Slowly he drew closer. Slowly he raised her hand to his lips one more time. Holding it there. Meeting her eyes. Searching for permission.

He must’ve seen it because he moved closer.

Lita felt a need to stop this.

She knew what he was doing. Knew he’d perfected these moves and would do it to another woman later. Probably even that very night.

The wise thing was to stop this.

But, I don’t really want to.

It felt too nice to be wanted. By someone she wanted to want her.

Voids to it!

Finally, with thrills of delight in her stomach and down her spine, goosebumps jumping up all over her arms, Dalius wrapped one arm around her waist. Pulled her gently, but firmly, into his chest, while the other hand pressed into the back of her head.

She felt his fingers play with and loosen her hair. Then wrap into her curls as he, still with aching slowness, teasingly first rubbed his lips against hers. Then steadily deepened their kiss.

Pressed into the kiss.

She opened her mouth eagerly to accept his tongue against her’s and tasted his teeth, his mouth. Reason was beginning to leave her as she became very, very aware of his body. His gorgeous, beautiful body pressed against her’s. Pushing her back into the wall.

The rational part of her mind was gone and she vaguely was aware of being led down the hall. First slowly then faster as her body heat rose.

Then, she was on his bed. Back pressed into the mattress. Hair all over, her blouse being loosened, being touched in ways she should stop. She… should… stop..

“Dalius?! Voids, Dalius! Where are you?!”

The call echoed down the hallway even as someone banged on the knocker.

It was like snow falling onto her head.

With a gasp she yanked herself away, sitting up quickly and staring around in befuddled confusion at the curtained doorway. Shaking, mind muddled, she gasped again and covered her face with one hand.

Dalius growled in frustration, face pressed into her shoulder. Then he laughed ruefully and sat up, running his fingers through his own disheveled hair.

“Dalius! I know you’re in there.”

“One moment!”

“But-”

“Hanzin, I swear-”

“They’ve called a surprise meeting because no one could find you. If you don’t come now, they’ll put us both in the dungeons.”

Dalius sighed and reluctantly got off the bed. Letting go of his hold on her in the same movement.

“That-” Her already low voice broke and she took a deep breath. “That wasn’t fair.” With one hand turning white on the bed frame she felt a little calmer.

He was grinning though she could see his agitation behind it. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re not.’

“No, I’m not. I can’t help it. Beautiful women are my weakness.” He smiled and her heart leapt again as he leaned closer to her.

It was so difficult not to grab him by the head and pull him down for another kiss. To keep going…

“Besides.” He touched her cheek and she closed her eyes to press into that touch. “You could have stopped me any time. I wasn’t all to blame.”

“Dalius! Voids, Dalius! You’re going to kill me one day.”

“Not if the demons get to you first. But, I may do that myself right now.”

Dalius’s face twisted into anger. Which he just as quickly smoothed away as he grabbed her hand and kissed it. Then her wrist. Then her mouth again…

“Dalius!”

“If you change your mind about leaving with us tomorrow?” he murmured quietly, ignoring his aide’s frantic calls.

She smiled, throat dry. “I’ll-I’ll think about it.”

“Do that. Meanwhile, wait here for me. To get a taste of what waits for you in Kahnay.” He was about to step away then leaned down to gently kiss her again.

She could have melted happy into the bed as she eagerly responded.

Of course she’d wait. To the voids with all the bickering at the back of her mind that said ‘run away!’.

He left, letting in light and growling something at his aide.

It took a long time to calm her heart. There. Sitting in the dark. In the bedroom of the most handsome man she knew. At first only happily and giddily thinking about what was coming.

But with her heart calming down, her reasoning began to trickle back in.

Lita, what are you doing? You know he’s only playing with you.

It was just… so nice…

What girl wouldn’t want to be chased like that?

She pulled her legs onto the bed, trying to ignore the voices. The reasonable voices speaking about things she didn’t want to hear. She just wanted to stay here. To wait. To have just one night.

Especially if she ended up dead like Nakos.

But, what if she didn’t? What if she got this one last thing done and… and what?

Her emotions began to cool as objection after objection came to her. Reminding her that if, when, she did survive her one last thing, she didn’t want to sleep with just any man. Not a player who’d take any beautiful woman. But a devoted lover.

Someone who’d always be there.

Not someone who’d love her for a night. Perhaps a couple of years.

Not someone who probably wouldn’t think twice about abandoning her when she got pregnant.

Then she wouldn’t even have a job here because Diana Veran made it clear she didn’t want a mother for a servant. Unless the general staff took her in. They might but she wasn’t sure she’d want that. Not with Clophas and the other morons around, whom she’d have to pay more attention to.

She didn’t think Dalius would completely abandon her with his child but… still… he wouldn’t be there anymore. Dalius just wasn’t the husband type.

The husband type.

Why would she start thinking about that now? Probably because of all the stupid people in her life that talked about her upcoming prospects.

Tears slid down her face. Frustration, anger, and a growing shame.

This. This was the coward’s way out.

If she stayed here she knew, she knew, she’d be giving up on what she’d actually wanted. Knew she’d be turning her back on what she knew she should do.

And it never, never, turned out right for her when she took the coward’s way out. Even if everything went wrong anyway, she knew that, as long as she was easy in her own mind, she’d be ok.

She was done being a coward.

It was physically painful to force herself to stand up.

To leave behind bliss.

***

It was late in the morning when he woke up. And woke up tired. He imagined himself still aching from the effort he’d put into spell casting the night before. He wasn’t sure what caused his disturbed mood. He didn’t think he’d gone to bed upset.

Still, all morning all he did was sit and brood. Refusing to talk to Sheldon as his steward came in and out of the tent to check on him.

His thoughts soured until he could barely stand himself.

Wishing for death. Wishing that memory suppression was enough to make him forget the miserable side of his existence.

The awful memories. The half life where his friends would never bridge the gap that separates human from demon. The lovers who wanted him only for his goods and his higher-than-human status.

It wasn’t until Verona came to exchange her children for Sheldon that he really tried to shake off the depression.

There had to be better things to do than brood.

So he forced a smile and stood as Verona put Isha down and Dennin dashed away from them both.

Thank you, Verona mouthed then winked at him before turning to face Sheldon.

The steward was worriedly pinching his mouth in a line and looking between Taiken and the children. Not quite trusting the demon’s mood.

Verona either didn’t notice or ignored the atmosphere as she casually looped her arm through her man’s.

“Why don’t we go to the pier?” she suggested. “Before we pick up the wool? I haven’t been since I was a girl and I don’t get a break from the littles very often.”

“I-” Sheldon shot Taiken a bewildered look. Stumped by both his shyness and his worry. “Will you be alright, sir? We could just get the wool-”

“What?!” Verona teased and began tugging him toward the entrance of Taiken’s big tent. There might’ve been some desperation in it. “I think the Master is perfectly capable of watching them for a couple of hours. Aren’t you, sir?”

“It’ll be fine, Sheldon.”

He didn’t know what finally made Sheldon drop his reluctance because he’d just realized that Isha was having one of her day’s, too. So Taiken had stopped really paying attention to the adults. On a spontaneous urge he got to one knee to kiss her forehead and the child looked up at him. Her drooping mood broke with a bright smile.

He didn’t know that his own smile turned genuine with delight at her response.

When he looked up he caught Sheldon finally nodding and allowing himself to be led from the tent.

Once the tent flap closed Taiken turned his full attention to his two little charges. Dennin, without any kind of prompting or invitation, had already started going through a crate of bobbles.

Isha wasn’t so exploratory. She sat cross legged and armed, watching him with her head tilted to one side.

“You have funny eyes,” she informed him.

Actually, it sounded like, “You has funis eyes,” and it took him a couple of breaths to figure out what the four–year-old had so seriously decided to point out.

“They’re blue.” He leaned over to pick her up. Feeling a thrill of pure delight as the child wrapped one hand in his ponytail and stuck her thumb comfortably in her mouth. “Can you say blue?”

“Funis.”

Alright, he had funny eyes.

The last time he’d watched them she’d said something about his skin color, too. He hadn’t quite understood and felt that he should be glad of it.

Dennin screamed in protest when Taiken picked the child up and put him on his other hip. The screaming didn’t stop until they’d climbed the stairs behind his tent and up onto the viewing platform.

And, as though a door had been slammed, the child abruptly stopped screaming.

He didn’t stop wriggling, though, and Taiken was finally forced to release the squirming child. The boy promptly, and with more energy than a puppy, dashed across the small platform and pressed his face between the slats.

When Kelly used this place there had only been bare railings. It was good enough for the adults who used it at the time. But not good enough for exploratory children.

The last time he’d watched them was when they’d found their way up there. And Dennin had almost fallen through.

Remembering the incident made Taiken grimace.

He tried to put Isha down but she wasn’t having it. Instead she yanked her thumb out of her mouth, grabbed his shirt, and with a determined grimace held on so tightly he was afraid he’d hurt her if he tugged too hard.

And she was pulling his hair hard enough to make him wince.

“No!”

“I get it, I get it. I won’t put you down.”

Taiken sat down by Dennin and held the little girl in his lap as they all watched the stage preparations.

Tonight would be their first show night. There wasn’t much left to do to prepare. Other than a few people wanting to practice a little more and props being put in the right places.

This amphitheater was the best one in the Separation. They had props and could do acts here they couldn’t do anywhere else. And there was a large cavern behind the amphitheater that he’d created over fifty years ago. Just to store the we things they used only here.

Isha pointed to the big doorway that had been opened for the purpose of pulling out props. If it had been more directly below them, like everything else on this end of the curve, she never would have spotted it.

“Go there?”

“No-”

“Pease!”

“Pease!”

He was pretty sure Dennin had no idea what Isha was asking for. The child hadn’t been paying attention until Isha yelped in excited pleading. But, because she wanted something, the two-year-old assumed it was worth having and joined in.

Under the persistent onslaught of repeated ‘peasees!’ from big, begging eyes, the demon had no hope of resisting.