Vows of Blood and Honor

Briar sighed and looked up from the book she was reading. Though the elven history was extremely interesting it chafed that she had nothing to occupy her time besides reading or practicing her music or swordplay. A small smile touched her lips. The fact that normally she didn't do much besides those two things when she wasn't confined to the palace didn't matter much. The addition of reading was in an attempt to occupy all of her time.

Sebastian's gaze met her own and he smiled. "It has only been a week." He said quietly. "You were in Anakin's room for longer than that."

"Somehow this is different." Briar murmured. "Perhaps because I have so little time alone with you, whereas then you would visit me for hours and we had privacy to talk." She rolled her eyes. "Now I find myself wondering when my father will walk through those doors in silent outrage that you and I are alone together."

The prince's smile grew wider. "I must admit my thoughts traveling along similar paths." He chuckled and rose from his desk to sit on the bed beside her. Curled up against his pillows with the book on the bed next to her, his Briar Rose looked adorably tousled and sensual. "If only since he seems to be drawn to us when I have the least idea of loving you."

Briar smiled up at him and flipped the book shut. "He doesn't like you." She told him. "I was actually on my way to talk with you about it when I was attacked." She narrowed her eyes. "Kelso does understand that I don't need to be watched when I'm with you doesn't he?"

Sebastian laughed. "He watches the room to be sure of when you leave or arrive. He does not magically spy within here. He knows I would have his head." His sapphire eyes gleamed curiously. "Other than the obvious reasons, why doesn't your father like me? The obvious reasons being that no father likes the man he knows is touching his daughter."

Briar grinned. "Actually he said that you treat me like a toy one minute and then a frail lady the next. He thinks you toss jewels and gowns at me like paying a mistress and that you act as though I'm your concubine. He thinks you have no respect for me as a woman, only as a bard. That is your only virtue in his eyes by the way, your love of my music and respect you have for my talent."

Sebastian narrowed his eyes. "Does he think so little of you that you allow this?" His sensual voice darkened.

Briar sighed as she shook her head. "I don't think he believes I have any power over the way you treat me." She explained. "He knows I love you. But he said he wouldn't see me throw myself away on a fool and a fop like you. He must believe that my love for you blinds me to your faults." She kissed him softly. "I assure you it does not."

Sebastian gave her a mock pout. "You mean I have faults?" He asked in a foolish astonished voice. Briar giggled and he smiled at the sound of her joy. "You cannot blame him for believing the image I have been presenting. It fools a great many people, all of whom have known me longer than your father."

"It did not fool Dragon or I." Briar pointed out as he pulled her so that she slid down from the pillows to lie beside him. Her arms settled around his neck holding him intimately as he embraced her. "Not completely anyway."

Sebastian smiled down at her. "I was not trying very hard to hide who I was from you beloved." He told her. "Your father is going to be in semi-close quarters with us these next few weeks. He will have a chance to look beyond the courtier's mask. Whether or not he chooses to do so is up to him."

Briar nodded and stared up at him breathlessly. "He is not here now." She pointed out. "Are you not thinking of loving me?" She pressed her hips to his, discovering for herself the evidence to the contrary.

"I am indeed." Sebastian murmured his mouth lowering to her lips and gently beginning their play.

Lorelei hesitantly entered Dragon's rooms. The suite she'd assigned him suited her love greatly, heavy furniture of deep brown and dark green and gold furnishings seemed to emphasize his own wicked looks.

Taking a seat in one of the armchairs she waited for him to join her. The last week had been one of uneasy truce on her part and partially amused anger on his. His astonishment that she could be jealous over Katherine still echoed in her ears. He'd seemed to think the idea so preposterous.

Dragon came out of the bedroom and regarded her with an inscrutable gaze. "So you are of the opinion I enjoyed Katherine kissing me?" He remarked quietly.

"Well it certainly looked like it." Lorelei said in annoyance. She folded her arms and pressed her lips together firmly.

"Looks can be deceiving." Dragon informed her. "Why would I desire a Lady exactly like that? They are what I have tried to avoid for years."

"You don't kiss me!" Lorelei said heatedly. "How can you not like it when she kisses you? You're a man after all. It's very obvious that men have different needs than women."

Dragon's eyes narrowed and he leaned over her. "Little girl, you have a great deal to learn about men." He whispered. "Callow boys cannot control themselves long enough to cease stealing kisses from every lady even when they believe their hearts are engaged to one. Striplings grow aroused at the merest touch and eagerly pursue every lady that catches their fancy." His whisper was rough and rasping. "Men learn to control themselves enough to be trusted in the company of a lady, even one who plays the part of a pursuer, however unwelcome."

"She didn't look unwelcome!" Lorelei said. "I put up with her hovering around you like a bee near a honey pot. I dealt with her snipes and nasty looks and downright insults to me. I didn't say a word when time and time again I entered a room to find the two of you alone together. I'm not supposed to be upset when she gets the kisses I want so badly? Maybe you should just take her to bed and I can learn to ignore that too!"

"Why didn't you say anything about how upset you were getting?" Dragon growled. "I assure you I know how to refuse someone's company without being rude."

"Because it wouldn't have done me any good!" Lorelei retorted in exasperation. "She's foreign nobility and its part of my duties to be polite to her. That she dislikes me personally only makes it more annoying. I can't do anything about her except ignore her."

"You should not ignore how she makes you feel!" Dragon's macabre voice informed her. "Not when I could easily prevent that which is so upsetting to you."

"You can't prevent her from kissing you it seems." Lorelei snapped waspishly. "Why would I believe you could do anything about her other actions?"

"Will you stop harping on that?" Dragon growled at her a bit more loudly. "Sweet Maiden, Lorelei, I told you, I wasn't kissing her. She was kissing me, for your benefit I might add, and a more artfully calculated move I've rarely seen. You reacted exactly as she wished. You left me alone with her again. She wanted to take up right where she'd left off. If you had stayed and railed at her as you are at me now you might have prevented what happened."

"Why didn't you just take up again?" Lorelei asked with interested spite. "I was already mad at you. At least you would have gotten to have sex! One of us would have had some relief. Or don't you need it!" She shifted in the chair pouting a bit and putting her shoulder to him.

"Damn it Lorelei!" Dragon took her shoulder and none too gently turned her to face him. "You will at least give me the courtesy of looking at me when you make these ludicrous accusations little girl!" His eyes bore into hers glittering with anger, and in spite of his anger, desire. "I didn't take up with Katherine as she wanted because I have no interest in her. She doesn't even engage my mind much less my affections, and comes no where near my heart."

"But…" Lorelei opened her mouth and Dragon nearly snarled at her.

"No! Don't even say a word!" He commanded in his rough growl. "When I'm through explaining this to you little girl, I will not have you ever accusing me of such things again." He took her wrist and pulled her hand forward, pressing it against his groin. "You feel that?" He demanded, his arousal obvious. "Having sex with Katherine will do nothing to alleviate the desire I have for you. Relief? If only it were so simple." He leaned forward, his body looming over hers. "If sex is all you want then you should have disobeyed your mother years ago and thrown the gift of your body at some fool courtier who would have luxuriously seduced you." His other hand pushed into the knot of curls at her neck and gripped her hair and neck firmly. "I need to make love to you, to the woman I love. This isn't about sex."

He looked into her eyes, praying with all his heart that she would understand. "This is about you trusting me." He said more quietly. "I don't want Katherine. I never have. But I could swear a thousand oaths to you and if you don't trust me they will not matter. If you can't believe that I love you, and only you. That I am a man not a boy, and I will be faithful until death. If you cannot believe in me now, how will we fare when we are wed? There will be a thousand situations where we will be tested. This is only the first. Will you constantly find me wanting?"

He let go of her hand and slowly she pulled it back from him, wanting badly to still touch him but worried he would believe she was trying to seduce him again. She let it fall to her lap, nervously plucking at the fabric of her gown. "I didn't realize that I didn't trust you." She said softly. "But you are right. That is what it is about. Do I trust you to love me even when I am being unlovable? And do I trust that you will still love me even when there are other women around."

She looked down. "It's hard for me to admit, that I don't always feel confident in my ability to attract, especially a man, not a boy I can manipulate. You put me on unfamiliar ground and I'm feeling my way, but I make mistakes and I fall." She shrugged. "I suppose with my family I always thought everything came down to sex. That was how a man expressed that he loved you. That was part of why I couldn't believe at first that you loved me. Or that Sebastian loved Briar, since he wasn't able to touch her. It never occurred to me that it might prove more if a man refused to have sex with me."

"Lorelei…" Dragon said softly not wishing her grow upset.

"No, I'm all right." She took a deep breath. "I try to manipulate you, and you see right through me, and supposedly that's what I'm really good at. I pout and coax and try to get my way and you put your foot down. I try to seduce you, because I know that I want you so badly. I don't even know if I'll like it… I mean…having a man inside of me. But I know that I want you so badly…so I keep trying to have things my way."

She looked up at him. "I'm sorry I doubted you. I'm usually very good at looking at everything from a logical aspect. I mean that's why I'm a good diplomat, I see things from many perspectives. But with you, I lose my perspective and I get upset when I see someone throwing herself at you, and even though I know deep down you wouldn't be attracted to her, and I could see you weren't kissing her back. I don't know how to be logical and sane about you Dragon. But I will try harder and maybe that will make life a bit easier for you. I just have a difficult time trusting you completely, when you don't trust me."

Dragon shook his head. "Lorelei, little girl, you don't understand." He sighed but he was smiling as he did it. "I understand all of that. I do trust you, completely. And I'm glad you're beginning to see that it's because I love you that I resist your machinations and amazing attempts to seduce me." He picked her up out of the chair and sat down in it holding her in his lap. "Katherine has been annoying me too, but I knew we had to be polite to her so I didn't mention it to you. I wish I had, you might have found it easier to tell me she was being so bitchy to you."

He looked at her and one battle scarred hand touched her hair. "You know, if I were interested in an easy life I would never have become a Knight of Twilight. I would have ignored Briar's plight and probably never have met you. You challenge me, and comfort me at the same time. And I've never felt about another woman the way I feel about you. I'm going to love you forever Lorelei. I love you even when you're pitching a fit, or making nasty remarks about not needing sex." He shifted uncomfortably for a moment. "You drive me crazy but I adore you."

"Dragon…" Lorelei looked at him. "I know it sounds stupid…but why aren't you attracted to her?" She asked. "I know that a man can be completely in love with one woman and still desire and bed other women. I've heard… well let's just say that I've heard stories about my parents and some of their younger days."

Dragon grinned. "So have I heard stories." He shook his head. "That's a lot to live up to." He teased. One finger traced the bow of her lips and he said seriously. "Honestly? Other women, hold attraction for me, and mild interest but when I weigh the pleasure of having sex with them against the price you and I would pay in being hurt by it, it is not worth it to me." He looked at her and asked quietly. "Do you understand?"

"Because you are honorable." Lorelei said slowly, beginning to understand what honor meant to Dragon. "It wouldn't occur to you to do what you please and then lie to me about it, or conceal what you've done." She sighed. "Dragon, then why are you concealing yourself from me? There is so much you won't tell me, or have not told me."

"Yes, I do try to be honorable." Dragon said slowly. "And there is some twisting of my straightforward ways when it comes to my past and my heritage. I do not confide in folk easily. What I have not told you I have never told anyone. Will you believe that it is nothing harmful? I am not an outlaw of the Silver Marches or anything."

Lorelei looked at him thoughtfully. "I feel easier at least now that you've told me that there is something. I didn't think it would be anything abhorrent… I am just used to secrets and intrigue among the Court and I did not like to see it in you. It made trusting you more difficult, and Katherine knew exactly which of my strings to pull." She smiled slightly. "And you will tell me of yourself when you are ready. So long as I know that, it is enough."

Dragon wrapped her more closely in his arms. "I love you my Lorelei. Little Siren." He kissed the top of her head absently, his eyes gazing into the past.

Asrai sighed from where she sat and regarded her mother. "They've probably given my part to someone else." She said glumly.

"Give it a rest babe." Faith said from where she sprawled on the floor. "You were ready to kill the director anyway. And you know you like Tredorian's plays better than anything else." She was polishing the blade of her dagger lovingly with a soft cloth admiring the light gleaming on the blade.

"Quite frankly my dear, I'm so thankful you're still alive I'm finding it very difficult to be sympathetic about a lost part in a play that in your description thus far sounds a bit farcical." Sabine said quietly as she tuned the strings of her lute. "From the sound of it the men Serendal hired would have gotten there before your rehearsal was done. How many others would have died if you had refused to leave?"

"I know, and that's part of why I never disobey those messages when Faith gets them." Asrai groused. "I just miss it."

"I know." Sabine smiled. "Perhaps you might write to Tredorian and tell him what's going on? Within reason? You two might try some letter games."

"Letter games?" Faith looked up curiously. "What's that?"

"One person begins the game by setting the scene, the time and place, and writing as if they were a character in a play. Asrai might write to Tredorian as Beatrice would write to Don Pedro." Sabine explained. "Then the recipient writes back, as the other character."

Faith nodded. "That would be fun for you babe, between you and Tredorian you could come up with a whole story. He could turn it into a play."

Asrai grinned. "That sounds like it would be fun. I'll have to write and see what he thinks." She moved towards the desk and began to write.

Sabine smiled down at Faith. "Thank you." She said softly. "For bringing her home."

Faith just grinned up at her. "That's my job."

Sabine shook her head at the sometimes impish girl. "I'm just grateful Morgana is with the elves. Lamruil and Maura have written that there is no sign of any treachery, but they are guarding against such. They told Morgana, half fearing I think that she wouldn't take it seriously, but Lamruil says that she is extremely careful and her watcher goes with her everywhere."

"She can't get much safer than with the elves." Faith muttered. "She's better there than here."

Sabine nodded. "My thoughts exactly. I'd send all my children if I thought I could."

Faith looked at her. "You can't?" She raised her eyebrows.

Sabine sighed. "No, I can't." She shook her head. "I don't think the Cormanthor would survive the shock of the Obarskyrs descending upon it." Her honey voice was dryly humorous and Faith laughed.

TBC