Thank the gods, though she'd cursed their names hardly any time ago. Thank them, bless them, praise them. For giving her an answer that doesn't need any more words. 

The universe compresses all around her. Gone are the endless depths of space. Gone is the massive expanse of the [i]Plosious[/i]. Everything that is, that was, that ever shall be can fit inside this single bath chamber. There is the smell of fresh water and of steam, of apple and soft not-wine, of smooth oils and incense quietly being added to the pool and the air all the time. There is the feeling of those oils as they sink into her skin, washing away the grit and the scars and replacing every inch of her with something smooth and beautiful as marble but as sensitive as she could ever remember feeling.

And. There. Is. Redana.

The touch of her skin is lightning. The beating of her heart is thunder. They rush through the Princess and into Bella with a greedy, hedonistic surge that allows no defense. The smell of her hair, even soaked through as it is, is fire. Warmth and spice that seeps into her brain until it feels like she is dissolving, losing control, helpless to feel her ear twitch and her breath draw in with ever greater insistence. More. Give her more. More!

Redana's hands are as rough as shark's skin. Even the water and its many miracles could not soften the callouses inflicted upon her royal hands by the horrors of the journey that brought them here. But even so. But even so. They play music on Bella's spine. They pull sighs from between her lips, when her lips are hers to sigh with. They tingle and they burn and they search as they grasp at the silken cascade of her hair. They pull her straight. They hold her close. They bid her reach her hands out in turn. 

Bella's claws are sharp and hard. But she dares to place her hands upon her princess. In this place and this moment, if no other. One hand upon her back, the other on her butt. She tenses. She lifts. She pulls Redana up from the water, just enough to make them equals in this moment. She squeezes. She holds onto the lightning with deep, insatiable greed and pulls it closer, closer, closer, tighter and tighter against her body as if she meant to absorb it into herself. Her body feels as hard as diamond and as yielding  as the pool they stand in. Soft. Rigid. Stiff. Warm. Wet. Her claws play across Redana's supple skin enough to test the tension and set her princess aflame, just to the point where she threatened to draw blood but never causing harm. 

She has skill enough for this, after all. She has been gifted the opportunity to prove it. 

Her mouth closes around Redana's with a hunger built up over a lifetime's worth of longing. Longing without ever daring to actually hope, the sort of awful, gnawing pit that grew and grew and grew inside of her until she became capable of every horror and unkindness she had inflicted upon the crew of this cursed, unhappy ship. Upon the Princess herself. And even so. She tastes those lips at last. 

They are warm. Wet. Savory and yet as sweet as the most tempting fruit. The sort that might distract her from a chase and thereby doom her forever. And still she eats. She lets her fangs brush against them, biting down but only softly. Only seeking the noises of acceptance she can capture with her own tongue and swallow them inside of herself. Her fingers play across Redana's skin, as far as they can reach while needing to hold her in place, pinning and pinned at the same time. 

But the fire inside of her does not cool. Every kiss, every touch, ever scent only seems to throw more fuel on it until she is near to igniting into a new star. More, she roars with every kiss. More, she demands as their hearts come close enough to share a single beating pattern. More, she pleads as their bodies press and flow and brush into one another. Soon, Princess, I will take everything from you I have ever wanted. Ever dreamed of. More than that, even. 

And I will give you myself. Everything you want. Everything I am. And if I must, to satisfy you I will become more. Or less. Whatever I need to convince you to finally, finally, finally douse this heat before it kills me. Because I want this. Because I want [i]you[/i].

Because I have you now. And I will hold you forever, even if the universe itself should be my enemy. 

Together, they sink back into the warm embrace of the water. Together, they entwine leg and finger and arm. Together. And even still, they kiss. Because this is the answer the gods have gifted her. A speech her tongue cannot fumble, however hard it twists.