AN: Neph is so naughty. XD And Nicnevin is a whore. Corny is being cleaned up by the servant women.

Nephamael swept into Nicnevin's elaborately glamoured chambers, finding things just as he had predicted.

She seemed to have been anticipating his arrival somehow, as she was dressed in a interestingly translucent black gown that plunged low beyond the swell of her milky breasts. "Ah, Nephamael, I've been expecting you."

"Isn't that obvious?" he muttered under his breath.

"What?" Nicnevin's fine brow wrinkled in confusion.

"Nothing at all, mistress," he replied smoothly, with a quick downward glance and a charmingly poisonous smile.

She tried to pull him in to her, but he pulled away and crossed to the other side of the room, feigning interest in some odd object or another. Nicnevin pouted, pondering a way to gain his attention. She knew he was playing with her, trying to get her to beg, and it was working. If he chose to indulge her, it would be of his own accord.

She stayed where she was, although she could feel those long, powerful legs pacing the room restlessly. "Is the girl being prepared?" she asked, and he stopped somewhere behind her.

"Yes, you have her enchanted quite well, I believe." She thought she could hear the grin in his voice. "Your poor Roiben is tending to her now. Probably giving her a last kiss to seal their love before he all but kills her himself. I will love to watch this."

"I'm assuming this isn't the only reason you've come to pay me a visit tonight..." Nicnevin tensed, then relaxed as Nephamael came up behind her and rested his hands lightly on the place between her shoulders and her neck. They were cold enough to startle, but in a pleasant sort of way, making her shiver.

"What other reason do I ever come to visit you for?" he whispered softly against her neck.

"A tempting offer," she sighed, reaching behind her to wind his hair through her fingers. "Yes, you tempt me more strongly than perhaps even my own consort once did. Such a pity you weren't around back then...I might have preferred you in his place. You have a way of pleasing me that most cannot achieve."

"A bold and flattering declaration," he pointed out, kissing the curve down from her neck to her shoulder. And indeed it was; such things were not often spoken, even in private, from an ancient queen to her relatively young knight. Not even hers anymore.

She sighed and tilted her head to the side, allowing him more room and encouraging his kiss. She let him suck on her awhile, enjoying the feel of his mouth on her, then pulled away and turned to meet his eyes, her own glittering like crystal glass.

She pressed her body against him tightly, his warmth making her shiver with pleasure. She rested her head on his shoulder for a second, allowing the desire to rise and swell within her as he slid his hand slowly down her back, tracing her spine lightly, then back up. After a moment's hesitation, she licked from his neck up to his mouth and kissed him, heat mounting and cresting in a wave.

His soft lips returned her kiss without restraint; her fingers entwined in his hair and her hips rocked against his slowly but firmly. She allowed herself to bite his lower lip lightly, trying not to get too carried away, but teasing him at the same time. She flicked her tongue against his lips as if requesting entry, but had teasingly refused to follow through with her intentions.

She felt one of his hands begin to slide up her leg and under her dress, stroking high on the inside of her thigh. The other held the back of her neck as his tongue, which had been teasing her lips right back, slipped into her mouth, catching her pleasantly off guard. She had wanted in his mouth, but she had played with him too long first.

Her hands slid to his attractively narrow hips, pulling him to her even more tightly, pleased by the way the bones curved in suggestively. She craved the taste of his sleek, bare skin like the taut, warm flesh of a silver apple. Her lips and tongue were slick with his saliva, all thirst and longing.

She moaned a little, stroking the underside of his tongue with hers as his probed the ridges on the roof of her mouth. Both of his hands slid up under her dress now, cupping her buttocks and holding her against him. She whimpered and let her hands run up his body to stroke the side of his face and his neck as they kissed.

He bit and sucked her lower lip, stopping every now and then to flick his tongue into her mouth. After awhile of this she tried to do the same to him, but he wouldn't let her; he pulled away and brought his hands up to her neck so he could kiss and lick up from her collarbone to the hollow of her throat, She tilted her head back and moaned as be began to kiss down toward her breasts, and that was when the door opened.

"Your sacrifice is ready, m'lady," the servant intoned disinterestedly, before she noticed what the two had been doing. Her violet eyes flickered from Nicnevin to Nephamael, who was still leaning against her and whispering something against her neck. She still had her arms around him, but she seemed to be paying attention to the servant.

Nicnevin raised a scarlet brow. "Well?" she snapped impatiently, irritated to be interrupted, and slightly embarrassed to have been caught in a tryst with Nephamael when she should have been making arrangements for the Tithe . Belatedly, she wondered what had happened to the redcap she had sent, but decided it wasn't important. "Bring her to me. I shall return to the Court."

The servant nodded, her tangled blue-green hair catching the light, and shut the door. Nicnevin listened as the sound of the servant's bare feet trailed down the hall, and Nephamael continued to kiss her neck. When the sound had grown far enough from them to her liking, she shoved Nephamael away and delivered a sharp blow to the side of his face. He only laughed.

"You have no business hanging all over me when we both have important matters to attend to!"

"You know you enjoy it. Don't pretend you don't." He leaned in and gave her a last lingering kiss, then said, "Farewell mistress. I want to see some death." With that, he turned and left, leaving her alone to ponder whether those words meant more than they seemed to at first. The way he'd said it had sounded sort of naughty.