Chapter 66

Bound To An Incorrigible Daimon

Correspondence with the wolf took place quickly enough once their side finally replied to the initial message, with an agreement to be present at the time and place indicated. From the swiftness of the return message sent, and that no negotiations on those terms were requested, Vlad could safely assume that the trio had been waiting in tense anticipation to discover how the contents of their outreach would be received and knew that him agreeing to meet with them at all was the best they could expect.

Mercedes had just finished her breakfast and was placing the emptied tray on the little wheeled cart next to her bed when he returned to their cabin. She glanced over in surprise as the door closed behind him. "That was quick. Have you heard back from them already? Or did you not feel the need to actually wait around with Walter for the reply to come in?"

"They accepted our return message almost immediately after it was sent, and replied already," Vlad relayed to her, careful to keep his tone neutral. "They've agreed to the meeting and guidelines under which it will be held."

Mercedes let out a breath of relief. "Well, hurray for that. That's a promising start."

"Indeed," Vlad said. "While I was in their cabin, Xander inquired if you might be willing to leave this room later today to join him and Seras for a movie. The theater is located the next level down, no open view of the ocean to worry about."

Mercedes briefly considered the suggestion. She said with some reservation, "If Seras is keeping us company, I don't think that would cause any serious spikes of fear. It wouldn't be much different than being in here with the curtain drawn and her energy has its own reassuring effect."

Vlad gave a nod and said, "I hope you three will enjoy the movie. I'm going to nap away a few daylight hours, and then make the above board appearance for lunch with Xander and Pip. Seras will keep you company for lunch, and then she will escort you to and from the movie just to be certain you continue feeling secure moving about the ship's lower levels."

"Sounds like a plan," Mercedes agreed. As a hound appeared to deposit his coffin in the corner of the room, and she observed his behavior, she felt the need to ask, "Vlad? Are you alright?" Crimson gaze turned her way, and ebon eyebrow raised a fraction in question. "I'm guessing that you're probably not entirely pleased with being blindsided by my friends, which I can understand because I'm still in a bit of shock that they decided to get involved like this and contacted you. Nor the fact that I have a brief bit of history with one of them that was outside the traditional bounds of friends. But you seem... I wouldn't say 'rattled' is the right word; but maybe the vibes are 'on edge', or more defensive than usual and I'd have thought you'd be?"

Vlad hesitated to answer, briefly debating what reply would be best. Given everything he knew of events in his wife's various lives, and things he was strongly suspecting but hadn't yet had confirmed for some insinuated events in this life, being on the offensive to keep things stable between them was remaining his best option. In particular, he needed to continue to address and ease defensive behaviors and concerns cropping up that he was quite sure were products of having been at the mercy of a certain mindfucking hawk.

Especially because there was a certain wolf who had already hunted her down again, had not only weaseled his way into her good graces once more, but into her bed this time, and was now thinking he could create claims and demand they be acknowledged in exchange for offering aid. He'd be putting that mutt in his place in the near future, but he needed to continue to navigate things into a less vulnerable position with his wife so would be interlopers didn't have easy avenues to insinuate themselves where they didn't belong.

He settled on saying, "It's nothing you need be worried about, draga mea. I dislike unknown variables, inevitable as it is for some kind or other to end up arising. There were already more than I'd like, but those were at least on some level understood as being there, even if the details were vague. This development adds more. Once we've had this parlay and I can get a measure of those three personally, with information exchanged and needed understandings being had, my thoughts will have a clearer focus on the situation." After a pause, he added, "I don't mean the following in a denigrating fashion, but you seem, at least to normal means of observation, to be handling the news better than I expected."

Mercedes gave an ambivalent shrug. "I honestly am not sure how to take the revelation that Vin knew how to contact you and he and the other two have voluntarily enlisted to aid us; while Kara and Bastian have gone and joined up with Iscariot, who is now apparently working with the Elders, instead of trying to exterminate them. I might be a seer, but I doubt that even if I had been trying to divine out some of the future with tarot or something, I would have seen that one coming. It feels like I'm in a state of constantly trying to catch up to what's happening. Which would normally have me stressed out, and I am, but..."

The seer gave another shrug and a strained laugh. "In the last month I've had so many shocks from enemies, allies, family, and friends. Also, there's the existential crisis I've been trying to keep at bay since learning that entities I thought were deities were indeed real, but they're daimons in the original sense and I'm a reincarnating descendant of one. I'm trying to filter that information with the more shamanistic lessons Tukiko san gave me, as he's ended up being correct on many other things; but it's frankly throwing into question just what being a priestess means and what my faith actually amounts to.

"At this point, I think some part of my mind has given up on having some pretense of control or full comprehension of the situation. I know, unknown variables aside, you've got a far better handle on this than I do. And I'm already feeling a bit of remorse for getting so frustrated with you earlier this morning and snapping at you the way I did, realizing belatedly that you again had a method to your questioning and I probably overreacted. So, right now, I'm trying to trust you'll figure this out and update me as needed. And in the meanwhile I'm trying to concentrate on sorting out how I feel about everything that's going on and being the mom Xander needs me to be right now, so that maybe I'll feel less like I'm floundering in all this."

Vlad gave a nod. "That's fair enough, little mouse." He ignored the halfhearted glare she sent his way for the teasing, and all too accurate, nickname. "While I didn't appreciate being snapped at, I can reason likely causes for you to feel so defensive in those ways and I'm choosing not to take that personally. If there's something I can do to help with what caused that reaction, or for sorting out other matters..."

Mercedes shook her head and interrupted to say, "Strange as it still frequently feels to think, I know you've already been doing what you can. I can't say that I truly understand what this situation has been like from your point of view; so many aspects are downright macabre and surreal from even my understanding of things. But the fact that you have the full remembrance of what's happened, and yet you're still here and trying to help me piece things together, without inundating me with a flood of things to sort through all at once and attempting to tell me how to interpret it all or feel about it..." Despite how mentally exhausting it was just to consider it, the seer still managed to offer a smile. "I know you have the obvious personal stakes in matters because of how things have been in the past between us and with Xander being in truth your son as well, and you would naturally want things to return to normal in those regards. That you've been handling things as you have been speaks volumes about you, in a positive way. Things feel less overwhelming just to know you're here and letting me have the chance to try sorting things out in my head. So, thank you for that."

Vlad felt a smile tug at his lips and he gave another nod. "You're welcome, draga mea; but you needn't thank me for simply honoring my promises to you."

"Are you meaning present day promises, or however many may have piled up over the last six hundred years and I can't even remember to hold you to?"

The King of Death chuckled at the seer's question. "It's one and the same. Centuries pass, the language used may change, but my promise to you as your husband has always been that I will love, support, and protect you in what ways you need, to the best of my capabilities. Some of those ways that have come to pass might not have been foreseeable, and are certainly unorthodox, but that doesn't change that I gave my word to you, nor my commitment to uphold it."

Mercedes considered that answer, then asked hesitantly, "And in the past I've promised in return...?"

"Simply to do the same, in the ways you're capable of." Vlad added the wry observation, "To be honest, I think our renewed wedding vows this time around could be rightfully considered the most complicated or explicit we've had so far. Ironic, given that neither of us were in a completely comprehending state of their import when we made them, and that this was the one time that we made such vows for strategic reasons."

"Wait, are you serious?!"

Vlad nodded to that baffled exclamation from the priestess, laughing again for a few seconds. "Da, draga mea."

"But... That ceremony was about as brief and utilitarian as it gets!"

"Perhaps by modern and western standards, yes," Vlad corrected with humor remaining in his voice. "But when we married in Wallachia, it was in keeping with local Orthodox practices, which you happened to be raised with. Unlike the strident practices of the Catholic church that have sought to separate its identity from practices in the past as much as possible; Orthodox customs, while still decidedly Christian, retained some more liberal pagan influences to help absorb regional cultures in a more diplomatic fashion than their Catholic counterparts. There's no contractual vows in an Orthodox ceremony to be exchanged; merely a priest saying a few symbolic blessings with a few symbolic ritual items for a prosperous marriage to officially recognize the couple's desire to be man and wife. What that commitment means is left to the bridal couple to decide for themselves; presumably using the religious tenets in the Bible as the guide, but those tenets are not outlined in the ceremony itself.

"If we had gone with the traditional Catholic ceremony that was expected of me as a king aligned with the Holy Church of Rome, the wording of the ceremony and its translation to Romanian would have, among other concerns, forced you to swear to love none other than myself. That vow would have been without some qualification for how it was meant, and a Catholic priest does not deviate from whatever is the current Vatican approved format, elsewise the marriage is considered invalid by the Church. Which would have unrealistically and selfishly imposed on you a compulsion that would try to suppress your capability to feel maternal love for the children we wished to someday have, as well as the sort of love a Queen should have for her people. As such was antithetical to your nature, counterproductive to our marriage, and we had already privately exchanged vows of love to one another and trusted in each other's word to uphold them- I made the excuse to my Catholic peers that if I was to expect my people to embrace me as their Voivode, especially after I had spent so much time as a teenager immersed in Ottoman culture, I should make a diplomatic show of embracing the Orthodox customs most of them followed. It was a controversial choice, but the others grit their teeth and dealt with it because I was otherwise avowed to the Order of the Dragon and the Catholic Church.

"The two previous times that we have renewed our vows, we had to do so with even less ceremony because the surrounding circumstances meant we needed to keep our union a secret. There was no attending priest, and we could not exchange rings that would give us away. We exchanged in our own words the affirmation that we wished to continue our already recognized marriage, to rebuild our life and family as best as we were able. Outside of our various wedding vows, any promises you've made in past lives to me were minor and temporary in nature by virtue of the framing they were given; similar to those made in this life, such as when you promised to repay me for the teasing in your work place."

Mercedes wasn't sure how to respond to that information, and could only stare at the vampire as she tried to process his words.

"Something wrong, draga mea?" Vlad asked with a raised eyebrow.

Mercedes shook her head a fraction in either direction. "Wrong? I don't think so... But that's not what I expected..."

"And what would you have expected?"

"Honestly? I have no idea. I haven't had much time to consider it, save for wondering if those vows, whatever they were, were worded in such a way as to be still in effect, or if me dying as I have in the past nullified them and it's only our current vows that qualify us as being married."

"Ah," Vlad said, leaning against his coffin. "Would that wondering be in regards to if such vows could complicate matters if you were to decide this marriage was not feasible to continue?"

Despite his neutral tone, Mercedes could sense a flicker of his bad mood aura returning. She sighed heavily. Though she didn't want an argument to ensue, she still said, "Yes and no? That was a thought, but it was more me trying to reason out for academic purposes how such things work because I was already well aware I still don't fully understand how being a seer can affect my life. Recent events make that even clearer on a few fronts, and raise the stakes of giving my word to anything because it's not just a spiritual theory up for debate, but been inarguably confirmed that multiple lifetimes could be affected.

"One of the new questions raised is that if I was married to you and intended to stay that way, how was I able to speak marriage vows to Brian without it conflicting and finding myself unable to go through with it? How could I have nearly done the same with Liam? I don't know if that was possible because I died and that broke my vows to you entirely. Or if being without any conscious awareness of a vow meant that I could unwittingly betray it, but now that I'm aware, I may feel compulsions of some kind like I know our current vows to work together sometimes exert. Or if it's some other cosmic mechanic that needs to be figured out. Whatever the cause, it could be a process that effects not just those types of vows, but plenty of others as well."

Vlad's busy mind had been turning over the different ways this type of conversation could go as his wife was speaking. He decided to open up having certain discussions with a lighter point of fact he was fairly certain she'd appreciate.

"Well, as to that, I know some promises you make last between lifetimes, whether the fulfillment of them are conscious or some instinctual impulse from your soul. In your life as Anasztázia, you knew that I loathed the style of riding boots that was popular among nobles of that era. While it was ultimately a minor annoyance I had to tolerate for the sake of blending in at your father's court, and the least I owed you after all the things you tolerated for my sake during your previous life as Daciana, you still felt guilty when some passing complaint about them would slip out in private. You ended up promising me that when you were ready for us to leave your father's court and there was less need for keeping up certain facades, you'd make it up to me by gifting me a more enjoyable pair for the first Christmas we'd spend more openly together as husband and wife. You died before being able to keep your promise in that life; but when I found you again in England, we had a single winter together. That incarnation of yours knew I enjoyed riding and, while you didn't consciously remember the promise made, one of the gifts you gave me for the holidays was a new pair of boots that you saw in a cobbler's window, instinctually knew I'd appreciate, and felt the need to buy."

Mercedes felt a nudge of intuition, and a vague understanding formed, prompting her to ask, "Those wouldn't happen to be the same riding boots you're constantly manifesting and showing off when not in an alias, even with formal suits, would they?"

Vlad gave a canine revealing smirk. "They ended up being the most comfortable boots I've ever owned. Why shouldn't I continue wearing the superior option my wife so thoughtfully provided?"

Mercedes couldn't hold back the brief confused laugh. "You really are far more of a sentimentalist than I would have guessed a month ago."

The King of Death lightly pushed off from his coffin and walked over to his wife, saying with a teasing rumble to his voice as he crossed the distance, "It's not as though I allow that to be common knowledge, so I'll not take offense to my Queen's surprise. In fact, I'm rather enjoying seeing your reactions to various surprises, and highly anticipating many that are sure to come during this renewed courtship of ours."

Mercedes felt a blush rising to her cheeks as his smirk shifted to that smirk while delivering that reply. He leaned down while she was scrabbling for words to form some semblance of a reply and gave a playful nip to her lower lip, causing the blush to increase in heat as she turned her golden-brown gaze from meeting his hellfire one.

The King of Death continued speaking with a more passive tone, staying leaned in and placing his hands on the bed to either side of his wife. "And in similar interests of keeping things between us evolving in mutually beneficial ways, I'd like to offer a few further insights and reassurances to certain concerns you've brought up."

She looked up to meet his gaze, expression in obvious question to the shift of conversation, and asked tentatively, "Alright, what are you wanting to discuss?"

"Another of the things you're struggling to put to resolution in your mind, particularly for how being a seer may impact you for multiple incarnations. As I've previously told you, draga mea, I have never, and will never, try to manipulate you into being someone you are not. Our wedding vows in your previous lives were intended to, and have, lasted past death. We made our renewals when you were Anasztázia and Lucy only after your memories were largely returned and you being well aware of who and what you were already married to. They were simply a reaffirmation for our own emotional benefits that our desire to remain married to one another hadn't changed, even with both of us changing as we had.

"Even if that's been the case in the past, with circumstances playing out as they have this time, I'm fairly certain things are in slightly different territory for us right now. Our latest ceremony included the agreement that we could annul our marriage and be released from our vows if we don't consummate our union after the ceremony. I can't be certain unless we put it to the test, but I'm operating under the conclusion that you being able to follow through with the ceremony as written means that we inadvertently managed to successfully put an amendment into even our preexisting vows to one another. Perhaps one could interpret the best way for me to uphold to my previous vows and grant you the support you need, particularly with how situations have played out in this life of yours, was to offer you the option of being free of such vows if it became apparent such was mutually beneficial.

"I don't wish for us to go separate ways. Despite our occasional differences and externally caused complications, I've thoroughly appreciated each evolution of your existence when you've returned to me. My desire hasn't wavered for you to remain my wife and Queen. But if you decide you truly wish to end our marriage before we consummate it once more, I will honor my word and agree to that nullification, and I have every reason to believe that will indeed sever your vows to me, past and present. But even if our marriage ends, it's not going to change that I love you and our son as I do, nor that I still have specific responsibilities to our son and to you as his mother. I will continue to offer whatever either of you require to have a peaceful and content life on your own. And given my current state of being and lack of certain human political entanglements, there's absolutely no way for someone to back me into taking a replacement Queen for some reason, nor do I have any desire to seek one, so you don't need to worry about a potential 'step-bitch' ever threatening our son again. I can promise you without reservations that I would do far worse than simply behead a common lover if they were ever to show sign of meaning our son harm."

Mercedes considered those statements and felt some of her lingering anxiety and confusion easing. "I believe you mean every bit of that, and I appreciate the various sentiments for what they are..." She heaved a sigh, and added, "And I'm getting the rather distinct and obvious feeling you're diverting even longer from that nap you wanted and making a point to have this sort of conversation because of the way I snapped at you earlier this morning, and that might have exacerbated a worry about me leaving..."

Vlad gave a single nod. "You're powers of observation are correct, but as I've said..."

"You understand," Mercedes interrupted. To his nod, she said, "And what I was going to say is that while I appreciate that you do understand, and while I still feel like certain things needed to be said, I realize belatedly that I could have expressed certain concerns in a more considerate manner. I'm still coming to terms with everything, and I'm still feeling some very mixed up feelings where you're concerned, but I'm not meaning to inflame those sorts of concerns on your end and I'm sorry I did."

"Draga mea," Vlad said intently, addressing what he was quite certain was yet another habit of his wife's that a certain mindfucking interloper had caused. "I know you can't help but sense how my moods fluctuate. I appreciate more than words will ever be able to express that you sincerely give considerations to my state of mind, even as things currently stand between us. That said, it's inevitable and natural that occasionally I'm going to have a less than enthusiastic response about some situation, and that is my own passing concern to deal with. You are not responsible for those reactions. You are not obligated to twist yourself into knots to try preventing them. You do not need to feel guilty for them. For the inciting incident in mention, as far as I'm concerned, this is, relatively speaking, a normal phase we unfortunately go through if parted by death and then reunited. It's not as though you're manipulatively holding the status of our marriage over my head to wring certain behaviors and favors out of me, and I can promise you that I've endured far worse strains over my existence than a reincarnating amnesiac wife who might be less than diplomatic in voicing reasonable fears or questions. I willingly accepted this situation for what it is, along with the stresses it can incite, because I love my wife as dearly as I do and I know that these ultimately temporary setbacks to our marriage won't diminish what we share. For the time being, you are to concentrate on your own state of mind, and you will trust me to do the same for my own."

Mercedes felt a smile forming, strained as it might be, as her husband finished off his reassurance with that rather blunt command. "Well, Your Majesty, I have to concede that confidence and persuasiveness are indeed counted among your traits, and you might be correct about the indomitable part. You're proving to be rather unshakable once you've decided to commit to something."

Vlad smirked at that and asked knowingly, "And do I have the seer's ruling for seductive?"

"I believe I already conceded to that as of a few nights ago," she said with blush renewed.

Vlad chuckled and leaned further in to steal a brief kiss from his wife, which she was only momentarily hesitant on returning. They were making progress on that front, which he was immensely grateful for. When he eased away from the kiss, he retreated further back than before, shifting his position to sitting next to her. He continued speaking with an even tone of voice. "While I'd much rather have other more delightful diversions from a nap, I would like to address another matter you brought up as being under your considerations."

Mercedes' brows furrowed in confusion to the ever fluctuating behavior and asked, "And which matter is that?"

"You brought up certain things that have taken place in this life of yours, in regards to past lovers and commitments you made," Vlad answered mildly. His wife's expression began shifting to wariness at what he might be about to say, but he pressed on. "If it's not clear to you yet, none of our vows ever restricted either of us to not having outside lovers. When we've been together, we've never desired seeking satisfaction elsewhere; and in our life together in Wallachia, we both felt it would've been immensely insulting to our bond to add constricting vows as a prevention for infidelity and imply such mistrust in one another..."

The Dragon noted his little mouse of a wife's expression easing as she realized he was giving further explanations to aid her considerations, not launching into some judgment of her past. He smirked faintly and continued speaking. "When you returned as Anasztázia, I felt quite a bit of guilt for having eventually taken some lovers. I confessed that breach of fidelity to my angel once your memories returned enough to understand who you were and we could therefore have certain conversations more openly. You forgave me for that breach, understanding that it hadn't been for lack of love for you, but to try taking the edge off the loneliness plaguing me during what I thought would be an unending separation from my wife. While neither of us wished to be separated again and I was doing everything I could to keep that from happening, we both knew the possibility existed, whether or not you eventually joined me as a vampire. Though I neither asked for it or wanted it at the time, you gave me permission to resume such distractions should something happen to you, so long as I set aside such distractions and found you as quickly as possible once I became aware that you had returned again. And as I have previously mentioned to you, that was an agreement I upheld to as soon as Mihnea started getting visions of you as Lucy, and I made no attempt to hide such information from you as Lucy.

"I'm not going to lie to you and say I'm fond of the idea of you having had other lovers before we reunited in this life. I'm indisputably a greedy, incorrigible, bastard of a dragon who enjoys having as much of my beloved angel's enthralling attentions as possible." His wife had been listening quietly with a pensive expression so far, but now she gave him an exasperated look to that candid and teasing admittance. Vlad continued speaking, tone becoming serious once more, "I'm well aware, however, that it would be the height of hypocrisy to judge or lash out for you having been with others when you were completely unaware of our connection to one another and myself having had my own liaisons in your absence.

"With our vows having been as unrestricting as possible to avoid unpleasant situations because you're a seer, yet you did swear to me that we'd try to rebuild our lives and family as best as could be done, I would hazard the assumption that was how you were able to superficially marry the phoenix. Our intention in the past had been in the more traditional sense of reforming familial ties with our still living son and having a life together. Things happened as they did and Mihnea needed to be reborn for our family to be whole. I'd have to know the precise wording of that ceremony to confirm my theory, but I'd wager with the obvious reservations you consciously had going into it, that they were framed in such a way that you weren't in violation of our vows while doing as necessary and expedient to reform our family; that just as you did with our wedding of convenience, you gave yourself plenty of room to seek an exit once the resulting pregnancy came about, but you were far more subtle about it so as not to forewarn the miscreant you weren't as committed to the arrangement as you seemed."

Mercedes gave a small nod in admittance to that assertion. "Yes, I did try to leave open exit options; but they weren't as carefully worded as I thought they were because I was also trying to be so subtle, and it took Brian causing physical harm as he did to feel the compulsions from our marital vows break."

Vlad said solemnly, "Unforeseen complications like that were precisely why we've tried to be as unrestricting in our vows as possible, and I'm truly sorry you were put through such a situation to restore our family. And I will reiterate that if the worst case scenario happens again, despite all our current best efforts, I will do everything in my power to find you as swiftly as possible and we will bring back our son in a far more clinical manner to avoid such unpleasantness repeating."

The seer sighed and said ambivalently, "I don't know if you realize just how surreal it feels to be having conversations like this, but it's still feeling really weird. I would have thought someone was absolutely insane if they told me a month ago that I'd be on a ship in the middle of the sea, married to the Vampire King, and having what amounts to a supernatural family planning discussion."

The Dragon gave a small shrug and said with blunt honesty as he continued to meet his angel's golden-infused gaze, "It might be a bit strange, but it becomes relatively less surreal feeling over time. For what it may be worth, even if you're needing time to incorporate certain realities of our situation to your current understandings, I have the outside observer's perspective to notice you've made peace with it quicker in each lifetime, including this one. I'm trusting that we'll get through this transitional period as we always have; and that with as much as we've learned, as powerful as I've become, and circumstances in general being better in our favor this time, we'll be able to secure a future together and not need to worry about going through these types of discussions again."

Mercedes gave another nod to that assurance and said quietly, "There's a part of my mind hoping that proves to be the case, but even still..."

"I know, draga mea," Vlad said seriously as she floundered for words, reaching up with one hand to stroke the side of her face. "We've not had the best track record for plans going as we wish. And I know, especially because of how things have been, that it's going to take time for things to settle between us. However, I also know who we are and just how rare what we have together is, and I will continue to do everything I can to protect what we share and not give you cause to regret continuing to extend your trust in me as you have..."

The King of Death saw a brief flare of brighter gold in his Queen's eyes. Her expression became unfocused for several seconds, and then a deeply confused expression detonated across her face.

"...Draga mea?" He quietly inquired as her expression quickly became even more conflicted and the shades of gold in her eyes continued to fluctuate.

The seer blinked a few times, then closed her eyes and took a few breaths to try calming the swirl of chaotic thoughts inundating her. "That was... I... I think..." She gave a frustrated huff as the words repeatedly cut off, from what was undoubtedly a badly framed attempt to speak her thoughts.

"Draga mea, look at me."

Mercedes felt the dragon radiating out his distinct brand of protective aura and felt it calming some of her flustered thoughts. She sighed heavily with a conflicted relief and opened her eyes, and a dark forest green gaze, not the expected hellfire one, was staring back at her.

"What sparked your senses just now?"

Mercedes could help but give a weary passing laugh. "The same thing that's so frequently setting them off these days. You. The stabilizing eye of the weird storm that's blown into my life and been turning everything upside down."

Vlad raised an eyebrow in confusion, thinking on the content of their last bit of conversation and not the least sure how it might have set off something for her to see or otherwise sense and have these sorts of reactions. "Have I accidentally incited some sort of upset for you in some way?"

Mercedes gave a small shake of her head. "I wouldn't say..." Her words cut off again and she ended up snapping out the compulsive correction, "...Alright, apparently 'upset' is an accurate word for how I feel, but I'm not upset with you." The priestess gave a groan and hung her head, trying to form up a proper explanation. "Fou le camp! What I wouldn't give sometimes to be able to just say whatever I want without every statement needing to pass some annoying nebulous screening of what's considered accurate enough by whatever cosmic forces are at work! Argghhh!"

The King of Death decided to hold his silence. He well knew the more rattled his angel got, the more difficult it could be to speak. Particularly if the matter was something complex to give voice to. That seer-caused issue played into her habit of gravitating towards the occasional colorful profanity or song to express herself; with the latter method having been well known enough when she had been Persephone that it was still referenced throughout myths, even if the actual reasons behind her appreciation of songs had been forgotten. When it was difficult for his Queen to put her thoughts into her own framing, she tended to fall back on a well understood colloquialism for a quick expression, or using song to portray more complex things running through her mind. This didn't appear to be a time when attempted aid via prompts would help her reframe whatever was going through her head, so patience was about all he could offer as he waited to find out what this was all about.

Mercedes eventually gave a frustrated sigh and then shook her head as she looked up again. The faintly confused and inquiring expression on the dragon's face caused her to briefly laugh again. "Par les dieux... What exactly did I get myself into with you all those years ago? Just how much am I not consciously remembering?"

The confused expression grew and Vlad asked, "Scuze?"

Mercedes couldn't help but laugh at his baffled reaction, even as she continued to try sorting through her own. She was eventually able to say, despite the conflicted emotions and thoughts swirling in her head, "I think I just realized the answer to one of my ongoing questions, and it's sparking others into existence, that I'm trying with limited success to put answers to."

"What question did you realize an answer to, and what other questions were sparked?" The Dragon asked stoically, in hopes of routing the potential for a repeat of the incident barely a week ago when her confused tentative understandings had chance to start spinning in the wrong directions.

"I need to ask you a question first," Mercedes said hesitantly, "to possibly confirm one part that I can't be entirely sure of, even if my senses are poking in a way that feels like it's the right answer."

"What would that be?"

"Do you know, or maybe have a well educated guess from having the unbroken perspective, if I somehow knew Liam in my life as Anasztázia, before he became a vampire?" The empath could immediately sense a flair up of the bad mood vibes from her husband. A brief flicker of fire also went up among the foresty green of his eyes in tandem to the mood. That seemingly confirmed her theory, but she cautiously waited to see what he had to say on the matter, especially as she noted the sparks of fire dying down and the forest green returning in full.

Vlad needed those seconds to get the reactive emotions stamped down, but then conceded as stoically as he could force himself, "I never met The Hawk when you were Anasztázia; our first time meeting face to face was in my hotel room in Philadelphia. However, I do know that your father in that life had followed royal customs and made marriage arrangements for you while you were still a child, to be carried out when you came of age for such things. He and his wife had you when they were both in their later middle years and weren't likely to be having other children, so he wanted to secure a male heir one way or other and make sure you'd be protected and provided for. From the impression I had from a few passing things you said, you had only met your intended husband a few times when he came to your father's court to discuss battle plans for ongoing conflicts of various sorts. About half a decade before I had come to your father's court, when you were still but a teenager, you were told that your intended husband died in a battle. After that happened, it was obvious to even casual observation that your father was feeling indecisive about making new arrangements for you. A procrastination I know you were glad for, as the leading contenders your father had thus far screened weren't to your liking. He knew and respected your opinion enough that it was clearly influencing his decision to not press the matter forward as vehemently as he might otherwise have, and instead he was actively searching for alternative suitors he could tolerate passing his daughter and legacy to. Unfortunately for us, he felt I had too much 'old blood' and wasn't even willing to entertain the idea, even if he would do business with me."

"My father from that life seems to have been an extremely complicated, conflicted, and closeminded man to try dealing with." Mercedes couldn't help but interrupt ambivalently with that observation based from what little she had heard of him.

"That's an exceedingly polite and understated way to put it," The King of Death said with an edge to his voice that he couldn't completely suppress. He gave a facsimile of a sigh and then said with better neutrality, "Be that as it may, to keep with answering your original question- I'm fairly certain, especially from some things you've recently mentioned of Liam, and things I've learned of his history, that he's who your father had originally arranged for you to marry. Subsequently, I'm fairly certain that either The Hawk pursued you in this life because you did simply remind him of your old self and he subconsciously wanted a proxy for her, or he's actually figured out you're a reincarnation of Anasztázia and feels entitled to claim what your father had originally promised him. At this point, that's the most accurate information I can honestly provide you. You would need to ask him to divulge more concrete details of whatever arrangements he made with your father, or what his exact motivations and understandings have been these last few years."

"That's... That's certainly making things take more semblance of sense in my head..." Mercedes added with frustration, "Par les dieux... I really can be so blind to reality sometimes..."

"Draga mea, what questions are you forming answers to in regards to The Hawk, and how does that relate to what you said of myself?"

"The question of how, even if there wasn't some loophole necessity like with Brian for our son's sake, I could end up in the situation I was in with Liam," Mercedes said carefully, now actively aware of how certain thoughts were forcing themselves to be framed when speaking on the subject. She could sense flickers of bad mood remaining next to her and did her best to explain, before the dragon's temper might get too sparked by what she knew was a sore subject. "I thought I was agreeing to marry him. Consciously, that was what my words were intended to imply, that's what I thought I was doing; and I had been allowing things to proceed accordingly with wedding plans Liam was arranging..."

The empath felt the aura of bad mood dying down and saw her husband's confused expression creeping back. "...There were the Companion vows binding me already, and an enchantment on the engagement ring Liam gave me, which exerted their own effects; and I never really questioned if anything else might or might not be in effect after the proposal... The Companion vows, I think those didn't conflict with whatever our different wedding vows specifically were because they're more utilitarian, not based on emotional connections or their commitments, but contextualized as a formal safeguard and understanding of roles for a relatively short term arrangement between acknowledged lovers and with one of them being in a sensitive position as an Elder. Just like your arrangements with women when I was absent didn't break our vows.

"And while I had adopted using the term of being his 'Consort' and it carried the implication of being his future bride among Elders; it can just as easily mean a long term lover without such a commitment, especially among aristocracy like I've grown up among. So it wasn't a lie to say I was, even if I didn't realize my subconscious was registering different distinctions... And I think I've been able to refer to him as my 'ex-fiancé' since we broke up because that's the truth, even if it's a truth tied to things from the past...

"But when Liam asked me to marry him last year, I couldn't reply at first... It felt like it was from the sheer surprise because Elders aren't supposed to marry humans; and maybe some restraint from Companion vows to protect an Elder's interests because agreeing to go against tradition to marry him could have jeopardized his position. And some of that is what it was, but it was also my vows to you keeping me from agreeing. Some close Elder friends were present and they basically explained that Liam wasn't asking on a whim without forethought to the consequences, that he had gotten permission to ask and we weren't at risk of breaking any rules as far as the Elders were concerned. And then... Then Liam jokingly rephrased his proposal to prompt me to answer after those reassurances had been given..."

"What, precisely, did he ask you?" The Dragon asked, now mildly curious, if still quite confused.

Mercedes gave another frazzled laugh. The words were fresh in her mind; the memory sparked into perfect clarity by her seer senses. "He asked me if I could perhaps consent to spending the rest of my life bound to an incorrigible daimon who had fallen hopelessly and madly in love with me and was willing to swear that he'd give everything and anything he was capable of to ensure my perpetual happiness if I agreed to become his bride; and I said yes, such a prospect was one I could happily swear myself to."

That reply took a few seconds to be mentally absorbed, for the import to fully register. When it did, sardonic entertainment flooded in and the King of Death broke into uproarious laughter, leaning back in his sitting position to be laying on the bed. He thought to himself in immensely pleased anticipation, 'Oh, I can't wait to get my fangs in that presumptuous little usurper and make him aware of just how far gone his chances had been before he ever ran across my wife again... It's going to be so such fun snuffing out the so called Sun God, watching his descent into irrevocably broken madness, before I eventually toss his worthless soul into a deep void.'

Mercedes gave her husband a baffled look as the outer appearance for his alias rippled into shadows and then reformed into the exterior form she was coming to think of as snuggly-Vlad. Well, at least his bad mood vibes were entirely gone; but she hadn't expected quite so extreme of a reaction to him finding out that, technically speaking, her and Liam hadn't truly been engaged in this life thanks to agreements and understandings being twisted up by her seer senses and preexisting commitments, and that her response to the general prospect of the proposal had been a subconscious answer in regards to her preexisting husband. And she still had the lingering distressing question of just what would have happened if she and Liam had made it to the big day and had attempted to have the ceremony... That would have likely ended up in a massive clusterfuck of confusion and anger when she found herself unable to say the required words and had no rational explanation to offer.

Watching The Dragon manically laughing next to her, body shaking from the force of it, and sensing his amusement pulsing next to her, however, Mercedes couldn't help but give a quieter laugh as she shook her head. She thought in French, 'By the gods, even his creepy laughs aren't feeling off putting anymore... I wish I could remember what my past selves truly thought about swearing to marry, or to stay married to, this incorrigible bastard and ending up with their lives going so deep into topsy turvy land...'

When Vlad was finally able to rein in his laughter, he rolled up and over to lean over his angel, planting his hands on either side of her hips again. Looking down at her with fanged grin remaining as she gave a surprised noise to the sudden movement and glanced up with confused golden-tinted gaze, he inquired with throaty accent deployed to full effect, "Well, draga mea, now that we've cleared the air on so many matters, I'm finding myself desiring to put off my nap until Seras is due to join you for your lunch. Might my Angel of Mercy be willing to grant her dragon another snack of the same nature she allowed last night to ease his hunger and allow for a more restful sleep?"

Renewed giggles bubbled out to that teasing request. "You really are a greedy, incorrigible, bastard of a dragon..."

"Eternally, unrepentantly, and proudly so," Vlad agreed as he leaned in and gave a playful nip to her neck.

Mercedes shook her head in amusement and, after a few seconds of thought, a few gestures directed magic to throw up sensory wards around their cabin, as he had requested she do when in the close vicinity of the others. Not that the privacy bubble had lasted very long last night. Once he unleashed his inner dragon and the enchantress lost her grip on her conscious senses, she was in no state to be renewing the wards. But it at least served as a warning to Walter and Seras to make sure their supernaturally enhanced senses were politely tuning out the activities as best as they could, unless they wanted to be in trouble with their Master afterwards.

The Dragon's grin remained as he prompted with gleeful anticipation, "La dispoziţia dumneavoastră, draga mea..."

The seer gave an impish smirk of her own, her working hand reaching up to toy with the lacing of his favorite, decidedly antiquated, relax time shirt.

A rumble of a mildly frustrated growl came from the King of Death as he waited for his Queen to verbally signal her permission for him to unchain some of his desire and have his carnal snack.

Mercedes' smirk remained as she mused in a thoughtful tone, "Well, my dragony husband has had a very busy morning, and I might be feeling a bit peckish in my own ways right about now..." Fire flickered up among forest green as she felt his desire teasing at the edges of her senses, and he gave another, more impatient, rumble as she continued dragging out her answer. The empath couldn't hold back the brief knowing laugh. Her fingers quickly tightened on the front of his shirt and pulled him in as she said, "My greedy dragon may commence with snack time."

Vlad's chuckle being smothered as his cool lips met hers in a demanding kiss was the last thing Mercedes would be fully aware of for the next hour, the seer allowing herself to get lost in the proffered enjoyable distraction from the whirlwind of weird that life had become.