Heirot

Vlad drew an arm around her, trapping her against him possessively. "Thank you for last night," he murmured into her hair.

Tenele smiled against his skin. "Your welcome," she replied back. "Thank you for last night, too... I needed you like that, even if it was a little difficult at first. I hadn't felt you in my mind for so long. I missed this."

Tenele ran her fingers up and down his sides, pressed her lips to his shoulder. *I missed feeling what you feel, and hearing your voice in my head. I missed knowing your thoughts and feeling your love.*

Vlad grinned into the softness of her hair. Her psychic voice sent a tremor to his nerves, and he was suddenly too conscious of her pulse. He huffed cool air into her hair as the predatory affection swept through him. He knew she would feel it, but he was too pleased to worry about offending her. After all his agonizing over letting her see what Maxwell had done to him, she'd been strong enough to handle it. She'd been ready to face it with him, all along. *You are my peace and my flame at once, Maiden Girl,* he said with enticing thickness.

Tenele smiled, nuzzling his skin affectionately. *Your flame is full of desire,* she replied back. *Be careful not to tread to close... I burn.* She nipped at his skin, casting her gaze to the window to see where the sun was and try and judge the time.

"I should get up," she huffed disappointedly, pushing on his shoulder gently.

"I will get the snack up," Vlad conceded, releasing her slowly. He rose to get dressed, but her nip had left his body half-aroused and it didn't want to calm down. The fabric strained as he fastened his pants. He worked to ignore Tenele's pulse beating like music and calm his body, or he would have some awkward questions to answer from his daughter. When he was sufficiently composed, he opened the door and walked up to Tenara's bed. "Morning, my lovely witch," he greeted her, squeezing her feet through the blankets.

Tenara yawned, stretching slowly and slinking back under the covers. "Not morning," she replied, having the same desire to greet the sun as her mother.

Tenele swept into the bathroom and began running water, trying to decide if it was faster to take her bath and then give one to Tenara or vice versa.

"It is morning indeed, little one," he smirked. "Queenie has an emissary visiting. You'll need to be clean and dressed if you want to sneak a peek with me."

Tenara poked her head up from the covers and watched her father with pretty blue eyes. "Okay!" she wiggled out of bed, plopping down on her butt before stumbling to her feet and taking off towards the bathroom.

"Good morning!" Tenele greeted, lifting her daughter up. "Let's kill two birds with one stone."

"Why do you want to kill birds," Tenara asked, her brow scrunching with a frown. "Don't kill birds!"

"No, not killing birds," Tenele replied with a soft smile, pecking her cheek. "Its just a saying. I meant that we are going to bathe together because we both slept in."

A few minutes later Tenara tore from the bathroom naked and laughing with a towel dragging behind her.

"Tenara, come back," Tenele laughed, struggling into a robe to chase down her daughter. "We have to dry your hair."

Vlad was sitting on a wood rocking horse in Tenara's room, leaning back against the wall with his hands behind his head. "It would seem our daughter shares my feelings about clothing," he called to his wife, watching the chaos with amusement. "The floor is getting very clean, little one, but your towel is getting quite dirty."

Tenele managed to catch Tenara when she was making another loop. She took a clean towel and started drying her hair furiously. The child giggled, attempting to escape, but Tenele always managed to grapple for another hold.

"This is worst than bathing Stalker," she huffed, glancing to the hound where he sat curled near the bed.

"Okay," she sighed. "Clothes. Now. We are late."

Tenele managed to get her suddenly very hyper wiggling child into a pretty dress. Fixing Tenara's hair was another adventure in itself. She really did think that the girl would be much happier running naked and free through the palace, maybe she did get that from her father.

A half hour later the family was dressed and ready to do their snooping on the visiting dignitaries.

Vlad held Tenara's hand as they descended the grand winding staircase to the ground level of the palace. There was quite a crowd milling about, as many of Sinead's court were there to meet and greet before the morning's festivities. Vlad led them in threading through the crowd and made their way to Queen Sinead's grand chambers. For once, it would draw no attention that he took the long way around, as there were too many people in the halls anyway.

As they reached the throne room, the guards paused him. "The Queen is engaged, Lord Dracul."

"Oh, then I must congratulate her," the vampire gushed with a smirk, brushing past them and holding the large door open for his wife and child.

Tenele smiled at them as they passed through. Tenara looked around wildly at all the people in the room. There were so many dresses and suits and colors. She wasn't sure what to focus on first, and it all seemed a little overwhelming.

The moment Tenara saw Sinead she broke from her father and took off through the crowd. "Grandma!"

Sinead turned from the foreign-dressed man she was speaking with to crouch down and scoop Tenara into her arms. "And how did you get in here, young lady?" she asked with a smile, perching her on her arm. "Drajek, this is young Lady Tenara Dracul. Tenara, this is Lord Drajek, from Hyrule."

The ambassador gave her a polite nod. "My lady," he greeted. "The queen and I were speaking. It is impolite to interrupt adults when they are engaged in business."

Tenara looked at the man for a moment, narrowing her eyes questioningly on him. Then, she turned her gaze to her grandmother. The man's tone was curt, and he did seem displeased with her. But, she didn't understand why.

"You have a funny hat," Tenara replied. "Can I wear it?"

"Absolutely not," Drajek returned shortly. He caught Sinead's critical gaze and softened his tone. "In Hyrule, this headdress represents goodness. To be without it is to suggest I lack proper values."