The Princess and the Blade

[Soran Nightblade]

Havitharon's belly flipped as her light touches stirred him up. But then he noticed something, a faint tremor in her fingers as they brushed his sides. She was pushing herself too hard. It would be greedy to encourage her to go any further. "Perhaps when we're both better rested," he offered tactfully. His fingers stroked lightly over her back to assure her it wasn't a rejection. He rolled to the side and drew her gently up over him so that she could lie against his chest. "Is this comfortable? Or shall we separate?"

[Emora Deen]

Tenara was only a tad disappointed she couldn’t keep up. He was being sensible. At least one of them could think about something else when joined as they were. “I’m comfortable,” she said, settling down over him with her head on his chest. As soon as she was settled Tenara realized just how tired she was. She placed a single, soft kiss on his chest and then shut her eyes, drifting off surprisingly fast.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havitharon woke shortly after dawn to the pleasant weight of his Yurivis lying securely on his chest. He took stock of his body and found that it possessed its own heaviness that had nothing to do with Tenara. He wondered at how this body was a fabrication of magic, and yet his muscles could still grow sore. His eyes drifted to the sword lying on the table at the bedside, where Tenele had left it the night before after healing him. He stretched an arm drowsily out toward its bright hilt and stroked a finger along the metal. Numbness spread through his finger and down his forearm, as usual.

He brought his arm back again and let his thoughts wander to the night before. He remembered the oath he'd made to Tenele, and the things Tenara had told him about her future husband. He could recall both Tenele and Vladimir using the word before. Could males have husbands as well, then? He made a mental note to learn more about that title.

And about her, he thought, stroking his fingers over the fine hair on his Yurivis's forehead. For the first time, he was thinking about this place like it would be his new world. Even with all Tenara had taught him about this place's history, plants, and language, he still knew next to nothing about this world, or his Yurivis's kingdom.

"Whatcha thinkin' about, tall, dark, and horny?" a female voice whispered from beside him.

Havitharon stiffened, his eyes shooting to the figure he hadn't even noticed.

Lelana showed him a cheshire grin. "I knocked twice. You must have been thinking too hard," she said, still whispering. "How's my dear niece?"

"Sleeping," he whispered back, feeling ridiculous.

[Emora Deen]

Tenara murmured something in her sleep and twisted her head away from the sound of her aunt's voice, pressing her opposite cheek to Havi's warm skin. She wiggled, shifting her hips and shoulders in an attempt to get a little more comfortable.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi's gray skin darkened at Tenara's squirming, especially with her thirsty aunt watching them. Lelana just raised her eyebrows, amused by his predicament.

Havi put a hand as lightly as he could over the side of Tenele's head and mouthed "What do you want?"

She smiled at him. "Her father's wanted to see her all morning, and Tenele won't let him intrude. I'm bored of watching him sulk." She perched at the edge of the bed with a wicked grin. "But perhaps you had other plans for your day." She looked their blanketed silhouette up and down suggestively.

[Emora Deen]

Tenara mumbled Havi's name, just barely audible. She shifted again, titling her face towards his warm skin until her lips brushed his chest. She faintly heard the sound of someone's voice, but it seemed so distant and fuzzy it might have been part of a dream or imagined. Sensations came back to her, and she understood the warmth beneath her. Remembered the minutes before she'd fallen a sleep on Havitharon. She blinked her eyes open, slowly rising to look down at Havitharon. The blanket slipped down her back. Tenara smoothed her hands over his chest, smiling sleepily at him. She opened her mouth to say something, but followed the line of his strange eyes to the side of the bed, where she spotted her aunt.

Tenara yelped, grabbing up the covers and pulling them around her like a dress. "Aunt Lelana!" Her aunt's amused smile became a wicked grin.

[Soran Nightblade]

"Morning sweety," she greeted with an innocent wave. Lelana flopped gracefully onto the mattress next to them, her chin held playfully on her palms. "I'd ask how you're feeling, but from the look on your boytoy's face, I'd say I can guess," she teased with a cajoling grin. "Don't suppose you want to share?"

Havi's expression went tight. He said nothing, looking to his Yurivis as if awaiting a decision.

[Emora Deen]

Tenara scowled at her aunt. She opened her mouth to give her a flat, hard no but instead said, "I don't think you can handle him." Tenara placed a hand possessively over Havitharon's heart (or where she assumed his heart to be as she wasn't quite sure, given he wasn't human). "You're not as young as you used to be, dear aunt. And he's got a lot of energy. Best stick to something you can manage."

[Soran Nightblade]

Lelana widened her eyes, looking more impressed than offended. Her gaze trailed from Havi's stern eyes to the torn sheets where his horns had ripped the mattress earlier. She trailed a hand over the rough edges of the fabric. "Perhaps, dear niece," she laughed. "Though it sure would be fun to try," she looked directly at Havi, who gave her a challenging look that sent chills up her spine.

"Now, can't you come out?" she pouted, kicking her legs up and down on the bed like an impatient child. "Your parents are a terrible bore."

[Emora Deen]

Tenara stiffened. Her parents... The days came at her in a dizzying rush. She wasn't sure she could face them, for a variety of reasons—none of which she wanted to hash out with her aunt while naked, straddling the alien his length still impossibly tucked inside her.

"Okay. Fine. We'll come out. Just give us some privacy so we can get dressed, okay?"

[Soran Nightblade]

Lelana let out a long, dramatic sigh like a teenager told to finish her homework. "Fine. Hurry up," she begrudged, and rolled back to her feet. She went to the door and let herself out, then looked back at them. "Open or closed?" she asked innocently.

[Emora Deen]

Tenara was so irritated she flung her hand up to signal the door shutting. Her aunt cackled, and closed it. Tenara drooped a little, and reluctantly pulled herself off Havitharon. She made a soft sound, something between a disappointed whimper and a hiss of discomfort. She kissed him as she climbed over his body for the closest edge of the bed. She hesitated on standing because she wasn't certain her legs would work right away. Not only because her bones and joints still had that dull "singed in a fire" feeling from the holy magic, but because she'd just spent gods only knew how many hours with her legs spread open.

"I wish we could go back to that cottage. I know it doesn't exist anymore, but I miss it. I miss..." What was she saying? She was home. She should be happy. All she'd wanted was to be home, to see her family, to let them know she was okay. Now they did, she argued. They knew she was alive, and they knew she'd been...

Her jaw clenched tight.

And then, she'd ran away from them. From the feeling already fluttering in her chest, a panic that felt like a trapped bird was trying to beat its way to freedom from behind her ribs. She'd run away, was taken, used as bait, and nearly became the death of her father. Her mother had been injured. Havitharon's sword damaged. A mess. She'd made a terrible mistake that had resulted in an equally terrible mess. How could she look them in the eyes and act as if she hadn't nearly gotten everyone killed thirty-six hours ago?

There wasn't any avoiding it, though. She surely couldn't run away again, not after the damage it had caused. She couldn't keep running...

Tenara growled and stood. Her legs held her. She made her way across the room and began digging through the closet for something comfortable to wear.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi sat up in the bed to watch her, his muscles feeling sore but ready. He watched her slightly bow-legged walk and felt more pride than guilt over her predicament. He would have to be more considerate about their sleeping position in the future.

"I wish we could go back to that cottage. I know it doesn't exist anymore, but I miss it. I miss..."

He listened to her quietly, focusing on her words. He wondered what she meant. "It was quieter there," he said honestly. It was just us. He didn't say that part. It felt selfish to want her isolated from such a loving family and the comforts of the palace. But that didn't explain why she would miss the homely cottage in the middle of the woods. "What do you miss?"

[Emora Deen]

Tenara pulled a cotton dress over her head, slipping her arms through the short sleeves. She pursed her lips together, uncertain how to answer his question. "I miss it being just us," she said softly. "I miss the distraction of it." She sank down into a tufted stool at her vanity by the closet door. She looked away from him, tapping her bare toe against the marble. "I'm here and I'm safe, but I feel..." Her eyes stung. "I feel embarrassed and guilty and angry at myself for what happened—the kidnapping, the... the..." She ground her teeth together. "...what happened on the ship, nearly dying, getting lost in Arken, and tying to whore myself out for a hot meal. I feel shame for worrying my family, only to return home and nearly get them killed. I feel like I deserve to be punished for everything that's happened, but no one seems to want to punish me. And, I wouldn't feel any of this if we were still in the cottage. I could... I could be blissfully unaware. Unfocused. Distracted." She finally looked at him. "I wouldn't have to go back to my life and fail at pretending that what happened hasn't... changed me somehow."

[Soran Nightblade]

Havitharon frowned, remembering Tenele's words to him the night before. I spent my life fighting and wounded and brutalized, and I didn't want that for her. If you being near her brings that...

"Give it a little more time," he asked her, softly. "Just because you are at the center of something does not make it your fault. Please give yourself...and this place a little more time."