The tea steamed in the bone china cup. It held a fragrant, earthy aroma that was all but unknown to Amalette.

Ondalia sipped the liquid as if even hot tea did not dare to burn her tongue. "Imported," she explained. "A spiced surface blend. I reserve it for special occasions, and I do believe this is one. Tell me, what of my spouse-to-be?"

Amalette smiled sweetly. "Aestith has of course accepted. He could never refuse you, priestess. And I have taken some pains to procure an item that will… correct Aestith. Fortunately, his imperfections have pre-existing remedies." It was a shame about Haeltania, but it being Aestith was in some ways preferable anyway; he would be easier to control.

"And where is he?"

She had been watching Jaalie's return. Amalette glanced at her cup, but it was still steaming. She looked back at the priestess. "A complicated subject, but one I think you will appreciate. Aestith had some business to attend before he joins us. The marriage is not urgent, so Jaalie saw little use in pressing the matter. Tell me, had you planned for Aestith to sire a child of your union?"

"A child born of two priestesses? Yes," Ondalia said.

Amalette nodded. "Then we shall have to secret Aestith for a time, so perhaps it is best he remains on the surface until preparations are complete. Along those lines, how would you sanctify your union? We might be able to bribe another priestess to officiate, but it may still be unwise for Aestith, in his present state, to come home until after the procedure."

Ondalia considered. Her original plan had merely been to keep the boy in her home until she was pregnant, and their daughter was born for good measure, before she allowed Amalette to adjust Aestith. Keeping him on the surface, however, was far less dangerous and so held a certain appeal. "High Priestess Ter'resa is already aware of Aestith's condition. She might be willing to officiate, with the right bribe."

Amalette nodded once. "Can you not officiate your own ceremony?"

"It is not unprecedented, but it is unorthodox," she admitted.

"Perhaps it would be best if Aestith were kept away from Matron Ter'resa's domain for the time being." A pause. "My little brother is building a temple to Lolth on the surface. From my understanding, it is nearly complete and has a tunnel passage from somewhere near to Skullport, to the lower parts of the temple. You need not ever see the surface."

Ondalia sipped her tea as she considered any possible flaws in the logic, or points where it might be a trap. Amalette busied herself with the tea, adding a splash of deep rothe milk. She lifted the cup on its saucer and sipped. Ondalia said, "I admit, I am curious as to what this temple could be, and there is some value in keeping Aestith hidden until the appropriate time. Keeping the boy on the surface should do well enough."

"Excellent. And House Innis?" She had requested that they be neutralized, and Ondalia had seemed amiable to the idea of carrying out the request as a gift of sorts, but the house had not fallen, except perhaps a few heavy financial blows. There had been a handful of deaths in the family recently as well, but it had been the death of supporting actors, not the leading roles.

Ondalia's smile was serpentine. "They're bleeding like a slave on an altar. We shall make the final cut when your family is folded into my own."

She concealed her disappointment; she had hoped for, at minimum, a fatal blow to befall the youngest member of their family—the one destined to be a cleric and thus the most dangerous. The others were paltry drawbacks. "Then I anxiously await the ceremony, priestess. Tell me, how many of yours might we expect?"

"Though this union should be a grand event, I believe it is in our best interest if we have a minimum number in attendance, don't you?"

That meant a contingent of slaves, servants, and guards of a number she was not likely to confess. "Of course. Not all of my family will witness the ceremony ourselves." She smiled, as if it were an innocent remark. There was a certain thinning in dividing her family as she planned, but it meant that they could not all be struck at once. Ondalia had attained her position by eliminating her adopted family; Amalette had no intention of allowing such a thing to happen to Rix.

Amalette sipped her tea. She could scarcely contain her delight at how smoothly things were progressing.

#

There was a note on his desk, in purple vellum. Aestith smiled and broke the wax seal. The Huntsman of Dark Carnival had once again requested him to come to dinner.

Aestith slid into the dress Xaiviryn had given him. His nails were painted, and he was satisfied with his hair and makeup. He caught a carriage to the townhouse and he got out a block away. He walked toward it, and someone outside waved. He squinted, but in the dying sunlight, couldn't quite tell who it was.

As he approached, he smiled. Ryze grinned from under his human guise. "I got to see the temple," he commented immediately, then seemed to remember himself and bowed. "Priestess."

"What do you think?"

"It'll look a lot better once we're done with it. Edajin is installing that thing you wanted. Said he wanted to look at making traps too." He made a face. "I'm just pleased to avoid having to unload boxes."

"So you're playing butler instead?"

"Better than unpacking boxes," he assured him, shoving the gate open. He hesitated, then leaned toward Aestith. "Xaiviryn has been excited to see you. He'd never admit to it, but he has."

Aestith was almost cheered to hear it, then he looked down. "I see."

Ryze frowned, then skipped ahead to get the door. He gave a low, elaborate bow as Aestith passed and the door clicked gently closed behind him. Xaiviryn was in the parlor. Aestith half-expected him to be looking at that map again, just as he had been that first meeting. He was instead perched in a chair, one leg thrown over the side, a long wooden pipe in one hand and a book in the other. He looked up as Aestith approached and grinned. The book snapped closed, the disguise falling at the same movement. He snuffed the pipe and set it down beside the book on an end table. "You took your time," he said.

"I'm perfectly on time."

Xaiviryn frowned and glanced at the logs in the fireplace, judging how long they had been burning. "Maybe you are," he conceded. "No matter." A flicker of uncertainty crossed his features. "Tell me, what of Evyxes?"

Aestith shrugged a shoulder dismissively. "He is well enough, and I should like to have him around. I want him to stay for a few years and train other paladins."

"He must be much the same, then, since last I saw him."

"Tall and finely muscled? Yes." Aestith smiled to see Xaiviryn's scowl. "If it pleases you to know, I prefer your company."

His lips curved like a cat that had caught the canary. He hung the hat on a coat rack as he strode confidently toward the dining room.

Aestith laughed and stepped between him and the room. "I didn't come over for dinner."

Xaiviryn flashed a grin.

Aestith's fingers twined in the other's shirt and he pulled him toward the stairs. Xaiviryn grinned, eagerly following. "Is anyone inside?"
"I don't restrict their access."

"I suppose it hardly matters." Aestith paused at the landing and pulled the other to him. Xaiviryn bent to kiss Aestith's neck, hands running down his back. Heat rushed to Aestith's groin. He couldn't believe how much he had missed the other.

Xaiviryn's roving hands cupped Aestith's hardened prick. "I like that you aren't hiding any more."

Aestith swallowed. "You really don't think I'm an abomination? That I'm imperfect and worthy of death?"

"Would I fuck you so often and so eagerly if I did?"

"I've seen your taste in bed partners, so you must excuse my skepticism."

Xaiviryn chuckled against Aestith's neck. "You're beautiful. Let no one tell you otherwise."

Aestith's arms snaked around Xaiviryn's shoulders as the other lifted him. Legs wrapped around his waist. They kissed and touched, but undressing as they were proved difficult. Aestith squirmed down, unbuttoning his dress. Xaiviryn kissed his skin as it was freshly exposed, leaving the spider burned into his flesh free almost reverently.

Aestith tugged Xaiviryn's loose shirt off and tossed it on the floor. Aestith's painted nails bit into the other's skin. Xaiviryn shifted, suddenly aggressive. He shoved Aestith against the wall, a hand against his cheek pulling him in to kiss. The kiss was savage, demanding. His teeth grazed Aestith's lips. Aestith drug his nails down to the other's trousers and tore at the lacings. Xaiviryn pressed his leg between Aestith's thighs to force them apart.

The laces came undone. Xaiviryn's hands roved over Aestith's chest. He pinched his nipples between thumb and finger, drawing out a short gasp. The wizard smiled, as if pleased by the sound. Aestith's fingernails sunk into Xaiviryn's hips. Skin broke as he dug in.

Xaiviryn slid his body against Aestith's, sandwiching him against the wall. With Xaiviryn kissing his neck, a hand untying the laces on Aestith's leather leggings, and the feel of the other's skin under his hands, he could think of little beyond his own blatant desire.

It was the reason drow were mostly monogamous, the reason each sexual encounter, while eager, was laced with tension like a poison in wine.

Almalza Rix had orgies, but she did them as safely as possible, with guards overlooking. When Aestith had his own partners in the past, even when he had tied them, it had been with precautions; Aestith had time if things went sour, with them being tied, and the partner had the knowledge that even if Aestith wanted to kill him, he still had to contend with the body and that someone had seen them together-and likely other things that Aestith was never privy to.

It would be incredibly easy, when Aestith pulled Xaiviryn's pants down, to slide a knife between the other's ribs. It would be easy for Xaiviryn to push Aestith into a trap on the wall. It was part of the fun.

Xaiviryn bit and kissed his way down Aestith's front until he knelt, hastily unlacing boots. He kicked off his own. Aestith squirmed out of his leggings. He sunk with him to the floor and straddled him. He pulled Xaiviryn's arms back as he leaned down against the other. He clawed his way slowly upwards, leaving marks and bites along the way until he straddled Xaiviryn's face.

Xaiviryn tilted his head and pulled Aestith into his mouth. Aestith pumped into him until the other gagged, then Xaiviryn pulled back, tilted his head and licked over his balls. He tongue slid back, toward the cavity that had so drastically changed Aestith's life. What had first made him different, what Nier had tried to, subtly, kill him over. And why Aestith was afraid to return home.

He lacked the parts that made a woman most enjoy it-that part of him was male-but he still enjoyed everything Xaiviryn did. Xaiviryn's tongue worked inside him, one hand braced against the underside of Aestith's thigh, the other between his own legs. Aestith strained to reach, and couldn't quite manage. He tweaked Xaiviryn's nipple instead, touched his face, then stroked himself, wet with Xaiviryn's spit.

Xaiviryn's tongue roved back further, worked him gently apart, slowly made circles with a fingertip until he pressed inward. Aestith squirmed, then sighed. His back arched, lifted slightly onto his knees. Xaiviryn yanked him back down and he gasped, almost laughed.

Xaiviryn squirmed back upwards, mouth around Aestith's cock. Blue eyes open, watching Aestith gasp and squirm, and found it satisfying.

Aestith twisted, moving slowly off of him as he tried to pull himself to Xaiviryn's groin. Xaiviryn almost attempted to keep him from it, playing with him and pulling him back to his mouth and hands until Aestith had to break free, scoot quickly downwards. Xaiviryn's grin, always too cocky and arrogant, spread over his features; he knew the effect he had on Aestith, that small pearl of power he had over him.

Aestith slid down on Xaiviryn, rode him, clawed his chest. Aestith touched himself. Somehow, the pins in his hair had come loose. He pulled them free.

So easy to stab one dagger down on Xaiviryn's heaving chest. So easy for a door to open and someone else to put a crossbow bolt through Aestith's back.

Aestith leaned down and bit one of the other's nipples. He pulled back his neck, forcing Xaiviryn's back to bend or for the flesh to tear. He bent. Aestith let him go, his tongue flicking out against the abused nipple. Xaiviryn pulled himself upright, jerking his hips, trying to pin Aestith against him. The priestess moved quickly, knocking an arm back, pulling Xaiviryn close so the action was redundant. Xaiviryn, slowly, arms around Aestith, lifted them both. He braced Aestith against the wall. Aestith squirmed, tried to continue the motions but found it delightfully difficult.

Xaiviryn moved them into the bedroom. Aestith had to open the door. Xaiviryn kicked it closed behind them and dropped Aestith onto the bed before he climbed in after him. They rolled, kissed, scratched, groped, and bit. Skin broke. They bruised, bled.

Aestith rolled, knocking the wizard onto his side, then quickly shoved him onto his back. Aestith climbed over him, his back turned to the other's face. Aestith held Xaiviryn in one hand and guided him into him. Xaiviryn was wet with Aestith's last female orgasm and spit. Aestith was damp with sweat and similar fluids. The entry was harder than entering the female part of him, slower going. It was met with more resistance, at first, then the tension left him and he slid in surprisingly faster.

Xaiviryn moved very little, letting Aestith work at his own pace, until Aestith, quietly, said, "Xaiviryn, shove me onto all fours and fuck me."

Xaiviryn, naturally, complied. He felt full, intimate. Xaiviryn had been inside and kissed every part of him. His wedding night would be nothing at all like this.

Aestith tried not to think of his impending marriage, and focus on what the other was doing to him.

Aestith turned his head to watch Xaiviryn thrusting. "Hit me," Aestith whispered.

Xaiviryn paused, then moved his hips, gentle motions as conflicting thoughts arrived in his head. Did he think Aestith was female enough? Aestith repeated the request. Xaiviryn seemed to reach some kind of mental compromise and spanked him. He did it harder at Aestith's insistence. Aestith told him to pull his hair, to control Aestith by it. That was met with some hesitation, and Xaiviryn's grip was loose enough that Aestith could slip free had he wished to.

"Call me a fucking whore and slap me, Xaiviryn," Aestith gasped.

Xaiviryn's hands, on Aestith's hips, shook. "Aestith, don't ask that of me."

"You won't do it for me?"

Xaiviryn paused. "The angle is poor."

"Then we'll fix it."
Xaiviryn stalled, but Aestith twisted, pushed him back, then rolled onto his back. He drew Xaiviryn over him, back into him, told him to do it now. Xaiviryn stared at him, looked at the mark. Maybe he didn't know exactly what it was, but he recognized the symbol, and he knew, on some primal level, that it was a blessing.

"I can't."

Aestith nodded. "Then fuck me."

Xaiviryn was eager to comply, slowly moving Aestith back onto his knees, then pulled him upright, tight against his chest. One of Xaiviryn's hands cupped Aestith's groin, plunged inside him. Aestith gave a short, sharp cry of surprise and pleasure. One hand raked against Xaiviryn's thigh and the other touched the back of his head. Aestith twisted to kiss him. Xaiviryn's other hand encircled his cock.

He couldn't have had more of Xaiviryn, in him or otherwise. He knew the other's limitation, knew to some degree what Xaiviryn thought of him and what he was capable of. Aestith felt fulfilled.

Aestith tensed, his body shaking. A flood of liquid, hot, drenched Xaiviryn's hand and from his cock, a white arc of his semen. Maybe at the sight or the feel of Aestith tensing under the flood of his rare but often sought double orgasm, Xaiviryn came, spilling deep into his bowels.

Aestith panted, tried in vain to push closer against Xaiviryn, to kiss him harder as he attempted to communicate, physically because he did not have the words, how he felt about him.

As they slowed and broke from the other's mouth to pant, they collapsed into the blankets. They were hurt and satisfied, their bodies sweetly aching. What parts of Aestith's makeup that had not sweat off or been kissed gone or lost in some other way was smeared. Their hair had tangled to a point that no drow would tolerate.

It had been worth it.

Xaiviryn had wine brought in, though Aestith almost sarcastically recommended champagne to celebrate a sexual victory. Xaiviryn used a cantrip to clean his hair, but would have to comb it later. Aestith combed his long curls to a state that was halfway manageable by the time the wine arrived. Xaiviryn got the door, but Ryze stole a glance at Aestith anyway. He had an expression as though he wanted to wolf whistle. Aestith glared. Xaiviryn stepped between them, whispered something, and Ryze slunk away. Ryze had no interest in women anyway, and Aestith assumed he was too effeminate for anything beyond Ryze's teasing.

Aestith slid from the bed as the other busied himself with the bottle. He went to his satchel and removed the circlet. Gingerly, he held it in his fingertips.

"I'm a priestess," Aestith said.

Xaiviryn looked back. "Yes, I had assumed from the mark. I must congratulate you, but why do you say it as though it is a burden?"

Aestith stared at the rubies. "I killed one of my sisters for this privilege."

Xaiviryn was silent. Unlike Arcedi, he understood what that meant, to a male drow, and he knew that Aestith, in many ways, still considered himself to be male. He stepped in front of the younger drow and gingerly plucked the circlet from his fingers. He placed it on Aestith's head.

Aestith's hair was tousled and the curls tangled. His throat was bruised and his breasts bitten. His thighs were wet. He was malformed and scarred. He was far from the image of poised perfection drow preferred to project.

Xaiviryn stepped back. He knelt. "Priestess."

The simple gesture, the single word, conveyed everything; he had said that it had been worth it, that Aestith was stronger and so had prevailed, that it was ordained, that Lolth was pleased-and that Xaiviryn respected the title.

It made the next part that much more difficult. Aestith touched Xaiviryn's shoulder and bent to kiss his lips. The kiss was oddly chaste but unhurried, almost dutiful. Aestith stepped back. "My sisters have invited me back home."

Xaiviryn shrugged one shoulder and rose. He poured wine into a glass. He watched the glass fill. "Is that what you want?"

"If you could go home, would you?"

"No." He tilted his head. "But I have more here than I ever could at home." He glanced at Aestith. "You, though, what do you have to gain by going home?"

Aestith hesitated. "My family. My home. I hate it here, Xaiviryn-on the surface, I mean."
"The temple?"

"It would be one of my few regrets about leaving." Aestith watched the other's steady breathing.

Xaiviryn search Aestith's face. "You would serve in the Underdark, rather than rule on the surface?"

Aestith looked away. "I don't belong here. None of us really do."

"You don't belong there either. They will resent you. Everything about you." He went to Aestith and touched the other's high cheekbone. "Your skin, your hair, your stature-when I was your age, it would have marked you as slave stock. And the sex you were marked at birth made you worthless. But you are a priestess, and they will resent it. Priestesses are powerful and respected, but they die so quickly."

Xaivryn's eyes weren't a perfect blue, with absolutely no trace of other color; the blue lace agate was rimmed in a purple so pale it could be mistaken for grey. Aestith said, "I overcame every obstacle and succeeded at every trial, yet I know I am capable of more. I desire so much more."

Xaiviryn sighed and his lovely eyes flicked away. "It was rather a waste of money if you're just going to leave."
His lips pressed into a thin line. "If this is about the money, I can ask my sister about repaying you. There's a path to Skullport there, which you will have easy access to, so I see no reason we can't set up a trade route with you. It may even prove beneficial."

The male put the glass to his lips and drank. "It's not about the money."

Aestith frowned, then realized; Xaiviryn had always poured two glasses before, regardless of whatever they were discussing or the goingson. Why was he acting this way? Aestith sat down heavily on the bed. "The temple can still be useful."

He shook his head. "It isn't that either." He set the empty glass down and opened a desk drawer. He removed a key and went to a chest.

Aestith said, "I'll miss you."

"You don't have to go, Aestith." He put the key in the lock, but didn't turn it.

The priestess looked away. "I owe a favor to a priestess in Enainsi. Ondalia." Xaiviryn's eyes flashed red. "She has requested that I am to marry her."

Xaiviryn stilled, eyes smoldering. He twisted the lock and lifted the lid. He removed a small carved bone box. He sighed and plopped down beside Aestith on the bed. He flipped the lid back.

Laying on a bed of white spider silk was a single unset black diamond as big as Aestith's thumbnail. "Arcedi stole it. A whole set of them, at my behest. I would have them set in platinum for you, and it was meant to be a coronation gift, to dedicate the temple. Though I suppose a wedding gift would do." The last part turned sour.

Aestith looked at him. "Who is Ondalia to you?"

"Priestess Ondalia Velweb was adopted into House Everh'lylraeth. One by one, my sisters all seemed to meet with fatal accidents. Ondalia was accepted into the clergy, of course, and in due time, she maneuvered to test my matron mother in combat during a festival."

Aestith nodded for him to continue. The clerics often performed in ritual combat during festivals, though they rarely ended in a death. Usually, it was a means to test rank. The disgraced cleric lost position and authority, and if they had performed particularly poorly, faced certain repercussions. It was a rather popular spectator sport. Though usually a matron was exempt-not that they were not allowed to be challenged, only that it was generally poor form to do it.

Xaiviryn made a face. "During the combat, any still loyal to my mother were killed. I happened to have been late coming home, and so I was spared." He smiled sardonically. "Little incentive for me to be on time."

"This explains much about you," Aestith teased.

Xaiviryn raised an eyebrow, his eyes cooled back to blue. "And you'd marry her?"

"You can't deny she's beautiful," Aestith sighed.

The other made a face. "Aye, that she is."

The priestess tilted his head. "Something you care to admit?"

Xaiviryn made a face. "Would it in any way surprise you if I said that I slept with her?"

"Not remotely." Aestith seethed with an emotion he recognized that must be jealousy. It surprised him; he was very rarely of jealous of anything. But he envied him being with Ondalia. "You must relay it to me. In detail."

"We can reenact some things, I'm sure." His lips tilted into a smirk, then it faded. "Though it hardly seems noteworthy, against your impending marriage."

Aestith shrugged. "A marriage of two priestesses would be quite formidable."

"Does she know?" He gestured at Aestith.

The other frowned. "Yes. I acquired this debt before I had left Enainsi."

He frowned in thought. "You could be killed for that."

"I could be killed crossing the street, but I do it anyway."

He rolled his eyes. "After taking proper precautions, certainly." He set the box on a table. "I would have proposed you marry someone else."

"You?"

Xaiviryn's mouth quirked in a sly smile.

Aestith's lips pursed. "I can't bear children."

"But think of what we might accomplish with my resources and your power."

Aestith put a hand on the other's chest and pushed him down onto the blankets. "Remind me, later, to tell you about my wedding plans. And I'll think of you on my wedding night."

Xaiviryn's hands caressed Aestith's hips. "I don't want to hear about it."

Aestith bent over him, his lips inches from the other's. "You do." He kissed him.