Heirot

Vlad looked around at her, eyes shining. "Why would you lie on that?" he asked in dismay.

Tenele glanced to the mangled metal. "I was thinking," she whispered, wondering if he thought something was wrong with her. "I was putting myself in your shoes... I was trying to understand, so I could help you. I'm sorry if I upset you." Tenele stepped forward and slipped her arms around his waist until her fur covered form pressed against his and her cheek to his chest. "I'm so glad you are awake. I was so worried that you would never wake up." she whispered lovingly. "Did you and Atul have fun?" She hoped speaking of Atul would cheer him up. "I saw you, and I didn't want to interrupt. I was also with Sho, and didn't know he to explain my sudden abandoning her. I figured I could have you all to myself later. He can forgive me for feeling greedy."

Vlad looked at her, softening at her explanation. She wasn't taking it lightly. She was trying to understand him. "That's very like you," he said tenderly. "I just...the thought of you on that table is the stuff of my nightmares. I'd sooner see you lie in a coffin."

He put his arms around her carefully. "Atul and I did have fun. I wish you'd joined us," he said. He couldn't keep the melancholy out of his voice. "The three of us may need to talk."

"I wanted to join, believe me. But, I also wanted you to have time with him. I know you were uneasy, and I thought being alone with him would make you feel better. There are needs you have that Atul is very good at fulfilling." She shivered, curling in against him to block the wind. He sounded upset, but Tenele assumed it was because he saw her lying on the location of his torture. Maybe it made the idea of her being tortured to vivid for him, as he associated it with pain. "Is there something in particular you want to talk about?"

Vlad sat down on what had been the base of her snowman, without really noticing what it was. He leaned forward on his knees, usually a thinking posture for Vlad. "Maybe it's too soon to go to him. I haven't even got my thoughts together yet." He scratched at his head and laughed dryly. "I feel like some petty woman. I always thought I'd get to be there the first time you two made love. I thought we'd decide it together. I wanted it to mean something."

Tenele tensed up while she stared at Vlad. Those were not the words she expected to hear from him. Her heart was torn between pleasure at Vlad wanting that moment to be so meaningful, and pain because it seemed he thought it was stolen from him.

She knelt down in front of him and took his hand and held it to her cheek. "He told you... I thought he would wait so we could tell you together. It was only once that we did it differently than Atul and I are normally together, but... It isn't how it sounds. It wasn't wonderful, or magical, or beautiful, not when we looked back on it. There was too much emotion happening then. It stemmed from his fear of hurting me without you there to buffer any pain, and it stemmed from my depression at losing you, and missing you so irrefutably, and needing you to be there. We both felt so bad about it afterwards, like we had done something terribly wrong. We went back to being together how we normally are, both because of guilt and my own selfishness. Because in the heat of the moment, my loneliness hurt him. In the heat of the moment it wasn't his body, it was yours. It wasn't his name I called..." Tenele blinked, looking at the snow. "Without you there to say whether us being together was right neither one of us could truly be with each other. I am sorry that I hurt you... Neither one of us meant to betray you."

She slipped away, sitting back on her heals and looking at her hands. "So... it can be meaningful still... in many ways."

Vlad tried to register the scene she was painting. The things they'd tried, the way they'd felt. Her words painted a much clearer image than Atul's had, and now it all began to make sense together. He looked absently at the ruined husk of his table. He stood up and stroked his hand against her cheek. "I had nothing left. It's only because you and Atul put yourselves in danger to save me that I'm alive. I know you both went through pain. I do not fault either of you for doing what you needed to do to get through it. I am confident of your love, and Atul's. If you intended to betray or abandon me, there could not have been a better opportunity, and you didn't. I cannot doubt you."

He took a deep breath and let it out quietly. "There is nothing in this world I would not give to you if it meant lessening your pain. It does not truly matter if we spoke of it or not. In my heart, permission was already granted. In your heart, I think you both knew this. If you still need to hear it from me, then here it is. I consider Atul my trusted friend and lover, and equal to either of us in this relationship. Thinking of you two together lights my heart and body afire."

Tenele smiled softly at her husband, curling her fingers in the collar of his shirt. "I love you," she replied, her cheeks rosy from the kiss of the cold air. She kissed his lips softly, slipping her fingers from his collar to around the back of his neck. "Atul might need to hear that, too," she sighed, tucking her face against his neck.

Vlad's words made her heart swell with joy, and her mind fill with desire. The idea of him taking joy at watching them make love made her heart race. She imagined what that would be like, less awkward and more loving.

"Let's find some place warm," she mused, taking his hand. "I've been out here to long."

Vlad drew his arm around her waist and guided her back inside, rubbing her shoulders to bring the head back into them. "Let's speak with him," he said. He swooped her into his arms and headed up the stairs, straight into the room where he'd left Atul.

Atul came out the bathroom shirtless, with a towel hanging low on his hips, and he used a small one to wipe his face and hair. He paused when they burst in, taking a moment to look at the two of them.

He'd done a lot of thinking while he was bathing. He knew he couldn't continue this forever, but he also knew he loved them... and they loved him. Vlad hadn't grown angry, because he clearly loved him, and he cared for them... He'd even said that he would have agreed to it. Didn't that make it okay? Couldn't he stop feeling guilty that he'd taken his wife without permission.

The site of Vlad holding her brought joy to his heart. Why couldn't it be like this forever? Why couldn't he just stay with them, and not be king, and not have any responsibilities other than loving them and his daughter?

"You're pale," Atul said softly. "You must be freezing, Tenele. Come stand near the fire." Atul lifted his gaze to Vlad. He'd let the vampire leave after acting very strangely, but he wasn't sure how to apologise for it.

Vlad lowered Tenele back to her feet beside him. His gaze switched to Atul, passion gleaming in his eyes. He crossed the short distance to the king and pushed him back against the wall behind him, almost aggressive. Vlad covered Atul's mouth with his own in a deep, loving kiss. His arms twined around the man's waist and embraced him tightly, treasuring Atul's warm, bare torso against his. "You are ours, Atul," he murmured silkily, licking at his neck gently. "We are both yours. I am sorry I did not give you permission sooner. I wish only that I might have been part of that moment between you. Perhaps when you are ready, you will allow me."

Atul shuddered at the feel of Vlad's tight embrace, at his tongue on his neck, and at the words he spoke. The tugged at his heart, the very words he needed to hear. He clenched his eyes shut and returned the vampire's embrace tightly. "Of course," he sighed. "I want that very much."

Tenele slipped her fur coat from her shoulders and dropped it to the floor. Tenele reached down and pulled off her boots, tossing them into the corner. She stepped closer to the fire beside them, warming her body near it as she watched the two embrace. She smiled at Atul, and his eyes brightened when they opened and saw her

Tenele dropped her hands to the buttons on her shirt. She started at the bottom and worked her way up slowly. Atul shifted, dropping his lips to Vlad's shoulder, and watched. She slipped her hands to her waist, unbuttoned her pants and pulled them off. The King's breath grew ragged. His need firm against Vlad. But, he didn't warn the vampire to what his wife was doing, though he imagined his well tuned ears could guess. Tenele drew the shirt open and off her shoulders, she tossed it across the room so it landed on Vlad's head.

Then, she moved closer to the fire to feel the warmth on her bare skin. Her waist was still bruised, but Talon had been giving her a healthy concoction of pain medicine to the point she only felt a little sore. "Husband," she called seductively, resting her arms across the mantle on either side of her.

Vlad peered over his shoulder knowingly and smiled at the sight of his wife, beautiful against the firelight. That title still belonged only to him...at least for now, he thought with excitement. He leaned in against Atul's alert body for another moment before slowly parting from him and turning toward Tenele. "My love, you seem to have lost your clothing," he purred, drawing her shirt off of his head and approaching her. His body fit hers like a puzzle piece as he slid up against her, circling her slender body with his arms. His mouth molded against her neck and sucked against the skin in slow motion, tasting her.

Tenele sighed softly at the feel of his lips on her neck. She hoped he wanted her now, she hadn't thought to check with him to see if he was in the mood. But, damn it... over three months without him.

She snaked her hands to his pants and fiddled with the buckles and buttons while Atul lounged in a chair next to them, stretching his legs across the floor. He watched with a half-smile as Tenele sought to make them equals as far as clothing was concerned.

She tilted her lips to his ear. "I need you inside me," she whispered, lips brushing his skin. Her cheeks flushed at the forwardness of her words.

Vlad's nerves flashed with adrenaline. Her soft request was unbearably sexy. He kissed her neck and throat while lifting her up against him and spinning her toward the bed. In moments, he was lying naked over her, his need smooth and hard against her stomach as he kissed her. He traced his fingertips across her flesh, teasing the skin of her neck, chest, and waist. His hands framed the edge of her hips and slid lower toward her center.

The vampire gave a low huff of intoxication as he covered one of her breasts with his mouth and sucked, gently and then harder. His thumb slid between her legs and explored until it found the soft bump of her clitoris. He traced around it in small circles, experienced fingertips massaging her. His first two fingers ran across her opening, then slicked into her slowly.