Heirot

Tenele nodded fiercely, collapsing over both of them with her arms out and hugging them. The position felt terrible on her injured waist, and now that Talon's pain medication was beginning to wear off, she was starting to feel just how much her body had been pushed during their escapades. She stayed very still atop them.

"When?" she asked. "When can we leave?"

The prospect of going home was making her feel overly emotional. Tears brimmed at the idea of holding her child, that small, sweet little girl who probably believed they'd abandoned her or were dead.

Vlad looked up at her, suddenly aware of how badly she wanted to go. Of course, he didn't want to be here, but her expression made him consider for the first whether they should just get themselves together and go immediately. "Do you want to go right now?" he asked her.

Tenele broke and it humiliated her to be so easily destroyed... so home sick. Over three months since she held Tenara, since she heard the child laugh, or even call her mommy. She'd only made it this far by not thinking about it, about how much her heart ached and missed her. Now, that's all she could pay attention too.

"Yes," she choked, reaching up to wipe her eyes. "I'm sorry."

Vlad smiled at her. He drew gently out of Atul, since that would be an awkward position to come back to. "You know what to say, maiden girl," he said with love in his eyes.

Tenele nodded. She pressed a kiss to Vlad's cheek. "Sagra reon, Knight," she whispered.

Vlad and Atul both disappeared from her side, dissipated in a flash. Knight took form at the food of the bed, his long black hair shrouding his shoulders. He was wearing a black tunic with silk closures down the side and a high collar, similar to those worn in Ongoreth. It was a mystery how the man got his clothes, but he always looked good in them.

Knight bent a knee before Tenele and bowed to her handsomely. "My Lady," he greeted smoothly, raising his mismatched eyes full of light and cunning.

"Knight," she greeted, sliding to the edge of the bed. What a sight she had to be at that moment after all that she'd been doing with her husband and her lover. She wondered if the memory was fresh in his mind.

"I'm sorry I haven't called you in so long, Vlad was taken by Maxwell and we couldn't reach him or you because of a spell placed over this house," she explained, reaching out to cup his face.

Knight touched her face gently, a mirror of her gesture. "I know," he said. "You have been through a great deal. I hope the night's festivities have helped with some of it," he raised his brows as if Atul and Vlad's prowess were his own doing. Well, in a way, they were.

Tenele nodded. "It was good to be with my husband again after so long, and made me want more," she whispered, holding his hand to her face. "I only wish I didn't call you after so long just to use you as a way home..." She pressed a kiss to the palm of his hand. "I haven't seen our daughter in four months... I want to go home. There are things I have to do before I can. I have to get Talon to send the lizards to Hajara... I should probably bathe before I go home to greet my daughter covered in..." Her cheeks flushed.

Knight's eyes flashed. "May I bathe you?" he asked as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.

Tenele grinned. "You may bathe me," she replied, leaning forward for a kiss. "And for the hours I have you, I am yours to do as you wish, as long as I am home at the end of it."

The supernatural man smiled at her openness. He leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead, and managed to make the innocent gesture feel much more explicit than it was. "While the water is running, I will address Talon, he said, stepping back from her reluctantly.

Tenele nodded to him, going into the bathroom to run the water. "He should be a few doors down in his room, studying," she called to him, holding her hand under the water to test the heat. She almost asked him to retrieve more medicine to numb the pain, as hers appeared to be wearing off gradually, but she didn't. She would be home soon, and could rest and hold her child and take comfort in that.

Knight made his way through the mansion. The corridors were both new and familiar to him. He was aware of this place as the place where Vlad had been tortured, and he disliked everything about it, especially its smell. However, it did not gnaw at his bones the way it did for the vampire. It had not claimed the same portion of his soul. The things that changed Vlad did not necessarily change Knight, just as the reverse was also true.

The guardian made his way to Talon's room and gave a firm knock on the door. Vlad's knock.

Talon pulled the door open. "You know these walls aren't sound proof like they are in-" he paused when he saw Knight, glancing around quickly. He wasn't sure what to make of the being before him, or whether he should be worried that something had happened to Tenele. He knew that she didn't just call him in the event that something dangerous happened, he was aware that she called him so that he could visit with his daughter and so he could be free for a night with her. However, he had assumed that she had her fill based off of his awkward unavoidable eavesdropping.

"Hi," he muttered, shifting uncomfortably on his feet. He still wasn't sure how to address a being that was both his master, and not.