The night enveloped them, hot and breezy. Her skin shone like pale gold in the dancing light the oil lamps cast around the room. "Come with me. You'll be a princess of Troy…"

"I'm already a Queen here."

"He doesn't love you like I do. You're his trophy, the most beautiful woman in the known world. With me, you'll be respected, adored like the treasure you are. Come with me and let me love you…"

"She won't come."

"Yes, she will. She loves me. Go, Kay, use a white sail if there's hope, black if I am to die."

The poison ate at him, acid in his veins, cold and hot, burning, raging, forbidding sleep or rest, killing him inside slowly.

"Kahedin is back. I see his ship."

It hurt to talk. It hurt to ask the one by his side if She was to save him. She who had promised she'd love him always. She must have come. She had promised him. "What… color."

"Black."

The pitiful meow startled him awake. Oliver coughed, his throat tight and drier than the Sahara. The light sheet was enough to weight him down, his body was hotter than a furnace. He pushed on his elbows to try and get some fresh air. Then he realized where the heat—and the cries— came from and rolled over. Fabulous green eyes met his, unblinking, huge and too bright.

"Chloe?"

Chloe gasped then squirmed in discomfort when his thumb brushed over her hip.

"Hurt…"

Oliver instantly withdrew his hand to gently direct her to lie on her front. A film of perspiration shone on her body, the sheet sticky when he pushed it out of the way to look at her back. The skin around the Shenu was red and angry. The sign itself seemed almost blurred by the swelling. She whimpered, even his gaze on the mark seemed painful.

"Don't move."

Oliver padded naked to the bathroom for towels, then the minibar for ice. Chloe jumped when he ran the wet towel over her.

"Sorry. How does that feel? Better?"

"Cold…" She whined. He could almost hear her teeth grinding, as if he was rubbing sandpaper on her skin. "Hurt…"

He pecked her shoulder, before he wrapped some ice in another towel to press it on her hip. Her sob twisted a knife into his gut. Oliver kept the compress in place with one hand while he caressed her neck with the other. Her forehead was burning hot under his lips. "You're running a fever…"

Chloe turned her head to look at him from under her lashes. Her eyes glittered with heat and the tears she tried to keep at bay. Something sour twisted inside him when she hissed under his touch.

"I… You're… going to… You can… go… Leave… Now."

"No. No I am not going anywhere." The exhausted clouds in her beautiful eyes killed him slowly inside. "You're not getting rid of me this easily, Sidekick."

Now that I have you, I'm not letting you go.

He brushed golden hair out of her eyes with his free hand. Even ill, or maybe because she was and she needed him despite her attempt to push him away, she looked as adorable as ever, trusting, a bit shy and docile. He had to fight an urge to kiss her. "What is it? Tell me."

"Your mark… It's… It's gone. You're… free."

What?

Oliver resisted the need to twist his neck and look. Her back pulsated under his palm. Pain flashed through her green orbs for a second, so forceful she closed her eyes. The ice was already gone and the towel almost dry. How high could her fever be? Was his touch hurting her? He should call for help, have a doctor look her over… He couldn't let go of her to even grab the phone. Just the idea of not touching her right now made him nauseous.

Oliver helped her on her side once more and nudged her forward until she was flushed against him. Her arm wrapped around his waist, her fingers automatically tracing the spot on his back that was now apparently empty. So beautiful…

"I don't need a magical tattoo to know I love you, Chloe." Her eyes widened, her lips trembling as they parted in awe. "I fell in love in you because you're strong, you're pigheaded, and a bit controlling. You believe in me, you challenge me. You see through the masks I put on, the billionaire, the vigilante, you just see Oliver, and you accept all of me. With you I…" He struggled with the words, knowing it was too soon, or too late. "You fill that hole my parents' death carved inside me. I love you."

Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. Her skin shot fire and ice into his palm. "Do you love me?"

Chloe nodded, sobbing quietly while she pressed up against him at the same time, her caresses more urgent, her hips more demanding. Oliver shook his head. She was unwell, surely now was not the time… Chloe lifted her head a fraction, licking her dry lips, her eyes pleading. Unable to deny her, Oliver directed her leg around his hip and sank gently into her until he was rooted.

A thousand volts coursed through him at once. His eyes almost rolled in their sockets under the fiery hurt. Her body fought him, wound so tight around his girth he feared he was hurting her more than the magic piercing her flank. Her nails scratched at his back in reflex when he started to retreat. Oliver groaned, the need to pull out of her as strong as her insistence to keep him inside her, breathing through fire as he kept himself in check and deep in the velvet volcano of her body. Every point of contact ached, excruciating under their hands, worse at their joined hips, a restless, hurtful enemy determined to separate them. Chloe cried softly into his chest. Oliver gathered her closer, pushed even deeper despite the pain, taking her torment as his own. "I love you."

Chloe held onto him, hot droplets running down her cheeks. His hand returned to her sigil and she mirrored his position with tiny gasps as she finally accepted all of him inside her. "I love you too…"

The pain subsided somehow, lessened to a heat they could almost bear. In his mind eyes, the sign on her back unfurled its arms to form a svastika with delicate leaves. Her hips undulated into his lightly, a silent request to move. He rocked ever so slightly, with shallow, careful thrusts at first, then more fully when her grip left his back to his shoulder and her body adjusted to his presence. The cross lit and she held onto him more fiercely than before. Chloe whimpered again, a sound he'd heard over and over last night, bliss rather than pain. He longed to hear it again. "Don't leave me…"

"Never. I'll drive you mad and I'll annoy you senseless. But I won't leave. I love you…"

The branches' ends flickered at each other.

"I love you… Ollie!"

He accelerated his movements, crushing her into him so he felt all of her in his arms where she belonged, all of him inside her where his life started anew. The star spined now, fast, faster, dizzying. He pledged himself to her once more and the sun exploded.

Oliver dropped his head on her shoulder with a tired smile.

"I think that answers your question…"

Chloe's petite hand ran up and down his spine to elicit aftershocks each time it reached the renewed Shenu on his back. "Which one?"

"If it's going to be incredible every time…"

"Now you're just fishing for compliments…"

She petted his shoulder lightly to signal he was getting too heavy. Oliver pushed up on his elbows, unwilling to leave the bliss of her arms just yet. Chloe breathed in deeply.

He laughed, and kissed the tip of her nose. "Naturally."

Her eyes danced with his, clear once more. Oliver gave her an eskimo kiss.

"Seriously, though, are you still in pain?"

She touched his cheek. "No, I can still feel it, like some sort of burn on my hip. It's uncomfortable but it's nothing like before… I don't feel as hot either."

"You're hot." Chloe rolled her eyes with an indulgent smile. "Not what you meant. All right. I stand by my claim anyway."

Oliver kissed her at leisure, half-pleased and half-disappointed to realize the caress didn't evoke a stronger reaction on his part. Refractory period was going back to normal apparently. Too bad… Chloe pressed her nose against his cheek.

"Thank you…"

"Now that's a compliment."

Chloe slapped his chest playfully. "Don't be a beast. I'm talking about helping me… I don't know how you knew it was going to work but…"

"I can't bear seeing you in pain." Her smile softened. "And you asked… Well, not in so many words but I got the message." Oliver winked. "Maybe it's the soulmates thing."

Since an encore was not in the books for now, Oliver released her to check the time. "Our flight is mid-afternoon; we have time to visit a bit more if you like."

"Can we go to the Science Museum?"

"Your inner geek is showing, Chlo…"

She stuck her tongue at him while putting on his shirt once more to go investigate the content of her wardrobe.

Three hours later, they'd gone through the Energy Hall and the Space Exhibit. Oliver had beat her score at some childish guess-what game set up to replace the temporary closed Pattern Pod. Who would have guessed his Sidekick was a sore loser?

"The answer to that boni question is B, not A."

"Nope. I won. You lost. Suck it up, Tower…"

"They got it wrong. I can prove it."

"Using your phone is cheating…" He shot back in a sing-song voice made especially to annoy her. It was working overtime and when the girl behind them whooped in glee for an ace game, Chloe huffed with such a murderous glower on her face he barely contained a chuckle.

Oliver tapped a figure on her pursed lips.

"Don't pout, Sweetheart… I'll give you one of my points and that'll make us even."

"Keep your points. I know I'm right."

Oliver laughed until claws punctured small indentation in his elbow. "Easy there, Tiger, that's my bow arm. I need it. Come on, let's go see the IMAX movie."

She read the title on the poster with a frown. "Textile Revolution? I am not sure… Child labour is not exactly my thing…"

"It's a child-friendly scientific museum, Chloe, they aren't going to quote Dickens. They probable gloat about the wonders of industrialization and trade in the Victorian Era." Oliver leaned to whisper in her ear. "We'll seat in the back and make out the whole time."

Chloe blushed at the husky suggestion, eyes darting left and right to make sure no one had heard. "You're terrible."

"Because I'm telling you how much I want to kiss you?" He asked, the perfect picture of innocent charm. Very few of their kisses had stayed in the PG category in the past 24 hours, but reminding her would be counterproductive.

Chloe's eyes flickered to his mouth despite herself. A lick of heat flared low in his belly at the sight. Oh, they were definitely going in now. If not, they might end on splashed on the front page of the Mirror and he'd rather avoid her the dubious celebrity. He planned to present her to the world in quite a different fashion.

The wooden bench inside the theatre didn't exactly invite intimacy. Oliver scouted to the far end of the last row then pulled Chloe on his lap. The attendant glowered at them but thankfully kept his mouth shut. The twins that sat beside them had less good sense.

"You can't watch the movie if you're seating sideways," one chided.

The little vixen fidgeted on his lap. "That's what I told him…"

"Liar," Oliver murmured in her neck. She wriggled some more as if to aim his attention on the fact his master plan was thwarted and he'd just penned himself for thirty minutes of torture. Oliver secured both arms around her waist and the movie began.

Within minutes, his fingers stopped toying with the sash of her blouse.