Another heavy rewrite from the original, although I did leave a very small handful of original bits of dialogue in there. Enjoy!

Chapter 3: You're The Boss

"So, what exactly are the other Princes going to think about this?" Kurda inquired offhandedly as they made their way down the long corridor to the Hall of Princes. He was still holding Gracie. They'd just arrived back at the mountain, having flitted most of the trip in order to limit her exposure to the elements. Flitting to the mountain was generally illegal. But Mika answered to no one. In this case, it came in handy. This time, they'd put her to sleep with a bit of magic vampire breath before the flit and she was slowly beginning to wake up. Kurda greeted her with a tickle on the chin, and she smiled up at him.

"Arrow will be in his element." Said Mika. "Loves kids. Raised a bunch of orphans when he was married. Come to think of it, we could probably just hand her over to him and be done with it."

Kurda rolled his eyes.

"And Vancha will make a tasteless joke about us shacking up or something, which won't be funny or biologically plausible. Laugh at it anyway. Or not, I really don't care." Mika continued offhandedly. "Chok's so senile we don't even leave him alone in the Hall of Princes anymore. I'm lucky if he even remembers my name. So he probably won't notice. And Paris is on a trip to Russia and he won't be back for at least a month. He'll probably call me an idiot and move on with his life."

"Sounds about right." Said Kurda apprehensively.

"What's that expression for?" Mika asked, shooting Kurda a funny look.

"I don't have an expression."

"Really? Cause you look like you're about to throw up."

Kurda sighed.

"Look, I get that you're not worried about professional implications here. You've earned your job security. No matter what happens, you're set for life." He explained carefully as Mika raised an eyebrow, smiling in a self-satisfied way.

"Yeah... that's how success works, Smahlt. Good talk."

"Gods, if I wasn't holding this baby I'd smack you upside the head." Kurda huffed.

"If you weren't holding that baby I'd have you arrested for threatening me."

Kurda ignored that, and carried on:

"Unlike you, my reputation is still a work in progress. Half the clan already doesn't like me -"

"Oh, it's more than half." Said Mika.

Kurda exhaled loudly, feeling his own frustration simmering in the air.

"I know it was my idea to bring her back with us. And I believe we did the right thing." Said Kurda through gritted teeth. "I just want to know if I should prepare myself to be put on trial or something. That's it."

"Don't worry about it." Said Mika bluntly. "Seriously. We haven't blooded her. We're not going to blood her. She's here temporarily with my permission. They're not going to grill you about it. And if anyone asks, you can say it was my idea."

"...But it wasn't." Kurda noted suspiciously as they stopped at the doors to the Hall of Princes. Mika arched an eyebrow and gave him a pointed look as the Hall Guards greeted him with bows. Kurda stood still as they gave him an obligatory security search, but clearly Mika thought it was taking too long.

"He's harmless." Said Mika impatiently, waving the guards away from Kurda and Gracie. "If he wanted to kill me, he had ample time in our travels. Plus I'd like to see him try. It'd make my day more interesting."

The guards nodded respectfully and stepped back. They exchanged some highly quizzical looks at the sight of the baby in Kurda's arms, their eyes darting from her, to Kurda, to Mika, and back to Grace. She was whining and stirring restlessly now, and it occurred to Kurda that maybe Mika ordered the guards to back off because he was worried about causing her undue stress.

"What are you looking at?" Mika asked the guards testily. They muttered a series of apologies and stepped back into line. Mika thanked them with a quick nod, then looked to Kurda.

"Okay. You ready?" Mika asked.

"Of course."

"Good for you. I was talking to Gracie."

"Who let you back in here?!" Arrow boomed gleefully as Mika approached. When he got closer, Arrow positively leapt out of his throne to embrace Mika as if he'd been gone five years, rather than five days. As annoying as they were separately, they were so much worse when they were together. Because the only thing more fun than being co-dependent platonic soulmates, is being co-dependent platonic soulmates and co-workers.

"Better question is, who the fuck left you in this room unsupervised?" Mika cracked a grin at his own joke as Arrow released him from the borderline-violent man-hug.

"What are you doing back so soon? We weren't expecting you til-" Arrow's words died in his throat as he looked past Mika and noticed the tiny passenger in Kurda's arms for the first time. He stood silent and still for a few moments, blinking in disbelief. "Where did you get that?" He croaked at last.

"Arrow, meet Gracie." Said Mika ruefully as Arrow's eyes widened. "Our target vampaneze was mad. He took out an entire family before we could stop him. And then he went and died on his own before we could kill him." Mika explained, his face darkening at the memory of what they found in the house. "Two parents. Four kids. But he missed one."

"Disgusting." Arrow murmured under his breath, hatred flaring in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, little one."

The two Princes exchanged a loaded look. Kurda suspected they were communicating telepathically. They did that a lot. They thought they were being stealthy. But it was actually pretty obvious.

"We took her to the nearest city with the intention of leaving her at an orphanage." Kurda told Arrow grimly.

"But the whole place was a hell hole." Mika added. "You and I wouldn't even have partied there in our cub years. Couldn't leave her there."

Arrow nodded slowly.

"I wouldn't have left her either." He replied, gazing down Gracie with an expression of genuine fondness. Suddenly, Kurda disliked him a tiny bit less. Although he did roll his eyes slightly as Arrow plucked her from his arms and held her up, grinning from ear to ear as though he'd never seen anything quite so wonderful. Based on his history, Arrow was more qualified for baby care and handling than Mika and Kurda combined, but Kurda still felt an unexpected flare of protectiveness at the sight of someone else holding her.

As we've discussed, Kurda really doesn't like Arrow all that much. He respected all of the sitting Princes, but Arrow was probably his least favourite. No, definitely his least favourite. The man was as far on the other end of the political spectrum as you could possibly get. Disagreeing with Arrow is like talking to a boulder. And Kurda disagreed with the very concept of Arrow's existence. But don't worry, the feeling was mutual.

Let's break it down.

Kurda VS Mika: Both clever. Both had a penchant for dry wit and more sarcasm than was probably appropriate in a professional setting. Both open-minded. Kurda was more so, but Mika was further ahead than many of his peers in that regard. As far as politics went, Kurda was radical, whereas Mika was more of a centrist who chose his stance on a case-by-case basis. It was simply their core personalities, their outlooks on life that caused them to clash so hard whenever they were required to work together. Arguing with Mika was like playing chess, though. It was a challenge, the kind of challenge that leaves you feeling a little smarter. Even if you lose.

Kurda VS Arrow: Both drink blood. Both breathe oxygen. Both live in the same big old rock known as Vampire Mountain. Both apparently have a soft spot for babies. That's where the similarities end. Arrow may have left his genocidal tendencies in the past, but the hatred that made him famous still simmered right under the surface. And it came through loud and clear every time Kurda was required to communicate with him about any matter regarding the vampaneze. Which, by nature of his job, was way too often. If arguing with Mika was chess, arguing with Arrow was checkers. Specifically, when your opponent is an entitled child trapped in the body of a comically large bald man. Who inevitably ends up flipping the board because he sucks at checkers.

But hey, Gracie seemed to like him. She expressed a profound fascination with his big bald head.

"They're the best at this age." Arrow sighed as she pawed at his scalp with great interest. "The youngest one Sarah and I ever adopted was a little under a year. So innocent and curious."

This was an entirely new side of Arrow that was completely foreign to Kurda. He knew Arrow had been married to a human at one point - everyone knew that. It was kind of Arrow's entire identity. But he didn't know until today that Arrow had also been a father. As far as Kurda knew prior to this, the list of things Arrow liked was limited exclusively to drinking, fighting, and eating. Kurda wondered if maybe he should just remove himself from the situation and just let Mika and Arrow handle the kid. Any child they raised would inevitably turn out to be an ale-swilling barbarian with entitlement issues, but at least it'd be the world's most well-protected baby.

"So I take it you know how to change a diaper?" Mika asked, much too casually. He shot Arrow a poorly disguised side-eye.

"I could change a diaper one-handed and blindfolded but you're on your own with this one. I've served my time." Arrow snorted, patting Mika roughly on the shoulder and chuckling.

"Whatever." Said Mika, clearly pretending he wasn't phased. "Smahlt can do it."

Kurda exhaled slowly and focused all his energy on maintaining his commitment to pacifism and not knocking the teeth out of Mika's head - and getting himself arrested in the process.

"So, where is she going to sleep? Are you converting your suite into a nursery?" Arrow asked, with a smirk at Mika as he contentedly bounced Gracie in his arms.

"I talked to Seba on our way up here." Said Mika. "He said there's a little coffin in the storage caverns. He's digging it out right now."

"A baby in a coffin..." Arrow sighed.

"What?"

"Rather morbid, don't you think?" Said Arrow. "Why do we even have a tiny coffin?"

"Why do we even have you?" Mika rolled his eyes at his friend.

"I've been told I'm delightful." Said Arrow with great conviction. "She thinks I'm delightful, don't you Gracie?"

She giggled loudly. Kurda rolled his eyes and took her back from Arrow, who looked rather reluctant to part with her.

"Who's going around telling Sire Arrow he's delightful? Last thing we need is for that big bald head to swell up any more!" Came Vancha March's booming voice as he hopped into the Hall of Princes on one leg, held up by crutches. Then he saw Mika and Kurda and frowned. "You're back already? Mika, I've been waiting for an update! Did you find the vampaneze?" And then he saw Gracie and stopped in his tracks. "Where did THAT come from?!"

Mika sighed and re-summarized the circumstances that led to the current situation. Vancha hummed thoughtfully for a moment as he glanced around at all of them.

"So... we have a Smahlt-Ver Leth baby now?" He inquired with a gleam in his eye, elbowing Mika in the ribs. "Is that what I'm hearing? Damn, Mika! Never saw you as the domestic type! Then again, you're vain and Smahlt's pretty. Stranger things have happened."

Kurda produced a passable fake laugh. Mika rolled his eyes.

Kurda VS Vancha: Both vampires. Both known for thinking outside the box. Two completely different boxes, of course. Kurda likes hygiene. Vancha has armpit beetles. Kurda is a pacifist. Vancha eats, sleeps, and breathes traditionalism and warfare. Kurda dreams of the future. Vancha's fierce loyalty to the old ways is legendary. But beetles and all, Kurda still ranks him slightly above Mika and Arrow. Except for that one time Kurda was trying to give a seminar on proposed treaty amendments and Vancha farted unapologetically through the whole thing. Which made Arrow laugh far too loudly. Mika eventually lost his patience and knocked Vancha's chair over with him still in it, but at that point the damage had already been done and nobody in the room was listening to Kurda.

So yeah. Kurda gets along great with all of his bosses.

"Run your mouth some more, March. I'll break your other leg." Mika informed Vancha seriously. "And this is temporary. We tried an orphanage, but we were pretty sure that'd be a one-way track to a street corner or a stripper pole, based on how things seemed to work in that city. Figured we could do better than that."

"We fully intend on sending her back to the human world." Kurda added. "But we felt we owed it to her to be a little more selective about where in the human world. So for the time being... she's here." He finished rather meekly.

"And have you given her a name?" Vancha asked. He reached out and tickled her belly. She laughed shrilly while Kurda tried not to wonder how long it had been since Vancha washed his hands.

"Her blanket has Grace embroidered on it." Said Mika, shrugging. "So we're going with that. She'll also answer to Gracie - she's not very formal."

"So how is this going to work?" Arrow asked. "Are you two taking time off to look after her?"

"We'll both have to take a bit of time." Said Kurda.

"I'm not changing my schedule." Said Mika firmly, at the exact same second.

Then they shot each other a look. Mika's narrowed storm-grey eyes locked onto Kurda's azure. Kurda didn't back down.

"How do you plan on keeping your regular schedule intact while splitting baby duty with me, hmm?" Kurda inquired coolly. "You spend half your days playing full contact sports in the gaming halls. You going to strap her to your chest for that?"

"I don't play full contact sports. I teach them on an elite level." Mika growled. "You can take her while I do the hands-on stuff. Not like you do anything besides walk around and draw pictures anyway. And she can sit with me during meetings."

Kurda would've thrown his hands in the air in exasperation if there wasn't a baby in them.

"You think she's going to sit still and be quiet during all those four-hour round table strategy sessions? She doesn't know or care that you're Sire Ver Leth." Kurda ranted. "What are you going to do if she starts crying during a meeting? Or needs a diaper change? Throws up on you while you're talking? You're going to drop everything and leave to take care of her?"

Mika shot Kurda a brittle, calculating smile that made Kurda want to abandon pacifism for a second and rock his jaw.

"Of course not, General Smahlt. I'll just call you in for those little moments. Apparently you're the expert."

Kurda felt his face go red as a beet. He had fully stopped caring that Mika was his superior, or that their audience consisted of slack-jawed Arrow and Vancha - also his superiors.

"I like this!" Vancha cackled, slapping his knee and gesturing at Mika and Kurda. "Like an old married couple, got the anklebiter and everything. I haven't seen anyone attempt to tell Mika off in at least a hundred years! Didn't know you were so feisty, Smahlt!"

Mika and Kurda both rounded on him at the same time. Kurda sporting an incredulous long-suffering gaze and Mika momentarily on the brink of committing a war crime.

"Once again, that's awfully big talk for a man on crutches." Mika told Vancha through gritted teeth.

At that moment, Gracie began to whimper softly. The smell followed within seconds. Mika turned to Arrow with an expression of pure life-or-death panic.

"Arrow? Please show us how to do it? Just this one time!" He begged.

Arrow deliberately rolled his eyes as far back into his head as he could manage.

"Just this ONE time. I'll do it for her. Where are the diapers?"

Mika shot Kurda an expectant look.

"We don't really have any. She's currently wearing a motel pillowcase." Kurda admitted weakly.

"Charna's fucking guts." Arrow sighed.

Kurda had to admit it was even harder to despise Arrow after how quickly he averted the diaper catastrophe. He showed them how to cut sheets into the right size and length to use as cloth diapers, and how to go about putting them on. Kurda watched studiously, taking mental notes while Mika turned green. Then Arrow got back to work, leaving Mika and Kurda unsupervised once more.

"Can you keep an eye on her while I go see if Seba's got the coffin ready yet?" Kurda asked wearily as they walked back down the long corridor. "Once I get that set up in my room, it'll probably be time to feed her again."

"Why your room?" Mika interjected.

Kurda frowned.

"How else am I supposed to take care of her?" He sighed.

"I thought this was a joint project." Said Mika stiffly.

"I'm sorry, you legitimately want to split custody, or whatever we're calling this?" Kurda asked.

"Well, seeing as I'm partially responsible for ruining her life-"

"Don't say that." Kurda cut him off. "We're going to make sure she has a bright future. We do owe her that, but there's no point dwelling on the past."

Mika still looked troubled, but he nodded contemplatively for a moment or two before speaking:

"There's a little hallway on the side of my room, and it opens up to a private storage cavern. Mostly old boxes of paperwork. We could convert the hall to her bedroom... and you could move into the storage cavern. That way we can both be close to her." He suggested hesitantly. Kurda raised both eyebrows.

"You can't be serious. You expect me to camp out in your closet til we get this figured out? When I have a perfectly good room on the other side of the mountain, far away from you?"

"It's not my closet. As if I'd let you in there." Mika scoffed. It's a storage space, and I absolutely promise it's bigger than your current room."

"No thank you." Said Kurda. "My room works just fine."

"Listen, I don't want you there any more than you want to be there. But she doesn't need the extra confusion of sleeping in a different room every other night." Mika shot back.

Kurda glared. Then he sighed. Sometimes he forgot Mika was a lot smarter than most of his colleagues.

"I hate that you're right." Kurda muttered.

Then Mika smiled grimly.

"I know you do. Don't worry, Smahlt. Surely it won't take more than a few months to figure out a better place for her. Once she's out of Vampire Mountain, you can move out and we'll both forget this ever happened."

"I'm already counting the days."

Kurda refused to admit it, but Mika's storage cavern was twice the size of his old room. Even the "little" hallway Mika mentioned was bigger than Kurda's old room. Kurda had never seen any of the Princes' suites before, but it was a whole other world compared to the rest of the mountain. Most of the doors were closed, but Arrow's was open a crack and Kurda caught a glimpse of an entire couch.

Mika's room was lavish. Kurda didn't know what he'd been expecting - the man was a bit of a snob. Mika had a matching furniture set - desk, dresser, and coffin (about twice as big as necessary) all carved from a deep, rich, mahogany. Black bearskin rugs on the floor, and an array of ancient weapons adoring the walls that probably would've been worth millions to the right museum. The room had its own fireplace, own water closet, and even a crevice to access fresh water from one of the streams that ran through the mountain.

"What?" Mika snapped, as he watched Kurda gawk around in awe. Kurda quickly changed his expression to light indifference.

"Good to know our noble Princes aren't suffering in squalor." He remarked. Mika shrugged unconcernedly.

"Before you ask, my water closet is off-limits." Mika remarked as he shoved the last of the storage crates out of the space that would be converted into Gracie's room. "There's a public one down the hall - just don't use it after Vancha."

"...Does Vancha's room not have a private water closet?" Kurda asked, raising an eyebrow. He never knew what to make of the green-haired Prince.

"All of the royal suites have private water closets. He won't use his because the seat is, in his words, too comfortable. So he uses the public one down the hall instead." Mika explained drily. "I don't pretend to understand what goes on in his mind. But don't say I didn't warn you."

"I appreciate the consideration." Said Kurda.

There remained a cool silence between them as they assembled Gracie's temporary room. Kurda filled the tiny coffin with blankets while Mika stacked some storage crates sideways to create a shelving unit for the bag of belongings they brought back. Gracie happily watched the proceedings from her new play pen - a wooden crate with slatted sides. Seba had one of the carpenters sand away all the splintery bits.

At last, they stood back and admired their handiwork.

"Welcome to your new room!" Said Kurda as he scooped Gracie out of the playpen. "What do you think?"

She laughed shrilly and pointed at the shelf on which sat her books.

"Oh, it must be story time!" Said Kurda eagerly. He carried her over to the shelf and held her at eye-level. "What shall today's feature be? We have... The Happy Little Whale... Little Critter... Adventures Of Mr. Duck... Clifford The Big Red Dog..."

"Alright, what else do we need?" Came Mika's voice from the doorway. Kurda glanced up. Mika, ever a problem-solver, was never one to sit idle. And although he was not the type to sit on the floor and read stories, it was clear he was invested in making sure their guest was comfortable.

"I think we're good for now." Said Kurda. "But you can join us for story time, if you want."

"No thank you."

"You could go talk to the kitchen staff about keeping baby-appropriate food on standby." Kurda suggested. "The stuff we brought will only last so long."

That task was right up Mika's alley. Strategizing and being bossy were his most dominant personality traits, after all. But he shot Kurda an irritable look anyway.

"Oh, you give me orders now? Is that how this works?"

Kurda released a pointedly loud sigh of exasperation and sharply returned Mika's stern look.

"You JUST asked me what else there was to do. That's the best suggestion I can offer you at this exact moment. If you don't want to do that, by all means go dink around with Arrow and Vancha and I'll handle the food later." Said Kurda decisively.

Mika sent one final loaded glare in Kurda's direction before stalking out of the room, muttering under his breath, "...we don't dink around."

Kurda really didn't think Mika was ever coming back. But he did. And he brought a plate of baby-appropriate food, specially prepared by Vampire Mountain's most experienced cook. And Kurda called that a victory.

Maybe this wouldn't be so hard. They both had their skills. Mika could leverage his administrative authority to get the logistics handled, and Kurda would manage most of the hands-on baby care. They didn't have to be friends. They didn't even have to like each other. All they had to do was make sure she was okay. After all, the only thing they'd ever agreed on was that, at least for now, she was their responsibility.

What was the worst that could happen?

"I have to go unpack and set up my coffin." Kurda told Mika once Gracie was fed and content. "Can you handle keeping an eye on her while I do that?"

Mika scoffed dismissively.

"Smahlt, I manage hundreds of full-grown babies every day of my life. How incompetent do you think I am?"

"You know, you could've just said yes." Kurda sighed. Then he held Gracie out so Mika could take her. Then he sighed in exasperation as Mika drew back, as though Kurda was trying to hand him a poisonous spider.

"What?" Kurda groaned.

"You said keep an eye on her... I thought you were putting her in the play pen." Mika replied guardedly.

"She's a baby! She needs physical affection!" Kurda chastised him. "Clearly you didn't get enough of that as a child."

Mika's perpetual glare deepened.

"Watch yourself, Smahlt."

"I know you don't think you know how to hold a baby, but I promise it's not hard." Said Kurda. "She's sturdier than she looks."

"I doubt that very much."

"Babies are tough! You have to trust me on this. Go on, take her."

For a second it looked like Mika was about to reach out, but froze again.

"What's the issue?" Kurda grumbled. His normally long fuse was starting to shorten.

"What if I drop her?"

"Charna's guts, you're not going to drop her! You have to get used to it at some point." Kurda sighed again, but this time he did it with less exasperation and a little more empathy. He'd never seen Mika doubt himself before. It was kind of surreal. Like seeing a fish walking on land.

"You absolutely will not drop her." Said Kurda. "Trust me."

"I don't trust you. At all."

But nonetheless, Mika finally held his arms out with great wariness so Kurda could deposit her into them. But Kurda didn't miss the fact that Mika's facial expression was much closer to concern than disdain. And Kurda knew for certain that for all his character flaws, Mika was absolutely not a baby-hating monster. If he didn't care, he wouldn't be here.

"Well done." Said Kurda. "Just move your hand up a little bit, her head needs a lot of support. Her neck isn't very strong yet - there you go."

"What now?"

"That's all there is to it." Said Kurda, managing a wry smile. "You did it! You're holding a baby! Was that so hard?"

"Yes."

"Alright, I'm going to start unpacking my stuff in the other room."

"So... do I just stand here til you get back?" Mika asked uncertainly. He was still looking down at her as one might monitor a ticking time bomb.

"Stand, sit, walk around, dealer's choice." Said Kurda with a touch of impatience as he walked into the other room. "If you want, you can rock her a bit, or bounce her. She seemed to enjoy it when I did that earlier."

Leaving Gracie in Mika's semi-capable hands, he set about unpacking his belongings and setting up the coffin that had been brought up from his old room by a handful of Seba's staff. He got as far as positioning his coffin and filling it with his blankets and pillows, when he heard Gracie fussing from the other room.

He ignored it.

"Oh gods. Fuck. Are you okay? What's wrong?" He heard Mika mutter under his breath.

Kurda remained focused on the task at hand, confident Mika would figure it out. The fussing escalated to whines, which in turn became full-blown howls.

Two seconds later Mika came barging in. He was holding her gingerly, as one might hold a rabid possum.

"You have to take her back." Mika blurted out, gently but swiftly depositing her back into Kurda's arms before he could protest.

"Oh, honey! What happened?" Kurda cooed as he snuggled the shrieking bundle close to his chest, stroking her fuzzy crop of hair. "I only left you alone for two minutes!" He added, shooting Mika a pointed look.

Mika threw his hands up in frustration.

"She hates me!"

"She's a baby." Kurda replied, heavy on the exasperation. "She doesn't hate anything, except maybe that broccoli I tried to give her earlier. You can't just toss her at me every time she gets upset. Babies cry. It's just a thing that happens. You can't take it personally."

"She's not crying now." Mika pointed out gruffly. It was true. She settled down within seconds of being back in Kurda's arms.

"I don't know what to tell you." Said Kurda wearily. But he offered Mika a thin smile. "I promise she's more scared of you than you are of her."

Mika's face fell.

"You think she's scared of me?!"

"No, no..." Kurda exhaled. "It was a joke. Let me rephrase - she's more confused than you are. Even though she doesn't know all of what's going on, she still knows something changed. She's in for a hell of an adjustment period. But right now, I think she's taking it well. All things considered."

Mika nodded slowly, not looking at Kurda. Instead he gazed sullenly at the wall for a moment or two.

"How do you know all this?" He grumbled at last.

"Know what?"

"Everything! You know how to hold her, feed her, you changed her diaper without gagging-"

"I was the oldest of eight." Said Kurda. He was now lightly bouncing Gracie in his arms, which she loved. She was waving her hands and laughing like she was on a roller coaster - while grabbing at Kurda's hair. "And my parents constantly worked to make ends meet. Sometimes we didn't see them for days. So I have a lot of child care experience."

"Makes sense." Mika muttered dejectedly.

"Don't be too hard on yourself." Kurda. "You'll get used to it. Just remember, this is not a competitive sport."

Mika glared again - clearly a nerve had been touched. He bit his lip and looked pensive for a second, and Kurda was sure he was about to snap something angry. But he appeared to decide against it.

"I'm going to bed." Said Mika at last, not looking at Kurda.

"Alright. See you tomorrow." Said Kurda. Then he looked down at Gracie. "Can you say, goodnight Mika?" He asked her. Then he held her out facing Mika, and held up her little hand and waved it at him like she was a puppet, and squeaked "Goodnight Mika!"

Kurda smiled in satisfaction when Mika softened for a fraction of a second. While keeping a safe distance, he reached out and gave her a little pat on the shoulder.

"Goodnight, Gracie." He said very gently. Then he glanced skeptically back at Kurda."Just for the record - she gets a first name pass. But it's still Sire Ver Leth to you."

Kurda snorted and rolled his eyes.

"You're the boss. Now get some rest - you're going to need it."

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you have time :) Chapter 4 will be up soon!

-Roxy