Heirot

Tenele winced. "He was a difficult negotiator," she muttered. "He agreed to help us for Vlad's cooperation in the future." Tenele glanced backward and up to her husband before letting her eyes rest on Sinead.

"Oh, right," Vlad smirked. "Queenie, I've been meaning to ask, I'm going to need a little time off."

Sinead's blood went cold. "How much time off, Vladimir?" she asked very seriously.

Vlad glanced up at the ceiling as if the amount were something he had to call to memory, and not something he was conscious of almost constantly. "About a year should do it. And probably a few weeks past that, to get back in the swing of things."

For once, the queen was absolutely speechless. "Vlad, you didn't. Tell me you didn't," she demanded, wishing it were one of his pranks.

"It's only a year, Queenie," Vlad hedged.

Sinead dropped silent, just staring at him. Whatever she was remembering, Vlad seemed to be remembering it too, because he stopped meeting her eyes and his grin disappeared.

"Sinead," he said carefully. He almost never addressed her by first name, but she looked ready to faint. "It will be fine."

Sinead tightened, glancing at her lap and shaking her head. His attempt to comfort her seemed to mortify her worse. Moisture glassed over her eyes as she stood, paused, shook her head again, and retreated quickly for the hall. Upon reaching the door, she seemed to rethink the public hallway. She turned instead toward their bathroom, putting a hand out to assure Vlad not to follow her. She averted her gaze until the door was safely shut behind her, leaving Vlad and Tenele in silence.

The vampire swallowed uncomfortably, not wanting to revisit the issue with Tenele right there. "It's possible for it to have gone worse," he tried.

Tenele felt her insides twist into knots at Sinead's reaction. She stood up slowly from her seat and stepped towards the bathroom door. Was Sinead crying? She hadn't seen the Queen upset like that before. It made her feel sick with worry.

Tenele's expression paled and she turned her attention to Vlad. "We haven't really discussed what Maxwell meant about continuing the research where Sinead stopped it," she whispered. "Mostly because it seemed you didn't want to talk about it. And I was willing to give you time until you were ready." She pointed to the door where Sinead had gone. "I don't think I can wait anymore. What is it that upset Sinead so much?" Tenele swallowed, but her voice cracked with emotion and fear. "What did I make you agree to?"

"You didn't make me agree to anything," Vlad said firmly. "Don't forget that I made the choice myself, and I wouldn't make it if it weren't worth it."

"What is he going to do to you?" Tenele asked firmly, her green eyes sparkling like jade crystals. "Tell me. Please."

Vlad shrugged. "Research. Where we left off. There's no need to go into pointless details."

"It is not pointless!" Tenele pointed to the bathroom door. "She's upset. What is it that is making her so upset? Sinead isn't easily upset, Vlad. Why won't you tell me? What is he going to do?"

"In all likelihood, he will make me stronger. Sinead cut him off right when he felt he was on the cusp of a breakthrough. He's had plenty of time to refine his theories. I'm sure he'll make good use of the year." He wasn't giving her the answer she wanted, and he knew it.

Tenele stared at Vlad for a long moment as she listened to his words. She had no doubt that Maxwell's end goal was to make Vlad stronger. Whether it was some personal achievement he sought, or fame for creating the most powerful monster, she wasn't sure. But, she still had this sickening gut twisting feeling that Vlad knew exactly what was going to happen to him, and he wasn't going to tell her.

It hurt her, and frightened her.

"Okay," she whispered, nodding slowly. She blinked the moister from her eyes and swallowed her lump in her throat. "That's fine. If you don't want to tell me, I can't force you." But, I can beat it out of Maxwell.

Vlad nodded tensely. He'd been warned not to cause Tenele undue stress during her term. He didn't imagine talking about Maxwell would be very good for her. Then again, what if letting her worry about it was worse? It had been out of sight and out of mind until now, but Sinead's reaction made it unavoidable.

"To be clear," he said quietly, "I hate keeping things from you. I enjoy sharing my entire self with you. But my time with Maxwell is something I've never spoken of. Even the queen only knows what she discovered herself."

Tenele nodded quietly, pacing away from him and then turning back. She made three quiet rounds. "I've never asked," she admitted. "I didn't want to bring that part back up for you if it was hurtful. It was in the past, and over... but this is the future. Do you know what scares me about you leaving? Its not the fact you'll be gone, Vlad. I'm terrified that the man Maxwell returns to me won't be you. That he will change you. That you won't find me or our child worthy of you anymore. The first time time I admitted to you that I loved you, you shot me down. You treated me like some common insect. I don't want you to become that person again, and I don't want you to treat our child like she's not worthy of you. I don't want him to take my husband for a year, and truly take him for a lifetime. I'm afraid of what he will do to you, and Sinead's reaction only proves that my fear is justified. I should have never asked him for his help, or made you feel like you had to agree."

Vlad shook his head soberly. "Tenele, I'm not going to change. Not in the way you mean. That's not what she's upset about." He took a deep breath and fought the itch to pace right along with her. "Let's sit for a second," he muttered, dropping to the rug at his feet and reaching out for her hands.

Tenele watched Vlad sink to the floor and under any other circumstances she would have laughed at the idea of sitting on the floor. Mostly because she knew she had to look funny while trying. Tenele put her smaller hands in his and let him help her down onto her knees and then finally she shifted into a position that was comfortable for her legs and back. "Okay, I'm sitting."

Vlad fought off the sudden compulsion to make some kind of a joke. He was hedging again. "When I was turned, I was one of Sinead's best and most loyal military leaders. I was turned in the usual way and had the usual problems. Most of the time, people like me would be mercy killed, but Sinead had built a strong enough bond with my human self to explore other options. So she found someone who thought he could do something, and Maxwell became my keeper.

"He's a bit of a control freak, as you can probably tell, and keeps a tight leash on his experiments. I stayed in a lab compound below the palace. He started with simple things, like sunlight and hunger tolerance. Enough exposure, and I would gradually make progress. I had nothing to do but live through and get stronger, but I'll be frank. There was a lot of pain. You've seen the method firsthand.

"I didn't have visitors, but the queen was permitted once per year to check on my progress. That went on for about two hundred years."

He paused and studied his wife.

Tenele nodded, glancing away. "He tortured you to make you stronger," she whispered. "And that's what he's going to do again. He's going to torture you."