By the time Dom was released from his uncle's care it was after midnight. He had in fact laughed when Baird had relayed Gwen had first asked if he was alright and then had asked Baird to relay the message that he had survived he had to talk to Kel. Kel, was the most easy to find person as she had been the one to get a hold of him and drag him from the ballroom after he had seen Neal take hold of Gwen. He had heard Gwen screaming for him while Neal pulled her out of the room and resolved to send whoever his healer was to find her and make sure she knew he was alright. He had been lucky he was wearing the chain mail otherwise the arrows would have gone a little deeper. As it was he just had two holes in his arm that were bandaged up.
After receiving Gwen's message, Dom decided it was best to admit his feelings to Kel at that time, when he could at least get some pity for being injured while protecting Gwen. He had asked her to come sit by him for a moment and looked her over. She was in a gown for the ball, her hair had most likely been done up nicely but after pulling him along through the crowds to make sure he would still have use of his left arm after the evening was gone, it had started to come unpinned, falling down in an attractive way. Looking up into those beautiful hazel eyes he felt the words leave his mouth that he had vowed he would never say unless she showed some interest in him. Kel's eyes had gone wide when he told her he loved her and he expected to be slapped or for Kel to leave the room. Instead she laid her head against his good shoulder and let him wrap his arm around her. They didn't say anything more until Baird came several hours later to check the bandages and then release him.
Now he held Kel's hand as they walked through the empty halls towards the library Baird had said Gwen had been taken to. The assassins had been caught nearly an hour before but as he and Kel entered the library and saw everyone still sitting around talking, he suspected no one had told them. Gwen herself was curled up in an armchair fast asleep looking like a strange being with her face paint.
"So Dom, how did you get stuck with this one?" Neal asked softly nodding to the sleeping girl.
"Roald asked me." Dom said simply as he went to kneel on the ground by Gwen. He wouldn't be able to carry her to her rooms with his arm and he didn't want to wake her when she had only napped on a couch that day. He didn't say exactly what he was doing but no one questioned him as he grabbed a cup of water and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. He began the slow and methodical process of removing Gwen's face paint and undoing the knot in her hair so when he did decide how to take her back to her rooms, she didn't look like the Godssent, just a tired lady.
"She looks like a different person when you do that," Dom heard Owen whisper in awe.
"I believe that's the point," Neal muttered. "She's a vicious little thing. Probably kicked me a good twenty times on the way out of the ballroom."
"Did you ever assure her you weren't kidnapping her?" Dom asked. "How would you react when the one person charged with your safety is shot and in the panic breaking out around you, someone grabs you from behind? Not to mention you know that the moment there was a face to the title you were a target for assassins and kidnappers?" Dom shook his head. "We are going to have to work on your unarmed attacks." He informed the sleeping girl.
"Why not just give her some daggers? If she had some of those Neal probably wouldn't have had arms to carry her off with," the quiet Seaver pointed out. Dom looked around the room to see only friends, only people he would trust this girl's life with and sighed.
"Gwen won't carry weapons. She dismissed Dom's entire squad because she said the Godssent has to appear as if nothing can touch them." Roald supplied. To Dom he asked, "Are you going to wake her?"
"I don't want to, Goddess knows she didn't sleep a wink last night and if she wasn't completely exhausted, I would bet she wouldn't have gotten sleep tonight either. It's just I can't carry her right now." Dom stroked one of Gwen's curls back from her face with the same tenderness he had just shown Kel. That particular thought brought several other thoughts to his mind. If he started a relationship with Kel but continued living with Gwen, eventually Kel would spend the night because he couldn't spend the night away from her. But maybe Gwen approved so much of them being together, she would allow it.
"She can't be that heavy," Merric laughed. "Except when she did that trick with the door frame. Honestly Dom, you should have seen her cling to it when she didn't know Neal was helping her. I thought the door frame would give before she did and that door was stone."
"I can carry her," Dom turned to see Faleron offer. "Roald can lead, and you and Kel can bring up the rear." It was a decent plan so Dom stood to allow Faleron to take Gwen when he saw Neal get a good look at the Godssent without her makeup.
"Dom, Roald, isn't that the little maid that was crying at your feet this morning because her mistress would be angry with her for getting lost?" Neal stared as Roald started to laugh.
"Gwen needed to be moved from one part of the palace to another without anyone knowing she was Gwen." Dom explained to the others. "Gwen played the part very well. Now let's get this one to bed so we can all go to bed."
A little coaxing got Gwen to wrap her arms around Faleron's neck and shoulders and let him lift her up without any resistance and Dom found himself relieved she would allow Faleron to hold her and not insist he do it even in her sleep. Kel's hand slipped into his before they left the room and as the door closed behind them he heard the distinct sounds of Neal throwing a tantrum about the contact.
"He will just have to get over it," Kel muttered when both Faleron and Roald looked back to see what Neal had been complaining about. With that the matter was dropped and they walked to Gwen's suite. Kel took over Gwen's care once she was in bed, pulling the dress off and then finding the night shirt she had been using. When Kel was done, she found the men sitting together in the sitting room.
"So how old is she?" Faleron was asking.
"She hasn't ever said her age but I would guess maybe nineteen or so," Roald replied. "As much as I trust the gods, I'm not sure she has enough world experience to be the Godssent. She's too young. She just froze when she was being shot at."
"But she unquestionably had an idea of what to do when she thought someone was dragging her off. A couple of those kicks were almost close enough that one child would be all Neal would ever have." Faleron shuddered. "The only reason I think she didn't get enough force into those kicks was the dress she was wearing."
"It is difficult to kick when you have yards of fabric in the way," Kel sat down next to Dom and took his hands. "As for freezing when Dom got shot, well, she probably had no idea what to do. If she had run into the crowds, she would have endangered more people if none of them were planning their own assassinations or kidnappings. She did the right thing by staying put."
"So you two are together then?" Faleron nodded to their linked hands.
"Good question," Dom turned his gaze towards Kel. She had not actually said anything about what they were or what they might be since he had said he loved her. She had only cuddled up to him and held his hand.
"We will talk about it. Not tonight though, I am just too tired. Maybe over dinner tomorrow?" Kel saw Dom's eyes flick to the doorway that led back to Gwen's room and sighed. "Well, we will find time," Kel patted his hand. With that Roald, Faleron, and Kel left so Dom could get some rest.
Morning was a rude awakening for Dom, or so he thought. He sat up in bed feeling the ache in his arm now that the healing had worn off. Those arrows had not hit bone, but he almost felt like they had. He wished he could stay in bed a little longer but he also knew, despite his injury and late night, he had a duty. A constant, danger attracting duty. He cleaned up, dressed, and opened his to find a note tacked to it written in a very careful hand.
Dom, Roald came to get me this morning. Hope you are alright! You should sleep or find Kel. –G
It actually bothered him that Roald had come to take his charge away. The least he could have done was wake Dom and say something or even have suggested it might have been a possibility that night. He grumbled and then left to go in search of food and Kel, finding both at the same time in the Own's mess where he was greeted like a hero.
"All I did was stand in the way of two arrows." Dom muttered to Kel when he sat down.
"But it was the Godssent you took those for," Kel reminded him. Somewhere in his mind Dom had a hard time connecting Gwen and Godssent. If anything she seemed far too, well human. But then what had he expected? He wasn't sure anymore. Gwen had been at the palace less than a week and already she had turned his world upside down.
"Do you know where Roald took her?" Dom found himself worried about where Gwen had gone without him.
"He said something about taking her place to place and introducing her slowly." Kel had already passed them in the hallway twice with Faleron on one side playing guard and Roald on the other playing diplomat, Gwen was meeting not just nobility but the commoners running around the palace as well.
"So Kel, my darling, we must speak about my unrequited love for you." Dom captured Kel's hands and beseeched her like a Player would.
"It's not unrequited so stop your whining. But the question is what are we? Are you planning on courting me, are we just lovers?" Kel let him keep her hands as she spoke. Dom knew most people wouldn't see the difference between lovers and courtship, often they went hand in hand, but Kel would know. That Kennan fellow had not courted her, he had been her lover and even then one that never actually bedded her, something he was entirely grateful for.
"I would like to court you, but I might not have the time that requires." Dom admitted feeling ashamed. "Chasing after Gwen might be a whole new adventure I wasn't aware I was getting into."
"So we are lovers then," Kel tried to pulled her hands back but Dom wouldn't let her.
"We are both," he kissed her fingers drawing catcalls from the men of the Own around them. "Now, let me kiss you so I can get back to eating."