I bury myself into the light grey blanket I have wrapped around my shoulders. It smells of Thelios. Poppy is sleeping again. I introduced her to Banio this morning and they took to each other right away. Most likely due to the instant bonding over sweets. It was a hectic morning, with every postite fawning over my daughter. Even Patriarch Salbin called her a sweet, albeit expensive, little mite. She is exhausted.

Since I have recently discovered that I am a blood-sucking Oragoo fiend I have decided that I can just stay right here in my rocking chair until I turn into mold. I won't expend any energy and I won't ever need to drink Thelios' blood again. Problem solved.

A knock on the door makes me hurry to answer before Poppy wakes up. I swing it open, only belatedly realizing that the fist was pounding much higher and more insistently than I am used to.

Because it is a pig-headed Recondite Captain that I'm desperate to avoid on the other side.

I open my mouth to say something harsh to him when my words falter. His eyes are such a light grey that they appear to glow in his tanned complexion. He looks so controlled, but underneath the icy exterior is a seething mass of hurt and anger. Grief.

"What happened?" I breathe out. Questions, scenarios, all more horrible than the last races through my mind.

"Where is the baby?"

"Sleeping," I whisper.

"Mara, tell me what you meant in the pool." Thelios holds out his hand to me.

I had forgotten that slip-up. I drank his blood, for the gods' sake. Everything else seemed unimportant. My eyes flit down, the cut he made, that I drank from, is healing already.

Thelios curls his fingers at me, a reminder. I take his hand. His hand envelopes mine. It feels cold to the touch. Where has he been?

With a tug, I am pulled to his body. He bends his head, pressing his face to my hair. He inhales, once, twice, his heartbeat thudding slowly against my ear. "Tell me about Thane of the First. About Mara, daughter of Nateos. Tell me how I protect you, how I keep the filth of this world from your pretty hands when you shut me out and refuse to talk to me?"

I start to cry. I can't stop the tears any more than I can stop my fangs from popping out of my gums to seek Thelios' beautiful life-giving vein.

He pulls away slightly when he feels them nip at his skin. "Are you thirsty again, love?" he asks. His eyes have darkened back to their usual grey. He looks forlorn. He knows about Thane and I, or at least knows of Thane. It must be breaking him apart.

I shake my head, "no, I'm not-not thirsty." Ugh. Thirsty, not hungry. Because I drink blood. I shake my head again, to rid myself of those thoughts. Thelios wants to know about Thane.

"Can I tell you something, Thelios? I've never told anyone before. I never told Patriarch, or even my own mother, when... it happened. Sometimes I wonder if I'm crazy, if it never happened and I've just made it all up, but it's real. I - it's real-"

"Mara," his voice is nothing more than a soft croak, "tell me."

I inhale, but not much air seems to reach me. "He didn't reject me at first," I say it quickly. "He - when he first saw me he was happy, then, I think maybe upset, but I was so thrilled to meet him I didn't realize he was hesitant." I'm rambling, I want to confess this, this dark humiliation, but it's hard to order my thoughts. "He, he never told me he was contracted to Bond to Anthea. He pretended as if he thought I was beautiful and precious." My voice trails off. Nateos, it still hurts. Even with Thelios here, enveloping my body in his large, muscled arms, it hurts.

"You are precious, and so much more than just merely beautiful," he says simply.

The tears spill out. "I wasn't. I was just a young female. Awkward with orange hair. I wasn't anything like his lady, Anthea. He didn't tell me about her, Thelios, until a month after I met him for the first time." I take a deep, shaking breath. "He would come and see me about twice a week. He told me he would wait for me to be older. He brought me a necklace and sweets. He was courting me. It was so normal. I remember giggling with the other girls. I felt so important," I sneer at myself. I had become smug because of how handsome and powerful my fated was.

"Then..." I pound my leg with the fist that is free. Thelios quickly captures it. I dig into his hands with my nails. He doesn't flinch, just keeps listening with that soothing calm.

"I went to visit him at his house. I thought I was surprising him, but I was the one who was surprised." I hiccup a sorrowful laugh. "Growing up in the Fifth House we would always read these stories of love betrayed or a lover gone astray. I never thought I would find myself in a scene from one of those silly stories. I was the ugly, stupid little child, in love with my older, handsome fated. He was courting me while living with his intended Bonded. I saw them together at dinner, talking and laughing."

"Did you confront him?" Thelios asks.

"Yes. He was angry," I say. It's an understatement, but I can see in his eyes he understands. A Recondite sees the ugliest side of this city we live in. He knows how a male like Thane would rage at being caught in a lie. Thane's arrogance and self-importance was my undoing. I see it now, but then I was so young, completely naive to how a male's massive ego can literally kill.

"I was afraid and so broken-hearted. I was right to be afraid. I ran home, crying. I heard nothing from him for nearly two weeks, then..."

Thelios lets go of me abruptly. "Then, what? Tell me my Mara," he demands my story while calling me his own. His. If not for Thane, I could be happy to let this male call me his.

"It was bright that night. A full moon. I was afraid of the dark, isn't that silly?" I laugh at how twisted my childhood fears have become. "I would curl up in my mother's bed on the darkest nights, but that night I was in my own..." my voice trails off.

Abruptly Thelios pulls a knife from his shirt. His hands flick the blade, over and over, in between his fingers, moving it so quickly that I can only see coppery flashes. "Did he harm you, Sprite? Did that bastard come into your child's bed and violate you?" he seethes.

His anger snaps my focus out of my memories for a moment. He believes that Thane raped me. How will he take the truth? It makes sense that he believes that Thane came for me. The demonic shifters of the First House are notorious for losing control to their beasts on the nights of a full moon. Too many of them are wolven, so rumors say. Not that the First House would ever admit to wolves in their ranks. They prefer to pretend that they are all Tasuri, all purebred demon shifters.

"I was arrested in the middle of the night by the First House. The guards came, with orders signed by my own Fated. I was accused of treason against the House. I was called a manipulative liar. They took me to their dungeon and threw me inside." I rush out the explanation, scant, but clear.

"What?" he breathes. His eyes glitter with malice. I shiver. Thelios carries that same darkness in him that Thane had. I would be wise to remember that.

"They murdered me, Thelios. I died at their hands. That night... I was... they did everything."

"Everything," he breathes. Flash, flash goes the blade.

"Yes," I tell him in a broken whisper of my own.

"Yes? You were..." a hard anger flashes across his face. "You died, Sprite?"

"They tortured me for a confession. When I collapsed and could no longer speak, they left. One of them returned and he... um... he stabbed me."

The blade is plunged into the sweetbread on my table, so deep that only the handle shows. Two steps and he is kissing me.

Devouring me, more like. Deep and consuming, his lips cover mine, stealing the breath from my lungs and making my knees embarrassingly weak.

Thelios abruptly spins on his heels and leaves the room.

Leaves. Merely walks out and disappears into the hallway.

Mouth agape, I stare at the door to my sitting room. It takes a moment for my mind and body to coordinate their efforts to move, but I finally take the five steps to the door.

Thelios is gone, of course. That blasted male can move like a ghost, so swift and silent. I look up and down the hallway. Nothing. I am halfway out the door when I remember Poppy sleeping in my bed. I can't leave. I can't leave her here alone to wake up.

"Momo! Can you follow the Recondite?" I ask desperately.

I turn to see him standing behind me, hands clasped over his eyes. Alnue is standing next to him, mouth agape as he blushes.

"Momo," I warn him sternly, ignoring the quiver in my voice. Gods, that kiss was...

He takes his hands away, chatters, giggling and waggling his eyebrows at me suggestively.

I huff a breath of frustration. All of my gargoyles are sex-crazed. There are no female gargoyles, so I suppose I understand their fascination with the concept, but does Momo really need to tease me?

"He knows about the First," I remind him in a whisper.

Instantly his mirth ends. Glowing orange eyes glare out in hatred as his mouth of fangs hisses profanity in his own way.

"Find Thelios, Alnue, Momo. He can't march off to the First House in some sort of rage. They will destroy him."

Alneu laughs, it is a mean, sarcastic cackle. He has confidence in my Recondite.

"They will not fight fair," I tell the gargoyle in a warning tone.

They both hiss again. Momo makes a rude gesture in the general direction of the First House's palatine hill. Then he straightens and gives me a nod of compliance before heading off in a series of clicks and hisses. He will let all of my gargoyles know what is happening. It is the best I can do.

---

I tighten the buckle of my shoulder strap with the Captain's insignia etched across the copper seal. I strap on the knives to my forearms, making sure that everything is neat and tidy in its place.

"You seem... upset," Belen murmurs to me at my side.

"I have learned my Sprite's story, today, Bel."

"And?" his eyebrow quirks upward.

"What do you know of the First House?"

He pauses, looks at me with a steady, knowing stare. "They are cursed. You know that."

"But, why?"

He shrugs. "Some say they offended Love. Some say they offended all of the gods."

"Is Death one of those gods?" I ask.

His eyes sharpen on me. "Does your Priestess hold some anger toward the First House, Lios? I wouldn't like to be them if that's the case."

"Does she?" I muse with a smile. "It doesn't matter, Bel. They have my anger."

Belen grins wickedly. "Sounds like a fun time ahead of us then, eh?" He merrily begins to strap on his own weapons. For a moment I am struck by this male's loyalty. He has no idea why I am lethally angry at the House, but he is ready to fight by my side, as always.

"You are the best of brothers," I tell him.

He tosses me a grin and a wink, "you are the best, Thelios. When you were given to us by the gods it was a blessing."

I clasp him to my chest, pounding on his back as he returns my embrace.

The clicking of gargoyles distracts me. I look over to see Mushu and Mishu making kissing faces at each other. Mushu catches me staring and tosses his tail over his shoulder as if it's a ladies scarf and begins to sashay around exaggeratingly as Mishu winks and blows kisses at him.

Those little rats are mocking me.

Alnue waddles in on top of the doorframe and stops short. Mishu and Mushu both pause their game. I watch the three gargoyles eye each other. Alnue sniffs in their direction, bemused, before slowly scampering down the door and toward me. He places his hands on my thigh and climbs.

I sigh, waiting to see what the little beastie wants. He places his hands on my bicep, chattering away.

"I'm not a fool to go running off to fight the First alone," I tell him.

"I thought that's exactly what we're doing?" Belen asks, confused.

"Nay, Bel," I sigh. I tilt my head back and look at the ceiling. "I have a plan for my Fated. Does everyone think that I am a fucking idiot?"

The dry, cracked lips that land on mine a second later make me stumble back in shock.

Mushu shrieks in delight, clapping his mutant hands in glee at his trick.

"You disgusting little rat!" I roar.

Leaping about like one of those little monkey's the nomads bring with them every once in a while Mishu tumbles around on the floor. The laughter of all three gargoyles sounds so much like stone scraping against stone that I wince.

"You and your lady are perfectly matched, my friend," Belen states, staring at me as if I have grown another dick.

"It's my female's pets. They think they're funny," I grouch, wiping the back of my hand against my mouth again. "You can't see them," I tell him.

He blinks at me. "Perfectly matched."

---

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he asks me as we approach the narrow, wooden door in the cramped alleyway midway between the War district and Death neighborhood.

"I have questions." I stop at the saffron-painted door and raise my hand.

Belen grabs it. "You haven't had memories for long, Lios, so I'll just tell you that this is a brothel."

I stare at him. Does he think I'm completely stupid? "I know," I tell him slowly.

He scowls. "You think cheating on your lady is the way to get revenge on the First House? That's a fucking fascinating idea. You're a complete idiot."

I knock his head a little with the flat of my hand.

"Ow! Asshole," he mutters.

"I have questions," I repeat. I knock on the door.

"What, is the whore who plies her trade in this shithole a witness to something? Did your female magically sense some secret here? Maybe you-" Belen's words are cut off when the door swings open.

"Gods," he breathes.

The female staring coolly at us is very pretty, if you like females with soft chestnut-colored curls and deep blue eyes. She is acceptable for most males, I suppose.

"Fuck me," Belen croaks.

One sculpted eyebrow raises at his words. "That is the general idea," she says in a lightly amused, cultured voice that is much more interesting than her passable looks, in my opinion.

"Captain, Recondite," she greets us politely, "how may I service you today?"

"May we come inside?" I ask.

She steps back and lets us in. Her brothel is cozy and well-kept on the inside, a surprise for the lack of appeal of the exterior of the building.

A well-worn but sturdy table is graced with four chairs. I make note of it. There must be other females who live here. A soft linen blanket died a pretty green serves as a rug in front of the fireplace. The table is set for tea for two. Another room is nestled behind the staircase and I imagine there are two bedrooms upstairs.

"Would you like to sit and have tea, first?" she asks us.

"What is your name?" Belen growls out. I look at him, askance. He sounds angry.

The whore looks at him with caution. "Esa."

"I have some questions, Esa," I ask.

"Questions?" she looks back at me.

"About pleasuring my female," I explain.

She smiles. It's disconcerting to see a whore so amused with me, but I'm a little desperate.

"That's why we're here?" Belen asks me. "I could have told you all about fucking."

"He wishes to know how to please a female," Esa says with a sharp sideways glance at my friend.

"I do want to know that," I interrupt the insult I just know is poised at the edge of Belen's tongue.

"Would you like me to tell you or show you?" she asks.

"I will accept no touch but my own female's," I warn Esa in a low voice.

Her smile for me is genuine. Now I can see the appeal. Belen chokes a little next to me.

"Well, how much have you done with her?" she asks.

I tell her, and listen intently as she explains how to touch my female, and where. Belen is silent next to me, his eyes never wavering from Esa, not once.

We are there until my legs start to fall asleep. "Thank you, Esa. This will be helpful." I feel much lighter now. Having no memories is difficult. I pull out a purse and she stops me.

"No, I'm glad to help you, Captain. I wish you luck with your lady," she smiles at me again.

The clink of coin being slammed down on the table draws both of our eyes to Belen, his fist unfurling from the coins he slammed down, green cat-eyes glowing bright. "I have some questions for you, Esa."

She bites her lip. I look at her carefully to see if she is apprehensive. I have rarely seen my friend so on-edge.

Calmly, Esa nods, looking at Belen through her eyelashes. "Private questions?"

"Yes," Belen grinds out.

"I'll leave you to ask your... questions," I murmur.

As I shut the saffron door behind me, I hear Belen's voice, "unwrap your dress. I want to see you."

I click the door shut, shaking my head. I hope Esa is strong enough to handle a Recondite's attention.