And her name is…

The rest of our tea goes over easily, except that Triennia wants Helion to host a party by the end of the week. He agrees after not enough convincing, and I stifle my groan. I knew there would be a party soon, and I hoped it would be small, but from the sounds of it, it would be extravagant.

Helion let his cousin talk him into everything she wanted. It was honestly pretty funny, and Sanji and me got a good private laugh out of it. In the middle of it I excused myself to use the bathroom and Tiago followed after me.

“You’re getting better on the heals,” he mutters to me once he directs me towards the nearest bathroom.

“They’re under the couch,” I mutter in return and when he looks at me I pull the dress up to show my bare feet.

Tiago stifles a laugh. “That’s thinking.”

“If I fall on my face they’d definitely notice, but I’m guessing this isn’t very lady like.” I enter the bathroom, finish my visit and rejoin him in the hall.

I debate telling him about the ladies and their sex parties, but decide I like this secret for myself. When we join the others they’re in the entry way at the door saying goodbye.

“Cheil! We’re going to go, but I’m planning your next adventure. Would you like to come to our next tea?” Triennia asks, wiggling her nose at me when no one is looking.

I’m so glad I didn’t tell Tiago because I would be blushing if he knew why I was smiling. “That.. mhm,” I nod my head grinning and I know most of them think I’m being shy but I’m just not sure what a causal answer should sound like right now. “Yes, thank you for inviting me.”

She giggles and hugs me. “It was good to meet you. Don’t let this one lock you away,” she teases.

I laugh, knowing the horror she would feel in the truth of the words I wanted to say.I’d kill him if he tried.

The day turns into a string of meetings that I’m forced to attend to some capacity. During two different ones I was reading in his library and they ‘happened’ to walk through. In a different meeting he sent someone to summon me to his office so he could say he was worried about leaving me alone all day and wanted to check up with me.

Each time I would be introduced by Helion, who would then act like they were getting some door prize in learning who I was claiming to be. They would swap languages at one point or another and Helion asked me to ignore them like I couldn’t understand. The most insulting of these exchanges was involved two lords from one of the surrounding estates who complimented him on finding a wife both learned enough to read but not intelligent enough to involve herself in his politics.

I nearly started yelling, but I kept my cool and listened. Helion had eyed me wearily and returned something to the effect of me still getting my bearings in his house but having more than enough intelligence to keep him on his toes. I barely held in a snort.

“Darling?” Helion asked, turning to me after that.

I flitted my eyes up to him from my book. “Yes, Helion?”

“This is my last meeting, will you come with me to walk them out? Then we could go for a stroll outside.” He’s trying to make me a peace offering, but he should have offered me food.

Unless, he is.

I pluck a leaf from the plant on the table beside me and tuck it into my book to keep the page. “Sure. It was interesting meeting you.”

I chose all my words carefully after meeting Triennia. I make sure to say things that are true, and be careful to keep my ears hidden in my hair or under a hair band. Pretta is the only one at Helion’s who has noticed, and I get a little chuckle at her efforts to hide them throughout the day. I’m sure it is Helion who asked her to, and has since made it obvious that he intends to keep others from gathering too much about me.

After the lords have left Helion turns towards me. “I apologize for them. They …. Are young and stupid. They don’t remember all of the things that the Queen’s went through, only that when they were on the thrown there was often war with one band of creatures or each other.”

“They’re lucky I wasn’t in the mood to piss you off in your own house,” I mutter. “I was about ready to go off and make one watch the other die.”

He chuckles like he thinks I’m kidding. “Darling, you want to please me, hmm?” He laughs again as I stare back. “Theodosine, you are so beautiful, I hope you believe that.”

I sigh a breath that doesn’t seem to pull in or leave me all the way. That’s not what I meant, and he took it completely out of context, but why is my face flushing. He pulls me towards him and my bare toes slide over the tiled floor.

“Is this blush for me?” He says lowly.

Is it?

He is handsome, though I had never thought of him as much more than a means to the end. But he’s looking at me now like he would be very happy if I said it was. But this is a slippery slope, I already used my body to get what I wanted once and, though my plans ended up changing, Wulfric still sits in the back of my mind.

Maybe I can’t separate sex from a goal like I thought I could.

Regardless, Helion is here now and obviously attracted to me. I could use a little fun, and I had almost considered that fun would be with Tiago or Ealdian before learning about the Ladies and their festive parties, but that wouldn’t be for a week at least.

“I suppose, if you keep flattering me like that,” I return.

Someone hands him a long winter cloak and he pulls it around my shouldersbefore buttoning it down the front. Then I turn and see Pretta, gesturing for me to sit in a chair by the door so she can help me with my boots. I distract Helion with a question about a painting on the wall opposite us and as he turns, beg Pretta to not comment on my lack of shoes.

She gives me a conspiratorial smile and nods, lacing up the boots on my bare feet carefully. She may be my favourite person in Helion’s home, even if she’s really the only one I’ve met. Just as we’re about to go outside, Tiago hears the clock strike and has to quickly go back to Ignacio’s on the boarder to check in, so me and Helion go off without him.

He takes me through a garden of mostly sticks, all the leaves and flowers hibernating now that there is a light dusting of snow on the ground. There is nothing for me to siphon here, their energy is already so low that they only have enough to sustain their own life. Back at Ignacio’s the forest trail me and Nyx take is lined with trees that keep their nettles all winter and have more energy to spare.Feed me.

“You and Triennia got along well,” Helion comments after more than a few minutes in silence.

I nod and smile in return. “I like her, she seems genuine.”

He nods back. “She is. What secret did you decide to tell her?”

I laugh. “Not in this lifetime. Maybe on one of our death beds.” I laugh again and he joins me.

“That serious?”

“More so.”

He clearly thinks its some frivolous girl secret, like saying I think he’s attractive, or that I’ve masturbated to a smutty book, because he doesn’t pursue it any further. Instead we walk and he talks about his family as we come up to a statue of his parents.

His mother had ruled during the last big war, and died along with his father in it. With no daughters to receive the title it went to him and he held it alone all these years. I don’t bother asking how long that it, I know it’s been longer than I’ve been alive, and he doesn’t seem all that sad to have been alone all this time.

He claims being single has been a choice, as Sanji had already let slip, because a lot of ladies just weren’t the right fit. We find a bench off to the side under a covered wooden structure and he leads me to sit.

“I know you’re determined to carry out your plan your way, but I’d hate to see your life thrown away so carelessly. You are worth more than someone else’s death, even if that’s Kheliq.” His words sound genuine, but I find it hard to believe that he gives a shit and don’t say anything which he takes as his cue to keep talking. “Regardless, even if it’s only for a little while, I will treat you like the princess you deserve to be.”

He pulls out a small box from inside his coat and hands it to me. When I open it, there is a hair comb with a small crown of diamonds at the top. It is admittedly adorable and he fits it into the top of my braid where Pretta has started it at the crown of my head.

“You don’t need to buy me things,” I insist, though I know I’m smiling a little. “We aren’t really engaged.”

“So what”, he shrugs and smirks at me. “With my luck this may be as close as I ever get, I might as well make the most of it. And that kiss…” he trails off and winks at me. “I’ll definitely be thinking about that for some time.”

I blush and look away from him. “I didn’t think you’d enjoy it so much.”

“Are you kidding?” He scoffs. “That’ll probably be the highlight of my year.” He pulls my chin back to face him. “Theodosine, I was thrilled you wanted to test our chemistry, albeit a little embarrassed you decided to do it in front of my cousin. I’d love to kiss you again, if given half the chance.” He sees me pull away and reaches for my hand. “I don’t think anything of it, I know you have your own goals and end game. Darling, just let me make you happy, even if it’s only for a little while.”

It’s so easy to let him. So simple to just stay still as he leans over and brushes his lips over my cheek. They warm under his touch, and then he moves down over my jaw, and then our lips are together. There’s no passion, it feels more like adoration and I have a hard time remembering what my past kisses have been like.

It’s not like I’ve had many past lovers, not when you grow up as the only Sioga in a town of humans. They all loved me, and respected me, and treated me like anyone else, but how can you love someone likethatwhen you can’t see a future with them. I find myself forgetting what my lips are doing as I think about my life before and a small tear manages to break free.

“Darling, what’s wrong?” Helion asks, pulling away. “Is it something I said?” I shake my head. “Something I did?” Again I shake my head. “Please tell me what it is so I can fix it.” He cups my face and wipes the already dried trail from my tear with his thumb. “Darling, please tell me.”

“You have.. past lovers,” I say, trying to delay my point slightly so I can control my voice. “I had.. friends? When you are so different from everyone else, it’s hard for anyone to love you like that. Travelling to another town where no one knew me, just to be intimate… it wasn’t generally worth it.”

“You miss them,” he guesses and I hate that he figured it out, so I just nod. “That’s fair, that’s more than fair.” He stands up and pulls me with him, lacing his fingers with mine. “The best thing about being Sioga is time to spare.”

He raises my hand to his lips and kisses the back of my hand. I shiver with a breeze and he pulls me close to his side. He’s warm, and I don’t trust him, but he seems safe.

We return to the house but Tiago isn’t back yet so Helion brings me back up to the room where I got changed.

“I thought you might like to change. Your dress looks a bit damp from our walk outside.” He watches my face and I wonder what he’s looking for. “Everything in here is for you.”

I do, picking another slim dress and changing in the bathroom. When I return Helion is on the couch with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

“I thought we could celebrate your first day as my betrothed,” he teases and I join him on the couch.

He hands me a glass and encourages me to drink with him. It doesn’t take much. I’ve been beyond stressed out all day and each new meeting he had with one of the lords only served to make me more uncomfortable. The idea of the vail had made me feel more safe meeting people, but while he played the whole thing off as a coincidence that I was there while he had a meeting I didn’t have it.

They had all clearly seen my face and, though Kheliq probably wouldn’t recognize me in person unless I was writhing in pain, a basic description of me was bound to raise his alarms. Us meeting people at Helion’s and the rarity of Tiago’s affinity was the biggest diversion. The long trip by horse would take more than a week, limiting assumptions and creating alibis.

My glass is empty before I’ve realized I’ve been unconsciously sipping it during my thoughts and Helion tops it off. “Was your day with me so terrible?” He chuckles.

I shake my head. “I can put up with some rude lords for a little while, though it’s a courtesy for you, not them.”

“I appreciate that,” he grins out but he can see I’m distracted.

He turns to me and then lifts me by my hips to straddle him. “Hey,” I croak out in surprise.

“You did perfectly. They will pass it around on how lovely you are and my stories with the lords will be passed to their ladies. Kheliq will hear that I’ve been secretly courting you for months and we’re announcing it to attend his party. His ego will be huge and it’ll make him lower his guard.” His hands move up my sides and while one trails back down the other moves to my back to rub soothingly. “Darling, relax.”

I feel myself sinking down to rest my head on his shoulder and I can smell his aroma. My nose moves closer to his neck as I sniff him, absorbing the smell like ginger and all-spice. It’s comforting, like a mug of hot cider, and l drape my arms over his shoulders as he continues to rub my back.

“You did so good today,” he says soothingly, “and you’re going to knock them dead at the party. Not literally.”

I chuckle against him and find myself relaxing to rest all of my weight against him. He stiffens slightly as my legs relax, I’m now sitting in his lap, and I feel the reason pressed against my crotch. He’s hard, shockingly so, but I don’t let it ruin my calm.

“I make no promises,” I smirk into his neck.

He pinches my hip and I make a sound of surprise, but he laughs. “Darling, don’t kill anyone at the party.”

“Okay,” I nod unhappily.

He pulls me down against him and I rock against his length. We’ve both had a few full glasses of wine and it’s clearly having an affect. His lips move onto my neck and start kissing up and down it.

“I can feel your heat darling.” He whispers, flexing his hips up against me.

I moan into his shoulder, not knowing what else to do with myself. I don’t care who he is and how much he irks me most of the time.

He breathes in my scent the same way I did his and moans back. “And you smell amazing.”

His voice rumbles against my neck and I find myself pulling him closer to feel more of it.

“Hmm,” he muses against my neck, and I feel his tongue as he kisses there again. “My Darling likes my praise.” I mewl in response and he chuckles, “how cute.”

There’s a knock on the door and I jump in his lap, eliciting another chuckle from him. He pulls me against him tighter, gently nipping at my neck before pulling me away to grin, and then turning me from his lap to the seat beside him. I’m panting slightly, and as the slight fog in my head starts to clear I realize how close I was to caving to him.

He goes to the door and opens it, revealing Tiago who is ready to take us back to Ignacio’s. Tiago glances from Helion, to me, and to the bottle and I feel even more embarrassed. Helion mutters something to Tiago that makes him relax, and shortly after we’re back at the house, having dinner.

I feel increasingly bad over the week as Tiago is forced to take us back and forth each day. It becomes part of the routine to go to the Sun Set court in the afternoon and be home for dinner. Guilt nearly consumes me when I’m sure that he’s doing it for me, when we could just remain in the court and he could come get us when it’s time for the party. I confront him about him, tell him that I’ll be alright with that and they don’t need to take some finder’s rights responsibility over me.

Tiago had returned with, “I’m used to acting as their ferry service before big events like this. Even if you weren’t here I’d be back and forth several times a day while they plan their alliances and deals. But I’d gladly do it just for you. I trust Helion barely more than Ricard. That man always manages to piss me off.”

He went off on a tangent about Ricard questioning his sense of direction,him, a natural tracker. I could understand the distaste for the man. I generally only saw him at meals and even that short time a couple times a day was enough for him to irritate me.