Heirot

Laurius nodded, folding the chunk of horn back in the silk and tucking it into his pocket. "I'll have my groundsman clean and preserve it," he said. "Then, maybe she can wear it from a chain or something." He turned back to the bed, folding his arms across his chest. A smirk tugged the corner of his lips. "Come on lazy bones, out of bed... or are we still sore? I'd hoped to run another experiment today..."

----

Tenara blinked her eyes open, sitting up. The room was still new to her, still unfamiliar. Her groggy mind took in the space, the swirl of particles glinting in the sunlight pouring through the cracks in curtains, glowing warm against the mess of Havitharon's bed. She smoothed her hand over his brow, into his hair, careful not to touch his horns. Then, she slipped out of bed and went to his bathroom.

A few minutes later, the tub was near full with hot water, frothy with bubbles, and smelling of lavender. She returned to Havi's bedside, appraising him. He was covered in spatterings and patches of inky-black dried blood. The bandage she'd loosely tied to his horn was holding up well, which meant the bleeding wasn't going to be a threat. She contemplated how to get him out of bed. He was so tall, much bigger than she could manage to carry on her own. But she wanted to clean him up. Get him into fresh clothes. Have the maids change his sheets.

"Havi," she whispered softly, nudging him gently as she pulled his arm and tried to coax him to the edge of the bed. "I drew you a bath..."

Ren flushed and crawled off the bed. "You are a committed scientist," he said, secretly quite pleased with his master's ongoing interest. It was his first time being relied upon for service to this extent, or being permitted to spend the night in his master's rooms. He was determined to help Laurius with all the 'research' he had the energy to conduct. He stood and stretched, arching his arms at his sides. Then he turned to Laurius and approached him, taking up a careful stance behind him. He picked up a comb from the man's dresser and tentatively reached over Laurius's shoulders to collect his wavy brown hair.

__________

Havi stirred with a low hum. When his eyes flickered open, they had returned to their usual gold, no longer swallowed by the black around them. "Bath," he acknowledged. His fingertips brushed her cheek. His horn throbbed, but it was no longer the piercing pain it had been the night before. He found he could think surprisingly clearly. She'd drawn him a bath? He looked down and slowly took in the mess around him. "Shit...sorry," he murmured. He hadn't meant to show her this, but he didn't think saying so would please her, so he kept his regret to himself. He collected himself and sat up slowly, touching the bandage she'd applied to his horn. The horn pulsed with his blood pressure, but didn't cripple him. She must have stayed with him all night. "I'll admit... I seem to need a bath."

Laurius hesitated as Ren collected his untamed locks. He was unaccustomed to someone combing his hair. His servants did almost everything else for him, but tending to his hair and body was something he tended to manage. He allowed Ren to do it. He seemed to have a great interest in it and maybe it was something his kind did for one another. He had combed Ren's hair yesterday, after all. Maybe he thought it was something they should share...

---

Tenara gently guided Havitharon into the bathroom and helped him out of his clothes piece by piece. Her movements were careful, like she was tending to an injured bird. She tried not to look at the bandaged mess of his horn. Every time she did her heart ached. When he was nude, she guided him into the bath, keeping hold of him as if she feared he might fall and damage something else. She wasn't certain what an injury like his did to the rest of the body, whether all of his nerves felt on fire or if it was like cutting one's hand. She only remembered his reaction to her touch in the safety of their shelter, how her lips and mouth had driven him over the edge as surely as if she'd touched the organ between his legs. This had to be excruciating.

She knelt next to the tub and rolled up the sleeves of her nightgown, grabbing a rag folded on a tray nearby and dipping it into the water. She ran it over his shoulders and chest, sweeping blood from his cheeks and brow. "Will it take long to heal?" she asked, leaning forward to rinse the rag and smooth it along his opposite side. "Maybe Dr. Crofford could help." She paused then, removing the rest of the bandaging on her hand to show him the pink scar that shouldn't be. The poultice he'd given her, whatever that was, had healed it in short order. She tilted it up into the pale light falling through the window.

Havi admired her care of him. She was so careful, so graceful in the way she looked after him. "I will heal quickly," he promised her. "Once the marrow seals, it will function exactly the same as before."

For some reason, the memory of her mouth sucking on his horn chose to come to the surface. He held his breath to chase away the thought. If he reacted to it, she was sure to notice his body in the bath. It only occurred to him then that she might find the horn unattractive now that it wasn't whole. No, there was no point thinking about that now. He wondered anyway. How big a piece exactly had been removed? "Does the appearance bother you?" he asked her gently, tilting his head back to look at her.

Tenara focused on running the reg along his collarbone and down his pectoral. “No,” she said, but didn’t look at it. She dipped the rag into the water and brought it up to his chest again. “You could have no horns or half a horn or twenty of them sticking out of your head like a porcupine… I would care for you all the same,” she said, finally pausing to look at his face, then the bandaged tip of his defiled horn. “I am only sad that you felt you had to do it.” She took a corner of the rag and dragged it just under his eye, where she’d missed a drop of blood. Her gaze roamed over him before she settled back into dutifully tending to him, the rag sweeping below the surface, along his belly and waist. Her hand stilled, frozen beneath the water. “What are we now, if you don’t want to bond with me?” The question slipped out of her, weak and sad. She hadn’t meant to ask, but it had been the forefront of her mind since the night before. Was she his Yurivis still? Was she is friend? Would he ever want her again as he had before? He was cutting himself up to keep her from using magic to conjure him…

Havi turned to her, carefully noting the sorrow in her expression. "It's not a matter of wanting to. That's not the reason I can't accept your bond." He reached up and touched her cheek. "If I accept you now, you will not trust me. I cannot prove what you need me to prove."

Tenara’s blue eyes glittered like diamonds when she looked up at him. Never will. She swallowed the almost painful lump in her throat. She wanted to argue that she did trust him, that he didn’t need to prove anything to her—and he didn’t. Not really… But she had a feeling it didn’t matter anymore. She had broke what was between them by not understanding it—not understanding him. A deflating sigh rattled out of her, and she touched the hand touching her cheek. “Am I…” she could barely find it in her to voice her question. She thought she could live with him not wanting to make their connection permanent. She wasn’t certain she could stand him not wanting her at all. Just the thought wrenched her heart. “Am I still your Yurivis? Do you still…” want me.

Havi stared into her eyes. It was hard to look at her, but if he didn't meet her eyes, he couldn't be sure she understood him. "I lived my whole life fighting tooth and nail to reject my instincts." He took her hand and slowly guided it to one of his uncut horns, over the rippling black rings. "Every rut, every burnout, I filled my heart with hate and told myself I didn't want that connection. I made my rebellion my identity. I thought those instincts were dead for me."

"But I realize now that I was waiting for the person I could finally serve. Someone whose bond would add to me without taking away. I have waited for you since before I was born. Every duel I fought was to persevere until I could meet you. Every black ring on these cursed horns belongs to you."

He fought very hard not to look away. "I finally found you, but you come from a world where Service is a weakness. What for me is the highest form of devotion, for you amounts to slavery. Even if my soul screams to be claimed, the bond won't mean for you what it means to me. If I do not put my desires before yours, you will believe you have tampered with my will. The more I attempt to serve you, the more trapped and guilty you will feel. So, even though I've finally found you, I can never..." he trailed off, tears burning in his eyes.

His words were the strangest combination of sweet and bitter, and moving enough to pull the tears free from her eyes. Sweet words that still didn’t tell her if she’d lost him for good. Maybe that was all the answer he could give her. She pulled her hand from the tub, draping the rag along the porcelain edge.

“I’m a princess,” she said, trying to smile. “You’d think I’d be used to service…” Her palm stroked lightly along the horn he had guided her to, feeling each ridge. “Serving someone isn’t weak, Havi. I think it is a high calling…” She touched his cheek. “You never explained to me what binds us as Yurivis and Ivis, what my responsibilities to you were—aside from taming your flame. It just happened and I don’t regret it a single moment. If I could take what I said to Laurius back, I would. Because I don’t need you to be human—to love me like a human. I just need you.” The tears fell heavier now, and her hand shook against his cheek. “You waited your life to find me… I will gladly wait the rest of mine for you to want me again.”

She drew her hand from his cheek and smeared her tears away. “Ugh. I should, um… I should get a towel for you…”

Havi reached out and caught her hand again, stopping her from leaving. He rose and sat on the lip of the tub, and pulled her into a tight embrace against his damp chest. "I'm sorry for upsetting you," he whispered, stroking her hair. "And for not explaining things properly. I'll tell you everything, piece by piece, so please wait and make your choice then."

Tenara melted into his embrace, not bothered that his wet body soaked into her gown or that they teetered on falling into the tub. She closed her eyes and relished the feel of his warm skin pressed to her, the feel of his deep voice rumbling in his chest.

“I will listen,” she said, but didn’t think anything could change her mind. She closed her eyes and then tilted her face into the warmth of his neck, pressing a testing kiss softly to the pulse there.

Ren studied the way his master's back moved under his clothing as he followed him down the hall. He didn't want to think about their destination, so he focused on recalling the sensation of Laurius's hair against his fingers. Instead of the heavy, silken curtain of his race's hair, touching Laurius's hair felt liking running fingers through soft feathers. His fingertips still tingled with the memory, but he wasn't sure if his master had been a fan of the contact. He should be more careful to observe what his other servants did.

He nearly walked into Laurius's back as they stopped in front of Thvoros's door. The last time he was here, he'd sawed through the horn of a ruthless sociopath, and now Laurius was carrying a trophy piece in a handkerchief in his pocket. But... It would be rude to allow his master to knock, so he forced his arm out and rapped two times on the oak door. His stomach struggled mightily to climb down into his feet. Ren glanced across the hall at the princess's ruined door frame and swallowed back his discomfort.

______________

Havi had toweled off and dressed from the waist down when the knock came at the door. His head was still spinning from his bath-time conversation with Tenara, and a million thoughts were being held soundly at bay by the pulsing ache in his horn. The loud knock felt more like a blow to the skull. He stiffened and glared at the door, too irritated by the noise to spare a thought for who was there. "No," he barked at the door, incoherent in his discomfort.

Laurius arched a brow at Ren. "Well, he sounds in a great mood," he said, and then grabbed the handle. He turned the knob and pushed the door open. "Your tutor arrived," he said, taking in the room. Havi's bed had been stripped of its sheets and covers, leaving the ruined mattress bare. It would need to be replaced. "Not too dangerous to let the maids in, I see?"

---

Tenara had managed to make it all the way down Laurius's grand staircase with the pile of laundry towering up in her arms. It wasn't until she was halfway to the kitchens that someone noticed she was not a maid and nearly fought it from her. By then, Tenara was happy to be rid of the weight.

The ruined bedding had provided a good excuse to leave Havi to his space. After their conversation in his bath, she could not read his reaction to her kiss well enough to know if they were back to a place where he felt comfortable with her touch. But, he did want to be someday, she thought. So there was that to look forward to.

She found Tabetha in the kitchens, and took up a stool at the counter where the woman shared some fruit, a muffin, and an assortment of cheese. She poured Tenara a cup of coffee and one for herself, and sat on the stool opposite her. "Alright. Let's hear it..."

Havi swallowed a curse as Laurius reminded him about the tutor. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised the two were there. Of course, Laurius would have already heard everything from Artisuren. He glanced at the window, wondering what time it was. "Actually, Tenara helped with the sheets," he muttered. Sensing the first signs of outrage in the other Ivis's demeanor, he thrust a warning finger in Artisuren's face. "No."

Ren's protest died on his lips. It wasn't because he was intimidated by Thvoros after last night. No, no. There was just no point in lecturing an irredeemable sociopath about letting his Yurivis Serve him.

Havi turned and pulled a shirt on over his head. He did a remarkable job of not yelling as he the fabric brushed over his bandage. "Do you have it?" he asked Ren, his posture still rigid as he brushed the shirt flat and turned back to them. He'd looked carefully when Tenara was distracted, but hadn't found any sign of the severed tip of his horn. It was actually good that these two had come. If the piece was somehow lost in that pile of laundry Tenara had taken, he needed to go intercept her quickly before finding it added a new layer of trauma to the pile of injustices he'd heaped on her.

Ren tensed up and peeked at Laurius, wondering if the man wanted to study it.

Laurius reached into his pocket, pulling the silk-wrapped shard for Havitharon's horn. He pulled it free, opening it to reveal the bloodied sliver of horn. "I have it. I assume you want Tenara to hold onto it? I think its best I give it to my groundskeeper. He's talented at taxidermy. He'll be able to properly preserve it for her. I can have it back to you probably by tomorrow."