able to get away with this so easily because her own father, Ferenc Karnstein, was highly negligent. He hardly ever even noticed when she was present, so how would her absence be any different to him?

Susanna's father, meanwhile, was just the opposite, but he was no less of a nuisance than Ferenc. His name was Hans and he had eyes like a hawk. If Ferenc never noticed a thing Mircalla did, Hans noticed everything. He was watchful where Ferenc was blind. If Mircalla could leave her castle without being spotted, then Susanna could hardly even breathe without bringing some sort of chastisement back down over her head. But despite the odds, Mircalla still managed to sneak into Susanna's estate and come spend the nights with her, as they were doing then.

As romantic as nights like these were, however, nothing compared to nights they spent in the garden, but that was perhaps because they were the riskiest nights of all. Just two young countesses, creeping between shadow and moonlight and amongst the leaves and flowers of the estate to share a night of wonder together. In fact, the two countesses even shared their last kiss in this moonlit Eden, sitting side by side and overlooking a small lake towards the edge of the garden. The moon was a glowing disc upon a dull gray sheet of water that was as still and silent as glass.

"I am sure, Susanna, that you have been in love; that there is, at this moment, an affair of the heart going on," Mircalla said to her lover.

"I have been in love with no one, and never shall," Susanna replied. "Unless it should be with you..." and Mircalla felt something powerful move within her as Susanna said this. Even though her tone was soft, her voice carried the passion of a thousand suns and Mircalla basked in their light.

Mircalla suddenly moved forward, catching Susanna's chin in her hand. She pulled Susanna closer and closer until their lips met. This kiss began slow and gentle, but soon became feverish and hard as hands roamed through hair and across skin in perfect rhythm to the motion of their mouths as they kissed. Soft moans filled the warm summer air and combined with the occasional rustle of a nightgown as the two women continued to nuzzle and caress one another with lips and fingers.