***YEARS AGO***

Silvermoon was beautiful. It was Jaina's first time seeing it, accompanying Antonidas on a diplomatic mission to the Quel'dorei city. She'd been looking forward to this for weeks; it was also her first time going anywhere in an official capacity.

She leaned on her staff as she looked around, eyes wide and expression a little awestruck. "It's nothing like in the artwork."

"No, nothing can compare to seeing it with your own eyes." A dulcet voice spoke behind her, and Jaina turned around.

Years later, Jaina could never tell if it was the woman's beauty or the fact that she was the Ranger General of Silvermoon, but as Sylvanas Windrunner smiled at her she felt her knees go weak and tripped over her own words. "Yes, it's... really pretty."

Really pretty? Great.

Sylvanas covered her laugh, eyes twinkling. Then those beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, sharpening as someone walked up behind Jaina.

"Jaina, I wasn't aware you were visiting Silvermoon." Kael'thas eyed Jaina in a way that made her feel distinctly uncomfortable and she took a step back, nearly running into the Ranger General.

"Nor was I aware that you were either," she answered stiffly. There were days where she didn't entirely trust his motivations with her, and they'd been rather awkward since she and Arthas had broken up. But it was important to maintain politeness, even if she wanted to put some distance between them. So she forced herself to smile, not wanting to upset a member of the Council of Six.

Kael turned his attention to Sylvanas. "Taking our most gifted talent on a tour?"

Quirking an eyebrow, Sylvanas replied smoothly, offering her arm to Jaina. "I was, in fact, was I not, Lady Jaina?"

Jaina started, then took Sylvanas's arm with her own. Once they were out of earshot of Kael'thas, she whispered. "Thank you. He is a good man, but-"

"Good men do not eye young women like they are pieces of meat," Sylvanas said, expression dark. She did not let go of Jaina's arm as they walked, and seemed intent on taking them somewhere specific.

There was time yet before she needed to meet with her master, so Jaina was content to enjoy the Ranger's company. She was gorgeous, her voice warming Jaina to her core as she showed her around. And she didn't need to show her around. She could have dropped Jaina off at any point.

But here they were, in an alcove with a small garden and fountain and Jaina couldn't recall how they had come to this place. Sylvanas stepped away from her, walking to the edge of the fountain. "When I need to think and be alone, I come here. You are welcome as well, should you ever need to escape while in the city."

"Thank you, Lady Windrunner."

"Of course." Sylvanas smiled at her, hand lifting and her finger looping a lock of Jaina's hair. In the space between one breath and the next, Sylvanas dropped her hand and walked away.

Elves and hair, Jaina thought. But unlike with Kael, she really didn't mind.

Sylvanas didn't often meet with champions in her residence, but today she made an exception. It had been a late night with Jaina, discussing plans and backup plans. The late night had turned into an early morning and Sylvanas hadn't been able to keep the swagger out of her walk as she flung open the door to be greeted by the rising sun and the sight of Tyra Cole and Lomea Shadowbinder.

Lomea's eyes darted over the Warchief's unbrushed hair, mostly unbuttoned tunic and the pattern of bruises down her throat and chest. She simply raised one eyebrow, casually put her hand over Tyra's mouth before Sylvanas's pet warrior could say something to get them both killed and said, "We've a report, Warchief, and it is urgent."

"If it is so urgent as to knock at my door at sunrise, then we should not talk with the door open," Sylvanas replied. She jerked her chin and closed the door once the two had entered.

Skipping any niceties, she led them into the living room and leaned against the wall. "Report."

Tyra was used to the place, and to her credit Lomea didn't stare or gawk. She brushed her nails against her robe and inspected them. "I discovered that the Naga have set up a forward base in the Barrens, near the ruins of Fort Victory. My companion remained to harry them, but we have reason to believe that additional bases are either planned or in the process of being established."

"They think us weak." Sylvanas dropped her hands to her sides, Lomea's eyes darting briefly to her chest again as it was exposed.

"We can show 'em different, Lady," Tyra punched her fist into her palm, a feral grin on her face.

"We can. I will call a few additional champions to search for other bases. In the meantime, I want you to get in contact with your Alliance counterparts and wipe the Naga from my lands."

Lomea sneered, the expression marring her usually impassive face. "Must we be in bed with the Alliance, Warchief?"

"No, no," Sylvanas waved her hand in dismissal. "You can leave that to me. Only I am required to make that sacrifice for the Horde."

From the kitchen, Sylvanas could hear Jaina make a strangled choking sound before coughing up what sounded like an entire glass of water.

"You do still have to work with Alliance champions, of course."

She watched Tyra and the warlock start to go, before calling out. "Tyra?"

"Yes, Lady?" Tyra stopped and turned around.

"Where is Kalira?"

"Blightcaller sent her on a mission."

Sylvanas frowned, then waved her hand. "That is all."

Jaina only emerged once the two were gone, and she gave Sylvanas a sour look as she stroked one of the bruises she'd left on Sylvanas, before starting to button up her wife's shirt. "In bed with the Alliance, Sylvanas? Really?"

"She said it, not I." Sylvanas ran her hand up Jaina's arm, then started to push her towards the nearest wall.

Jaina twisted out of her grip and bounced on her heels a few feet back, a coy smile on her face. "So what happens if the Champions discover more Naga bases?"

"They destroy them."

Jaina tilted her head. "We're weaker than you want them to know."

"Yes. We need to keep the Naga on their toes until Wrynn and I can work out how to deal with them." Sylvanas was in no mood for this, still wishing to be in bed with Jaina's head on her chest. It was a desire she'd never voice out loud-one she could barely admit to silently.

"What's it like? Anduin, compared to his father."

Sylvanas's eyes searched out where the cat was sleeping on the back of a sofa, and she smiled ruefully. "I liked working with Varian better. He was a warrior, steel tempered in the forge. His son is nothing like him, and yet… I would say he has come into his own." Her eyes snapped back to Jaina. "If you ever tell him I said that I will kill you both and bury your bodies in Varian's litter box."

Jaina smiled at her. "My lips are sealed."

"I can get right on that," Sylvanas murmured, taking a step toward her.

"You're in a mood…" Jaina seemed as content as Sylvanas to let the Champions handle matters for the moment. It was too early in the morning for anything but an emergency to force them out of the house, as it were.

Sylvanas could hear Jaina's heart skip a beat as she pinned her to the wall with her body. She brushed Jaina's hair back, watching the way the strands fell across her knuckles and fingers, silver on blue. The back of Jaina's hand brushed against Sylvanas' cheek.

She leaned into the touch, disgusted with herself for enjoying it and yet when Jaina did it again she didn't stop her. This was a disaster. "Remind me of today's plans…"

"You've got a meeting with Thalyssra and Baine at eleven. I've got to be in Dalaran at three but that will only take an hour."

"Your meeting with the Council of Six." Sylvanas nodded. "So. Barring any further emergencies…"

"You get me to yourself," Jaina finished, leaning in and kissing her.

As though she'd predicted that's what Sylvanas wanted. As though she'd known what Sylvanas had wanted without Sylvanas really knowing. Sylvanas hated it, hated that feeling of weakness and vulnerability, hated that when Jaina looped her arms around her shoulders she did the same with Jaina's waist.

So Sylvanas did the only thing that made sense. She bit down on Jaina's lip, tasting the coppery tang of blood in the moment before Jaina shoved her away with a pained cry.

"What the hell was that for?!" Jaina held her hand over her lip, her eyes flashing in the kind of rage that always made Sylvanas want her.

She regarded Jaina cooly, though she didn't actually have an answer for her. Instead, she licked Jaina's blood off of her own lip and swallowed it, holding Jaina's gaze the whole time.

"Gods, you're impossible," Jaina snarled, unmistakable hurt in her voice that made Sylvanas actually regret her action.

But she wouldn't take it back or apologize, so just stood there as Jaina stormed out.

Once, Valeera Sanguinar had been a common sight for Anduin. One of his father's closest friends and advisors, she'd sworn to protect Varian and Anduin both, but since the beginning of the compact he'd tasked the Sin'dorei with keeping tabs on a very important target.

Her status updates had been few and far between, so to see her standing in his bedroom, his window open and the curtain fluttering, was a surprise to say the least. "Valeera. There's this thing called a door."

"Didn't want to be seen coming in and out," she said, unfolding her arms and smiling at him. "How are you, Anduin?"

"In need of better locks on the windows," he replied, shaking his head and walking towards a cabinet. He suddenly needed a drink, and Valeera nodded when he silently held up a bottle.

"You know what I mean."

"As you can see, repairs are mostly complete. My throne room is still a mess, but the people are in renewed spirits." He handed a glass of the other kind of spirits to the elf. He knew he was avoiding the question, but he didn't really have an answer for her. "As for myself, well…" He sipped from his own glass. "What do you think my father would have done?"

"About what, exactly?"

She was in a good mood at least, so whatever news she had to bring wasn't time sensitive. Anduin rubbed his temple. "Everything, Valeera. Azerite, the war, Sylvanas, Jaina, the Naga. Gods, if my father had lived I don't even know if that war would have happened. The peace might have lasted, Teldrassil would stand, Jaina wouldn't have had to..."

"I don't think the peace would have lasted," Valeera interjected. "It's true that Sylvanas respected your father, and she didn't respect you so she acted sooner rather than later. But eventually she would have made some kind of move and Varian would have had to react."

"A good king doesn't seek war, but will fight when it is brought to him," Anduin mused, swirling the liquid in his glass. "And what do you think now? You've spent a lot of time in Orgrimmar."

Not even Shaw had known she was there, and her mission in Orgrimmar was important enough that he relied on their regular spies for much of their intel rather than risk her being revealed.

"Sylvanas is in love with Jaina."

The whiskey went up into Anduin's nose, burning his sinuses as he went into a coughing fit, eyes blurring. It took him a few moments to get back under control and his voice was rough and froggy. "I sent you to make sure Nathanos doesn't murder Jaina, what are you talking about?"

"Blightcaller is often around Sylvanas, when she has not tasked him with something. He and Proudmoore do not get along, but I'm sure you were aware of that." Valeera sipped at her drink, then continued. "So by observing Blightcaller, I've had many occasions to observe both Sylvanas and Proudmoore." Something flashed in her eyes and she grimaced. "Including some occasions I'd really rather forget."

"Please don't share."

"I promise, I won't."

"Now, back to this other thing." Anduin wiped his face and chest with a cloth, trying not to think about what Valeera might have seen.

"I don't think the Warchief feels things the way we do, but she does feel things." Valeera explained, pulling out the chair from Anduin's desk and sitting in it backwards, long legs spread around the back.

He mused that his leanings towards men really should have been obvious when those legs had done nothing for him while growing up. "Big leap between that and her being in love with Jaina. I'm just barely starting to accept there might be some actual lust involved."

Valeera got that look in her eyes again that told him she'd seen too much and regretted it. "It's the little things, Anduin. Sylvanas converted the entire area above Grommash Hold into an office for her. She watches her, constantly. She won't hear a word against her."

"That doesn't mean she's capable of feeling love." The concept was anathema to Anduin. Everything he knew about the Banshee Queen was thrown into doubt by the idea that she could feel that kind of emotion.

"It pains me to say this," Valeera admitted. "But is it not love to protect one's people, the way she has always defended the Forsaken?"

"Love, or selfishness?" Anduin countered, setting his drink down on a table. Even as he said that, though, he knew that he might be wrong. If the Forsaken felt, if they remembered what it was like to love and feel regret and miss those they'd cared about, why not Sylvanas?

"A little of both." Valeera tapped her finger against the rim of her glass, seemingly lost in thought. "The thing I am most certain of is that if Lady Proudmoore asked to leave Orgrimmar, Sylvanas would let her. I can't tell you why I feel that. I don't even know myself. But I believe it to be true."

"And Jaina's feelings about Sylvanas?" Anduin asked, voice too low, expression knowing. He remembered the conversation with Moira and Yukale. Their theory, their theory that suddenly seemed so much more likely.

"You know her better than I, my king."

"Then it's mutual." There had to be something he could do, though just what that should be was up in the air. Anduin only knew that he had to do something. Save Jaina and Sylvanas from themselves? Encourage it? "And knowing Jaina she will spend the next decade in denial."

"Sylvanas would likely last as long."

Anduin needed to sit down, so he pulled out a chair and faced it towards Valeera before sitting. "I'm going to need time to process that. Let's move on."

"Nathanos," Valeera guessed, picking up her glass and knocking the entire thing back in one gulp. "Nathanos has been difficult to read and harder to track. But he's jealous. Angry."

"Is he in love with Sylvanas?"

"Maybe? He sees Sylvanas as the person he places above all others. He wants her to succeed, to conquer, to rule. He and Lady Proudmoore bicker constantly, more so now than ever."

"Is Jaina in any danger?"

Valeera shook her head. "Sylvanas keeps him in line, and she has both a Champion and Dark Ranger as bodyguards. If Nathanos wanted to make a move, he'd have to get through them and Proudmoore's magic."

"There's still ways around that," Anduin pointed out. "Poisons, assassination in bed. Nathanos could easily slip past most people."

She flashed her teeth. "I'm there too, much of the time."

He tilted his head in acknowledgment of her skill. "If you're not worried about that, then I'm not going to worry either. Nathanos values Sylvanas's trust and well being above even his own."

"It's a better leash on him than anything else we can do. Though I sometimes wish we could just let Tyrande or someone rip out his throat." Her eyes glinted, and Anduin just gave her a look and hoped it conveyed that no, she was not going to murder Nathanos Blightcaller.

She sighed, accepting his silent order. "I should get back. Nathanos will not watch himself."

"Give yourself a day or two, Valeera."

"Thank you. I've been running out of ways to write erotic letters to my admirers. There's one I'd like to see in person again." Her smile turned wicked at the stricken expression on his face, and she stood in a single smooth motion.

At her hesitation, Anduin stood as well, crossing the distance between them and giving her a hug. "I will never be able to repay you enough for the work you do for me." He pulled his head away, looking into her eyes, at the sadness and grief that still lingered there.

Valeera exhaled slowly. "I'll always watch over your family, Anduin. Always."