Della Street is one of my favorite XWP authors. She knows how to describe the Xena/Gabrielle dynamics so beautifully. And her stories are so romantic 🥰. Her story Resistance is a classic for me. Literally now because she wrote this in the late 90s. It’s a Conqueror story, a timeline in which Xena didn’t choose the light. And I like me some dark now and then, although Resistance is rather light darkish 😏.

In this story, Xena doesn’t like a bunch of unruly subjects who are constantly trying to undermine her reign. Another such group has just been arrested and one of them is Gabrielle. Xena is impressed by her and wants to get to know her better. Xena’s always gets her way, but it’s not by intrinsic motivation that Gabrielle visits the Conqueror. So, it takes a while before Gabrielle trusts her. Then an unlikely friendship develops between them and later, even more unlikely, a love affair. Their relationship is not accepted from either side. How will they be able to maintain this relationship with so much opposition? Is it all worth it?

You don’t see them that much, but there is a true ‘enemies to lovers’ trope in this story. The term ‘make love, not war’ is also appropriate here ❤️.