Pen went into the grand hall, she did not think it a good idea to go into an empty bed still vibrating with the need she'd absorbed. Aethen was there, holding a bottle of Regis' hooch. He knew very well what she was feeling, his own bond to her was vibrating like a plucked string.

"...I'd offer you take you over one of the tables, but I like my balls where they are and Tin does too." He offered her the bottle. "...So I say a few shots and teleport to the Royal seat...Give himself a thrill..."

She took it and a few swigs later snuck through the darkened royal suite to crawl in beside her husband.

Nuada woke that morning to find Pen sprawled beside him, he got up long enough to tell the servants not to disturb them until well past noon. He returned and pulled her against him.

"...What has brought you home my songbird..." He whispered.

She pulled him down to release the hunger within.

"You went to see the fox last night..." He laughed when she ended on top of him. "...and you taste of hooch."

"...gods, he kisses like." She said, not wanting to sound like she was Cuckolding him.

"If that was from a kiss..." Nuda teased. "I should let you..."

She swatted him with a pillow. His laughter distracted her enough for him to place her beneath him.

"But truly..." He said. "If I reap the benefit..."

"You know he'll be as possessive as you..." She said. "and he may yet be more..."

He shifted his body to nestle between her thighs. He knew the potential price of the bonding.

"I could be persuaded to share..." He teased.

She shifted to take him, moaning softly.

"...let us discuss this later..."

He lowered himself and smiled.

"As my lady wishes..."

She kissed him, smiling as he began to move...
*

Crevan was disappointed that Pen was not at breakfast. He had wished to talk to her, to clear his head. He could still feel the kiss on his lips, her weight on his lap. That had been enough fuel another erotic dream. This time he had slunk off to the privy. His watcher had taken one look at his expression and said he'd wait outside. He saw the night elf approach and sit down.

"...She is at the Royal seat." Aethen said. "...in his majesty's bed no doubt."

Crevan looked into his breakfast.

"...She tasted of honey and earl Gray when I first kissed her." He continued. "and of rose petals the last."

Crevan turned to look at the Night elf, he knew he preferred his own gender evident in the male Tindel. The subject seemed to come out of nowhere, but then again the night elf was one of her closest companions.

"...Who?"

"Lady Pen..." Aethen said. "When I took the bonding."

Crevan frowned.

"Your expression reminds me of himself when Lord Lochain told him about it." He said, laughter in his voice. "...It took him a bit to agree to the reasons it was to be done. My Ultimate oath is to the High King, to see his queen safe." He touched the scar that ran the edge of his cheeks and bridge of his nose. "As it is to others of this court."

Crevan's hand shook, he set down the spoon before it became impossible to eat.

"...You feel the pull, I saw it when you told us of the raid." Aethen said. "...there is no shame in that, nor in the wanting."

"...She is..."

"She also is something rare, like your Ciri..." Aethen. Said softly. "...Something Lord Lochain wished to protect once it became clear she belonged to the then prince."

"...There is a price.

"Yes, pain or blood," Aethen said. "The mate of the chosen lady is allowed one blow in retaliation. I thought Himself would have gutted me, instead he marked me, Royal." He touched where a patch of skin had been removed to allow for the thorn's mark. "I was given to the thorns, the guards charged with the protection of the Black rose."

"What is a Black Rose, I've never heard of this term...or seen such in either realm."

Aethen smiled, something the Aen Saevherne didn't know.

"The mortal lover that has a soul bond or a life bond to one of the Royal house." He said. "It was when Lochain realized that of Pen...I volunteered. I thought it better it be someone she could trust." He took in a breath. "...Three days are all you'll ever spend in her bed, never beyond that..."

Crevan frowned anew if he chose that path...three days did not seem enough. Aethen saw the struggle to process it.

"...For all I love Tindel, there are days I would that she take me to her bed again." He confessed. "...It is not easy, thus not a common path chosen to join a court."

"Are there any others?"

"No, as I said it is not an easy path." He said, rising. "...I will be available if you wish to ask more."

Crevan was left to absorb the knowledge and ends that path would bring him.

Pen returned to the Manse at dinner time, to be told Aethen wanted to see her in her study. She went straight there, finding him already two shots into a bottle of "dragon's kiss".

"...I talked to Crevan of the bonding." He said. "I had not realized it would bring up feelings I had thought faded to comfortable familiarity..."

She touched his face, in another life, he could have been her lover. Both knew that was not the path they were to share, thus their comfort with each other.

"...I thought you'd exercise them with Tin."

"I tried." He said. "...I could damn Lochain for this..."

"Yet you won't..." she said, moving to sit in his lap facing him.

He let out a sigh, contact would ease the ache.

"You did not tell him that my bed isn't what the bonding is about..."

"No, I don't think he is ready to hear that part." He said, setting down the shot glass. "...nor the struggle it will be not to give in..." He shifted his hands to her hips pulling her close. "...I could find a secret place..."

She placed her hands on his shoulders, shaking her head.

"...No." She said. "I will not subject you to the price of it."

That had been something else he had not told Crevan. The price for asking for her bed again after those three days, it was not forbidden but the price steep and thus discouraged.

"...Think of Tindel." She told him shifting to be more comfortable. "would you wish him to see you bloodied?"

There was the question that brought him enough space to think.

"He'd castrate you this time..." She reminded him. "...and you and Tin are thinking on children..."

He shifted his hips upward, once, twice before groaning in resignation.

"Kiss me..." He begged, knowing that beyond that he couldn't ask for anything without price.

She did so, letting it turn to hunger before pulling away. He pulled her back again for another. The third they backed from each other. He rose and adjusted himself, Tin was going to have a good night.

"I...will see you...at breakfast."

She let him walk away, wondering how she was going to be able to do that and get Crevan to walk away each time.