Cyréne led him over to her private bathing area and shot a gout of fire at her tub, which was already full of clean water. In a few moments it was steaming nicely and she turned her attention back to Kalv, who looked ready to pass out where he stood.

"Oh, Kalv," she said, concerned, "you haven't been taking care of yourself, have you?"

She helped him undress and removed his bandages. He groaned in pleasure as he slipped into the huge tub. Cyréne stripped out of her official robes and pulled a simple white tunic over her head. She spent the next hour healing his wounds, bathing him and washing and brushing his hair. When she finally helped him out of the tub and into a robe he could barely keep his eyes open. Cyréne guided him to the bed and then called for food to be brought up. A few minutes later she returned to the bed with a heavy tray and shook him awake gently.

"Try to eat something, love, and then you can sleep as long as you'd like."

"Love?" he teased.

Cyréne blushed furiously. "Sorry, that just slipped out."

"I wasn't complaining, Sweetroll."

He took a sip of the stamina potion she offered him and shook off the reaming fatigue long enough to eat dinner. When they finished dinner, Cyréne called for the tray to be removed and had the bath tub filled again. Kalv reclined on the bed with his hands behind his head and let his eyes drift closed. She joined him a while later, and checked on his shoulder before turning down the sheets. Satisfied that it was healing well, she slipped into bed and soon found herself wrapped in his arms.

"Gods, Cyréne. I'd forgotten I could feel this good."

"When is the last time you ate a decent meal or rested, before today?"

"It's been eight or nine days, at least."

"Eight or nine days? That's unacceptable. I will not allow it!" she teased.

Kalv smiled and pulled her close. "I think I love you, Sweetroll," he muttered softly before drifting to sleep.

For a split second, Cyréne's heart lurched in panic, but closed her eyes and smiled, enjoying his closeness and warmth, and then followed him into sleep.

He was sleeping soundly when she woke the next morning. She smiled to herself and slipped out of bed. She dressed quickly and sat down in the middle of her garden to think. The Dragonborn did need someone to help shoulder the burden he was carrying, that much was obvious. Lydia certainly wasn't having any luck taking care of him if they'd gone almost a week and a half without decent food or rest. The strength of her emotions had come as a surprise to her yesterday. She'd been incredibly happy to see him, and her heart fluttered like a bird when he swept her into his arms. What does this mean?

She wondered what he wanted from her. Suddenly Taren's voice echoed in her head, You could have asked me.

Now there's a thought, Cyréne. Just ask him what he wants you little nit-wit. She grinned and went to get them some breakfast. He was still asleep when she came back, so she set the food she'd brought on a tray by the bed and sat down at her desk to work on a lecture.

She was lost in her work, with various books spread about when she felt strong hands begin to work the kinks out of her shoulders. She smiled and relaxed into his touch, only to find herself being lifted from the chair and carried toward the bed. Her heart raced in her chest, as she tried to determine what was about to happen and how she felt about it. She was so happy to see him, and they'd already been together – surely to refuse him now would be . . . would be . . . wrong? He was trailing soft kisses down her neck and had just lowered her onto the bed when a whisper forced its way past her lips.

"Stop . . .please"

It was barely audible, but he stopped and looked down at her.

She swallowed and tried to find a reason for her refusal, or any words at all.

He waited patiently.

"I . . ."

"What is it, Sweetroll?"

"I . . ." Guilt washed over her and she shook her head. "It's nothing."

Kalv gave her a curious look. "It's something."

Cyréne forced a smile, "No it's nothing, forget it."

He leaned down again and kissed her softly before pulling away. "I don't want to forget it, sweetness. I want you to tell me what's going on in there," he said tapping her head.

She closed her eyes and swallowed again. "I just . . . I don't want to disappoint you."

Kalv's brows drew together. "Trust me sweetheart, if I don't get to make love to you, I'm going to be disappointed. But if you give yourself to me just for that reason, I'm going to be unhappy and very angry with you."

Her eyes flew open. "What? You will?"

He looked at her in concern. "Of course I will. Cyréne, by the gods, please tell me you didn't sleep with me before because you felt like you had to."

She shook her head quickly. "No! No, I didn't. Well honestly, the first time, I don't remember much of, but I wanted to after that, I did."

"What do you mean, you don't remember?"

She shot him an incredulous look. "Are you kidding? I was incredibly drunk."

He sat up with a frown. "You told me you cast a sobriety spell on yourself."

Cyréne made a face at him and snorted. "A what? What are you talking about? That doesn't even exist."

The Dragonborn stood up and paced the floor. "Cyréne! How could you . . . what were you . . ." He was at a loss for words. "I took advantage of you! Do you know how that makes me feel?"

"Like a man?" she joked.

Kalv glared at her. "No, not like a man, like a piece of garbage"

Cyréne's eyes widened and felt her heart sink. "Kalv, please – don't be angry. I'm sorry. I didn't even remember until you told me."

He took a deep breath and sat down beside her, pulling her into his lap. He frowned down at her fiercely. "This is not a joke to me. I don't want to lose my heart to you only to find out that you never took me seriously. Please, Cyréne. Tell me where I stand."

Cyréne stared at him in shock. "I . . ."

"The truth, please. Tell me the truth."

"The . . . truth?"

"Yes, innocent little Sweetroll who I thought only knew how to tell the truth. Tell me where I stand."

Cyrene's mind raced. Stall him. "Kiss me first."

Kalv shook his head, but covered her mouth in a long kiss, before finally breaking away and looking at her expectantly. "I'm waiting"

Cyréne took a deep breath and nodded. "How much of the truth?"

"All of it."

"The day we met . . . I . . . saw something I wasn't supposed to see, and it hurt me, deeply. I was drunk the first time, hurting the second time and afraid this time. I know you think you need me, and I want so much to be there for you, but it's hard for me to trust anyone right now. I . . ." she hesitated and Kalv brushed a kiss across her lips.

"Tell me," he murmured. "It's alright, I promise you."

Cyréne took a deep breath and let the words come rushing out. "I care for you more than I should already and I'm afraid I'm going to let myself love you and then you're going to leave me and break my heart because once all of this Dragonborn stuff is over you're going to want to put it behind you and that will mean me too and your wife will hate me and I'll have to pretend I'm okay and still be your best friend in the world but really I'll just be wanting you to love me the way I love you and I feel guilty for sleeping with you and guilty for not sleeping with you, but it's all Vilkas's fault for calling me a whore and the sex with you was really, really good – honestly the best I've ever had and my gods I could have it all day every day and never ever get tired of it, but I don't want to hurt you either and I really didn't think I had the power to hurt you, I just assumed that you would maybe think you were in love with me and then get over it when all this is done, but I decided it was worth it anyway and just wanted to be with you while I could . . ." she stopped when she realized his eyes had widened considerably and his mouth had fallen open slightly. "Kalv?"

"Just give me a minute," he said, blinking, "that may be the most I've ever heard you say, and it all happened at one time."

She nodded and looked up at him with her bottom lip caught between her teeth.

Kalv smirked at her. "Did you say my wife will hate you?"

"That's what you took away from me pouring my heart out to you?"

"No, the take-away was that sex with me was the best you've ever had."

Cyréne tried to pull out of his arms. "You ass!"

He laughed and held her closer. "Sweetheart, I'm teasing you."

"What happened to this not being a joke?"

He kissed her deeply and she relaxed against him. "It's not a joke, but you're relentlessly adorable and it gets to me."

"Kalv . . ."

He looked down at her and held her gaze. "You do have the power to hurt me, and I'm lying to myself if I don't admit I already have feelings for you. I won't break your heart, Cyréne. I don't know what will happen after all of this is over, and I haven't given it much thought until this point – I don't know if I'll even survive it. I just know that seeing you appear in front of me yesterday was the happiest I've felt since the last time I saw you." He paused and kissed her nose. "I want more of you – more time. If I need to wait – I will. You don't have anything to feel guilty about anymore – the cards are on the table, and we both know what we're walking into. You can trust me with your heart. Can I trust you with mine."

"Yes", she said immedietly. She ignored the twinge of guilt in the back of her mind and the little voice that whispered rebelliously, "Unless..."

"So, you want me to go with you and Lydia?" she queried.

"No! It's much too dangerous."

"Umm . . . hello? My name is Cyréne, I'm a High Ranking Companion and the Arch-Mage, I think I can handle it."

Kalv's grin grew. "Alright, aright, don't get all worked up. If you had to summarize a battle plan for a new recruit in four words or less, what would it be?"

"Try not to die."

"I'm finding this side of you considerably less sexy," he said with a frown.

"Good," she said frowning back. "There's nothing sexy about war."

He gave her a look of concern. "I'll think about it."