Sorry it's been so long! I know it's a few days early, but Happy New Year! If you've missed it, Michelle Sagara posted the first chapter of CiWsidom on her site (and I'm super excited to get the book!). Also, I know I'm rushing things with Kaylin & Nightshade, but it would take like 2,000 pages to get them together in true Sagara style, so please bear with me. I hope you enjoy!

Kaylin had no idea how long they stayed locked in each other's gaze.

"We should begin your class," Nightshade eventually declared, violet eyes bleeding into a deep emerald. His words stunned Kaylin. Flushing, she jerked her hand out of his, embarrassed that she was the one filled with desire when he had just... He sat up and Kaylin couldn't bring herself to look at him. She knew, had he continued, that she would have had sex with him; there was no way he hadn't realized that. Why did he stop, then? That was what he wanted, wasn't it? He sat up and stroked his mark on her. "You will know when you are ready, Kaylin," he assured her, leaning forward to catch her lips with his. It was different, with them both seated. After a long moment, she surrendered and kissed him back, her hands running freely along his naked chest. He tilted his head brush kisses along her neck and Kaylin, daringly, reached up to stroke his hair. It was so silky. So very, very silky. Brushing Teela's hair had been a privilege and Kaylin tentatively ran her hands through Nightshade's. He stopped kissing her and leaned his head against her shoulder. His arms hung loosely around her, but Kaylin didn't feel trapped at all. "Does it please you, Erenne?" He murmured, his lips brushing her neck as he spoke. Her breath hitched, but she continued stroking his hair.

"Yes," she replied honestly, because sarcasm seemed so far out of reach.

"You are always welcome to touch it," he invited, closing his eyes; it was enough to make her hands still.

"You don't mind?"

"As I have said, Kaylin, I enjoy having you touch me. If this is something you enjoy, I would be pleased to have you do so." Kaylin swallowed. He looked so peaceful leaning on her shoulder, leaving himself vulnerable to her in a way that was normally anathema to the Baranni. It was impossible to reconcile this man resting on her shoulder with the nightmare who had haunted her childhood.

"I think," she began quietly, around a swelling of some emotion she couldn't quite name, "after Barren, I always thought of men as different..."

"As a threat," he interjected, which was true, but not precisely what she had been trying to say.

"I tried - hard - not to think of men as men. With you in particular, I..."

"I will not force you, Kaylin, but I am a dangerous man. Your fear may have been misdirected, but it was not unfounded." Kaylin slowly resumed stroking his hair. It was intimate, but not... threatening. There was no fear, here.

"It was unfounded," Kaylin argued quietly. "I didn't know you. I knew your fief. I knew you were a powerful. I knew you were a man. But Nightshade... I didn't know you. I didn't know your reasons. I was so caught up in my own fears, I didn't even bother asking. I've accused you of a lot of things, but it took me a year to actually ask about the fief."

"Do not make me what I am not," Nightshade warned, his voice cool. "I am not, even by the standards of my kin, a kind man. I am not, by your standards, a good man. This will not change, Kaylin." Suspecting he might try to sit up, Kaylin placed a hand on his head in warning. She didn't want to break the moment. She couldn't say that she didn't want that to change - she did want him to care about his people - but even if it wasn't for the right reasons, he was beginning to look after them. The Emperor didn't claim any affection for most of his people and he had built the city Kaylin loved. Affection was not required to build something worthwhile. Kaylin didn't know how long they sat like that before Nightshade straightened and her hand fell away. "Come now, let us dance." He got to his feet and, holding Kaylin's gaze, began dressing. Kaylin flushed, but didn't look away. A distant part of her mind wondered how he had cleaned himself without her noticing, but mostly she was occupied with admiring him; he was almost painfully beautiful to behold. Once he was fully dressed, he offered her a hand and she took it, allowing him to draw her to her feet.

"Will... will that really help me dance?" She asked, unable to actually say what they had just done. The fieflord chuckled as they walked arm in arm down the now familiar halls.

"You are far more comfortable with me than you were an hour ago," he replied, sounding terribly pleased with himself. Kaylin frowned, considering why he hadn't allowed her to be swept away with the desire he had invoked. She stopped abruptly as the answer came to her.

"You intend to have me ask for..." she spluttered, flushing bright red. Nightshade drew her into his arms, tilting his head so his lips brushed her ear as he spoke.

"Kaylin, I will have you beg for me." Kaylin's blush became almost painful as she felt desire roll through her.

"I won't," she told him, in a voice she would forever deny squeaked. He shifted, catching her lips in a dance which really had become shockingly familiar. He swallowed her moan as she arched into him, clinging to his robe. When he leaned back, his eyes were green, ringed with violet. He calmly offered her his arm again and they continued down the hall in silence. Kaylin tried to even out her breathing. He was in far, far, too good a mood. Well, trying to teach her to dance was bound to change that. They took their places and began, the memory crystal's music filling the air.

"How was your visit to the Human Caste Court?" Nightshade asked, as they began moving. Kaylin faltered, but he steadied her. She was growing used to the swirl of her dress around her ankles.

"Are we really supposed to talk while we're dancing?" Kaylin questioned, trying to divide her focus between her steps and her conversation. Nightshade raised a brow.

"It is not, typically, considered polite to ignore your partner for the entirety of your dance together." Kaylin grimaced. Great. Just what she needed. Political sparring while dancing.

"I can't just dance with you?" Kaylin almost pleaded, because the thought of trying to talk to strangers and dance was really too much. Most of the time, Kaylin wasn't very good at polite. Nightshade smiled smugly, making Kaylin frown harder.

"Unfortunately not," he replied, keeping his voice neutral. "Despite your belief that I am a possessive and unreasonable Baranni Lord, it would be considered exceedingly bad etiquette if I were to keep you for myself." Kaylin spluttered.

"There's etiquette on how many times you're allowed to dance with someone?" Nightshade raised a brow in response. Of course there was. Was there anything the Baranni didn't have rules for? Nightshade's smile sharpened, but he chose not to answer the thought. Kaylin decided she was better off not knowing.

"I would imagine that there are those amongst your friends who will also try to aid you by asking for your dances."

"So... I can avoid talking to strangers without completely offending everyone?" Kaylin asked, with the first stirrings of hope. Maybe she could make it through this damn ball without creating a political incident.

"Who do you know will be attending?" He asked, guiding her through a turn.

"Teela plans to go," she offered. He raised a brow at her.

"No doubt, although I consider it unlikely that her presence will alleviate the difficulty you find yourself facing in regards to familiar dancing partners." Kaylin frowned at him.

"Why 'no doubt'?" She questioned, earning another raised brow.

"Lord An'teela treats you like a child under her protection." Kaylin grimaced at the truth of his words. She was trying so hard to grow up, but some days it felt like Teela didn't see it at all. Then again, who did?

"And you don't?" she challenged. Nightshade stopped dancing and pulled her body flush against his. It was awkward - and intimate - but didn't fill her with the blind terror Barren had left behind.

"You are young, Kaylin, but I assure you, I do not consider you a child." Kaylin swallowed hard as she held his violet gaze.

"...Why not?"

"Over the centuries," Lord Nightshade replied quietly, "I have spent more time associating with mortals than Lord An'teela." Kaylin was glad they had stopped dancing or she certainly would have tripped.

"Really?" He raised a brow at her disbelief.

"The mortals preserved in my Castle are not here by accident, Kaylin," he murmured, causing her break his gaze and to look around at the frozen figures. She forced herself not to look for the Leontine she had spoken to when the Castle was in flux. "Some I searched for, some came to me. Regardless, over the centuries, I have spent a great deal of time with them. I have come to understand that the years do not pass the same for each race, in a way most of my kin have not." She leaned her head against his chest as she considered his words. His arms wrapped firmly around her back, keeping her anchored against him.

"Why do you gather them?" She eventually asked. His hand shifted and he pulled the stick out of her hair, letting it to fall down her back.

"There are several reasons," he deflected, stroking her hair. Kaylin tilted her head to meet his light blue eyes. It wasn't a colour she liked or had had cause to see often.

"Like what?" Her frowned at her persistence, but she wanted to know. After everything they had done together, she wanted to learn more about him. All Baranni were private, but it was about damn time she tried.

"I am interested in their histories, their races. I have, on occasion, found them useful." Kaylin was focused on the words he didn't say.

"You want to be loved," she murmured and saw the fieflord flinch. She grimaced, realizing, after the words had left her mouth, how horrifying they would be to a Baranni. "Sorry," she said, swallowing hard and meeting his now midnight blue eyes.

"Is there anyone who does not wish to be loved?" He questioned cooly, distancing himself from her observation without denying it entirely.

"I don't know," Kaylin replied, thinking that he seemed more human to her now than he ever had before. She felt his irritation at the thought through their bond. He raised his hand to stroke the mark on her cheek. Kaylin wondered, then, if he wanted her to love him. She had always believed that the Baranni weren't capable of love, but Nightshade's love for his brother had cost him everything. "I don't want to be..." Kaylin waved her arm at the statues, unable to find the words and unwilling to examine her own revelations.

"I know," Nightshade answered. "You have many people that you value, now; living just for me would break you." Kaylin closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest at the allusion to Steffi and Jade. She wondered what she would have said had he made her such an offer immediately after her deaths, but even then couldn't imagine accepting it. She hadn't particularly wanted to live after her loss and had spent too much time in the shadow of the Castle to have easily trusted the fieflord. Without his name, she wasn't sure she would trust him now. "Come," he said, taking her arm. "It is late and you will need to continue your investigation tomorrow." Kaylin knew, without words being exchanged, that she would not be leaving the fief tonight.