Chapter 22-The Ring
"Well. That went better than I expected," Bulma tried for a light tone as they reached her set of rooms whenever she resided at the Keep. Vegeta sensed the underlying upset she felt at having to ignore her family's wishes. He just grunted in response before pointing out what she chose to ignore.
"Up until you informed them that Jaenelle said that if you didn't make the Offering before the end of the week you never would, you had the Warlord Prince of Ebon Rih, I believe that's what you called Daemonar, screaming at you for over an hour, all through supper. The Eternal Dragon added his two cents into the conversation against it, a number of times I might add. The Supreme Kai was positively livid at the idea. If I remember correctly his exact words were-"
"I remember his exact words thank you very much," she sniffed primly thinking of the tiny purple man's highly… inventive reasoning. "I suppose he did have a point, but can we risk it? If I do make the Offering then yes I will be in danger, but if I don't then I'll be at an even greater risk. We all will!"
"Then there was the High Lord. He was impressive though, in spite of his advancing age. He had some very interesting things to say on the subject as well," Vegeta went on quickly.
"Darling, are you trying to distract me from my present line of thought by making me focus on how funny it was to have 4 of the most powerful males in the world freaking out so that you don't have to deal with a distressed female?"
"Yes. Is it working?" he asked curiously, cautiously. She laughed and threw her arms around him, her mood changing like lightening. He felt the sudden lift in her disposition, but he didn't understand the reason. Even the bond was not going to be much help in understanding this woman anymore than he already did. Which really wasn't saying much as far as he was concerned. Although he was relieved that she seemed to be cheering up slightly.
"Yes he is quite impressive in spite of his advancing age. I wonder how much longer he will live. After all, most of his reasons for living have already been taken away. He's very tired." Her mood abruptly shifted to pensive.
"He was quite powerful… there was something about his ki, but I can't quite put my finger on it…"
"Oh, that. It's just that he's demon-dead my prince," she laughed softly causing him to scowl. Then her face turned serious. "Sometimes when a witch or a warlord dies sometimes they're not ready to return to the Darkness."
"Meaning?" He was still annoyed with the way she casually used his title as an endearment.
"Meaning that their body is dead but their spirit light is too strong to fade away just yet. People have various reasons for wanting to continue living. To get revenge if they were murdered, to straighten up loose ends before fading, to continue living out their life as they would if they died too soon. Grandpapa stayed alive, or rather made the transition to demon-dead because Cassandra asked him to as a 'last request'. He is indeed impressive, that he should be able to handle the knowledge that his queen had betrayed his trust not once, but twice." Also impressive that he would be strong enough to overlook that to be there for me. She leaned into Vegeta's warmth again, drawing comfort from his solid presence.
"And Saediar?"
"Surreal and Falonar's son. He was named after Grandpa Daemon and Grandpapa Saetan. I know why they were hoping I'd wait until he arrived. He'd have just thrown in his argument with them. He's still coming, but now he won't even know there was argument to begin with. That's something at any rate."
Bulma was getting upset again. He stroked her hair with his hand. It was so easy to comfort her like this when they were alone. Their bond was surprisingly strong.
"Speaking of the bond," Bulma said picking up on the stray thought, "I had been studying it for a while before Cassandra… earlier today and I noticed that exact same thing myself. In fact I was psychically probing it and I discovered that it had begun forming since nearly a year ago." Her tone had become decidedly unfriendly, and he caught the questions cropping up in her mind. How long had he known about it? And when exactly had he started picking up her thoughts?
"Since Namek at least," he agreed, nuzzling her neck where he marked her.
"Since Namek for what? I know you caught the rest of that."
"Since Namek would be where we started to bond." He began to nibble on her ear, causing her to shiver in response. "Since Namek that I realized what might be happening, although I did my damndest to spend all my time training in the hopes that it wouldn't happen." He trailed warm kisses along her jaw and her eyes drifted close in response. "Since Namek that I started picking up on your moods which is what lead to me being able to pick up on your thoughts more and more as we got closer."
Her darkened sapphire eyes snapped open at that but what she was going to say about having a strange alien in her head when she hadn't even been getting along with him at the time was muffled by his lips on hers. In spite of trying your damndest to keep it from happening, she managed to toss at him tartly, miffed that he hadn't wanted her the entire time or tried to do anything about it, even as she tried to remember if she'd thought anything she hadn't wanted him to know. She felt his amusement at her conflicting response to his revelation even as his laughter began to rumble deep in his chest. The laughter quickly changed, became a seductive purr and she wrapped her arms around his neck, all concerns getting lost somewhere in the building pleasure.
Neither of them noticed when the black dress she wore slid to the ground, nor when Vegeta's training suit joined it. Neither of them realized how they ended up in the bed. They were too lost in each other to notice the sheets pillows and blanket landing in a tangled heap on the floor. Vegeta slowly explored every inch of his eternal queen, even as he slowly explored her mind, worshipping her body as no one else ever had. Learning her as well as he knew himself, accepting everything she offered. Slowly he began to open his mind to her, showing her things about Vegeta-sai, about him self, as he skillfully coaxed her body to respond. But he still kept the pain of his past locked tightly inside of his own mind. He felt a quick flash of hurt, quickly buried, from her when she realized he was keeping part of himself back.
The cold saiyan expected her to pull away in bitter anger when she discovered that he was unwilling to show her the truth about himself and his past. What she did struck him even harder than any freezing rejection ever could. She stiffened briefly and then relaxed, allowing him to feel her confusion. And her acceptance. How does she do this to me? These emotions… why don't I feel weaker because of them?
He couldn't remember anyone who had accepted him this simply, this completely. Everyone before him had always wanted something from him. The other z fighters wanted him because his strength was an asset when they were fighting strong enemies. Nappa and Radditz had wanted him because association with him helped keep them secure in their place at the top. Freeza wanted him as a killing tool, a puppet with which to purge worlds. Even his own father had never wanted him as anything other than a strong heir, someone he could hold up on display as a credit to himself. Bulma just wanted him, soul wounds and all.
The proud prince tried to show her what that simple act of faith on her part meant to him with his mouth, with his hands. Tried to show her what he couldn't tell her with words, or with his mind since showing her would have meant letting her see why it meant so much. All he knew as he moved inside her, delighting in hungry moans was that she had chosen him without asking him anything in return but the one thing he could never completely give her without causing that haunted, bruised look to come back to her eyes. Himself.
Vegeta had been watching her sleep for the past few hours, letting her rest and continue recovering rather than keeping her up for the rest of the night as he would have liked. He glanced out of the window. It was nearly dawn. But she could continue to sleep for a while yet. He brushed a lock of pale blue silk away from her peaceful face. Moving carefully so as not to wake his mate he slipped from the huge ocean that was their bed, grinning when he noticed the pile of pillows and blankets scattered across the floor. He didn't really remember exactly when they had gotten there but that was didn't bother him a bit since he clearly recalled how they had gotten there.
He briefly glanced back at Bulma's sleeping form before going to the closet and looking around for his own clothes. He frowned when he didn't find any. He went to another door, but that just opened into the hallway. He growled, barely remembering not to slam it and glared around the room. Last door. He went to the door and opened it, finding another slightly smaller bedroom on the other side. He noticed the bag that he had packed his belongings for the trip in under the bed, so he entered the room, softly closing the door to the larger bedroom.
Nestled atop the pillow, was a black box with a note beside it. Written in a slightly archaic, masculine hand, the note was addressing him.
Warlord Prince Vegeta,
In the box you will find a ring. The ring belonged to my son and Bulma's grandfather, Daemon Sadi. It was the ring Jaenelle gave him to replace the consort ring. It retains the engravings that indicate the consort position, but it also indicates marriage. Choosing to accept this ring means more than being welcomed into the bed of the Queen who offers it, it also means being welcomed into her heart. My granddaughter has asked that I have it delivered to you. I ask only that you think very carefully about your decision to slide it on your finger.
On a slightly lighter note I will now explain what I am sure you are wondering. You're clothing and other belongings are in this bedroom as it is customary for a consort to be given the room directly connected to the Queen he serves. If this does not suit you then I would suggest that you take it up with Bulma and she will see to it the staff is made aware of whatever arrangement you both reach. If you have any questions about our society I would be more than happy to address them.
Saetan SaDiablo
Vegeta growled annoyed at the thought anyone would expect him to sleep in here when she was less than fifteen feet away. He glanced again at the letter, rereading the first paragraph closely. He looked at the small black box lying on the bed… and left it there to search for some clothes and the capsulized gravity chamber.
AAAAHHHH how could he do that?! Oh wait I know… My cat is staring at me like I'm really weird now, thanks. Lucivar's lying on top of my scanner on my cabinet and he looks really adorable. This has nothing to do with anything he just looks really fluffy and cuddly so I thought I would tell you this to take the edge off the annoyance I'm feeling for Vegeta at the moment even though I not only know why he just did something so incredibly stupid, but I made him do it ~_~. Ah well, another chapter is up on my Dark Jewels fic The Contract and we'd still like reviews for the fic I'm writing with Grimsister called Dark Fools. Thanks for keeping with me people.
manga: Welcome back from your break. Hope this was enough of a uh, moment between our favorite couple. More pending, lol. Thanks for the review!
Raksha: Plenty long thanks. *would be satisfactorily cleaning whisker of cream if any whiskers were present * Glad you like Dark Fools, I actually enjoyed that one and we will continue if we get any reviews. If you need any help on your fic let me know. I'm at present unable to get into my yahoo account so if you want to let me know what you need help with then you can also get me at demon_cat_13@hotmail.com. Thank you as always for your input Sister and the Darkness send the winds to bring you new ideas. (Wow, I am like totally cracked out or something. Where do I get this stuff? O_O)
Sailor Purgatory: I can see that o_O. Lol, it warms my heart to see that you approve of my method of getting rid of no longer necessary characters. Thanks for your reviews.
Roya:*hangs head in shame * Sorry for being such a slacker. I would have written more sooner but between spring cleaning(or you know summer cleaning) and my stupid ISP I've been unable to get on the computer very much. Thanks for your enthusiastic reviews though. I really do appreciate them, lol.
Silverstar: Thanks for dropping me a line. Hm, in answer to your question, yes. I haven't quite decided about the Offering though, because when it happens it's not going to be… well I guess you see in the next chapter or so about what I mean. I'll try not to disappoint anyone with what's going to happen, but let me know what you think when I post it k?
