Sonea tried to swallow another mouthful of the hearty bowl of soup Takan had left in her room before he had departed for the city. She had carried it to the underground room, too anxious to stay in her room. She had forced herself to eat as her eyes stayed fixed on the passage door, willing Akkarin to step through it.

She pushed the half-full bowl away and went to the basin of water by the window, washing her hands and mouth a little too rigorously out of agitation. Then she sat down and wrung her hands in impatience and worry.

What could be taking Akkarin so long? Did he encounter another threat on the way to the city with the body? I should not have listened to his instruction to return without him… No, I should have been shielding myself while exploring to begin with…

Sonea breathed and tried to quieten the onslaught of regrets. She knew exploring the passages on her own was risky, but ever since Cery's warning, she had been calculating ways in which an over-ambitious Thief, or a hired lackey, may try to reach the High Lord and catch him unawares. If Cery knew the Thieves' Road eventually joined the passages under the Guild, it was possible he wasn't the only one.

Sonea had realised that, if anyone was going to try to access Akkarin, they would probably first be exploring these passages, trying to discover if any led to the High Lord's residence. So she had taken the initiative to try and see if the way from the underground room in the residence could lead her to the city unhindered, and had planned to create traps and magical blocks if she found it did.

Strangely, Rothen's voice popped up in her thoughts. She recalled he had tried to warn her against precisely this kind of thing when he was preparing her to join the Guild. You'll need to get used to a life of rules, I'm afraid, he had said, his eyes apologetic, after one of their Control lessons in his chambers. You're used to a far more independent life than the other novices, so it will be hard at first. Whatever you do, Sonea, you must not decide to take risks of your own accord, Rothen had said.

Sonea sighed, trying to push away the twinge of guilt that now arose in her throat. She couldn't help but feel that, in this case, Rothen may have been right. But Sonea had felt so restless since Akkarin had explained the real threat to Kyralia – and so ineffectual as just a vassal of power – that she thought she could simply take a few precautions herself, and tell Akkarin after the fact.

One thing she knew for sure. If Akkarin was weakened or captured, and the Ichani invaded, it would be her people in the slums who would be crushed first. Can Akkarin blame me for wanting to try and do something, anything, to spare them that fate?

She would soon find out, she hoped. Her globelight was growing fainter and Sonea realised it had been a good two hours since she had returned. Her anxiety for Akkarin's safety grew.

Then, suddenly, she heard the rattle of a latch, and looked up at the passage door with her heart pounding. For one moment, her mind conjured up the terrifying possibility that it was not Akkarin but an intruder trying to enter, having discovered – and maybe evaded – the High Lord on route.

As a pale hand with a black sleeve bearing the High Lord's incal pushed the wooden door open, Sonea let out a sigh of relief. Akkarin stepped through, his face austere. Sonea did not know what possessed her at that moment, but she strode swiftly around the table and towards him. She was about to throw her arms around his neck when his hands grasped her upper arms swiftly, in an almost painful grip.

Sonea looked up into his pair of black, fiery eyes with a mixture of relief and apology.

"I thought I'd lost you," Akkarin said quietly, his hoarse voice wringing something in Sonea's chest, leaving her breathing shallow. It was worse than if he had shouted.

"I'm so sorry, Akkarin, I was reckless and –"

"What were you thinking," he hissed. He didn't seem to realise he was still painfully gripping Sonea's arms, locking them to her sides. "Never go into the passages by yourself again. They've been discovered."

"If you will just let me explain…" Sonea winced under Akkarin's gaze for the first time in a long time. But this was different to all those times, long before they discovered their desire for each other, when Sonea had felt a mixture of fear and hatred every time she was in the High Lord's presence. This time she recoiled from the unmistakable evidence of the fear she had caused.

"Whatever your reason for being there, there can be no excuse for the fact that you weren't shielding. Do you value your own life so lightly?" Akkarin's whisper was laced with ice.

Sonea's blood was pounding in her head and tears began to form in her eyes. Usually, she would have stood her ground, repeating the reasons she had just ran through in her head. But nothing was ordinary about what had passed between them throughout the past few weeks. She barely registered his cutting tone, seeing only the pain she had caused, and feeling waves of regret. I've destroyed everything. I have acted the reckless novice just when he was beginning to trust me with the full truth…

Akkarin breathed deeply through his nose, then let go of his grip on Sonea's upper arms. She braced herself for more cutting words, or for his silent departure from the room.

To Sonea's surprise, in the next moment, Akkarin reached for her hungrily, harshly, pulling her towards him and kissing her forcefully. He withdrew for a breath then reached up to grasp a fistful of Sonea's hair, tilting up her head painfully so he could devour her lips once again.

Something inside Sonea that had been wound tight since the confrontation with the intruder seemed to snap. She poured all of the fear and adrenaline of the past hours into desperate movements reciprocating Akkarin's touch. Kissing him back deeply, desperately, her hands fumbled quickly at the black sash of his robes.

A force grabbed her wrists and pulled them together behind Sonea's back, pushing her chest forward. She realised Akkarin had used magic to restrain her and looked up at his eyes, torn between desire and a slight twinge of fear. He reached for her neck with one hand as the other wound around her waist to pull her back towards him. He resumed his hungry, angry kisses, his dark brows knotted, eyes flashing with a dangerous intensity. Sonea's desire began to win over her fear and she threw back her head with a soft moan, exposing her slim neck to his bites and kisses.

She was swimming in a haze of sensations, her eyes closed, when she felt a slight flash of heat across the length of her body. It was gone as soon as she sensed it. Opening her eyes, it took her a moment to realise Akkarin had used a sharp and precise heatstrike to slice through her brown novice's robes and underclothes right down the front. By the time she realised, he had roughly stripped her.

Sonea stood completely naked in front of his gaze for a moment, and a shiver ran through her. Akkarin was looking at her with a combination of lust and anger, no hint of his usual half-smile around his lips. Despite his harsh demeanour, Sonea noticed that, as soon as her flesh was fully exposed to the cool air of the underground room, he had sent out some magic to warm their surroundings.

He stepped towards her, his dark eyes locked on her face as through a predator upon its prey. Sonea tried to wriggle her hands, but they were still bound behind her with magic. She backed up a step and felt the wooden edge of the table press against her bare buttocks.

Akkarin stepped forward and trapped her between his body and the table, snaking an arm back behind her head to grasp her hair again. Holding his lips inches from hers and still looking deep into her eyes, he brought his other hand between her legs. Sonea gasped as he parted her folds with his fingers and pressed his thumb against her nub of pleasure.

"Perhaps it was my mistake," Akkarin breathed in Sonea ear, his hand now fluttering over everywhere but the one spot he had just touched. "I have been lenient. So much so that my novice has taken it upon herself to make decisions without consulting me," he said coldly, insinuating every word. Sonea's eyes began to water again, but whether because of the pain of him pulling her hair, or out of the feeling she had disappointed him, she couldn't tell.

"You're right, Akkarin, I shouldn't ha – "

"My novice will address me by my title," Akkarin whispered dangerously, "since she needs a reminder of who, and who alone, can give her permission to act upon her ideas." He inserted a ringed finger inside Sonea, finding her slick with wetness.

Sonea let slip a sigh of anticipation, even as a tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm sorry, High Lord."

"Sorry for what, Sonea?" Akkarin's hand let go of her hair and he now harshly grasped her chin between thumb and forefinger, looking down at her with his mouth in a stern line.

"F-for disobeying you, High Lord."

"And?" Akkarin inserted a second finger into her. Almost unconsciously, she stepped her legs slightly further apart to grant him access.

"I will never enter the… the passages again without your permission – oh!" Akkarin had bit down on the side of her neck then licked and suckled the same spot. Sonea's eyelids fluttered shut.

Next moment, she felt his hands grip her waist and spin her around, and his silken robes pressed against her back, buttocks and thighs. She opened her eyes in surprise as he used his weight to press her against the edge of the table, which was level with her hip bones. She feared for a moment that she would slam her chin down because her hands were still bound magically behind her back, but Akkarin's strong hands circled her waist and kept her upright for a moment.

He stepped close, moulding the front of his body to her back. His hard manhood pressed against one of her inner thighs. Sonea shivered as she felt his warm breath by her ear. "Not only will you not enter the passages without my permission, you will not take any action with regards to the present danger unless I expressly instruct you to," he said with a hint of threat, his left hand moving to one of her breasts, squeezing it roughly.

"Yes, High Lord," Sonea whispered, her legs trembling from the anticipating. Touch me, please…

If Akkarin had read her surface thought, he gave no indication of having done so. "Part your legs further," his deep voice instructed, and Sonea stepped her feet apart on the cold stone floor.

In one swift movement, she felt Akkarin's hand leave her breast and grip the back of her neck, bending her face down towards the table with slow control. Sonea's cheeks heated and her breathing grew ragged at the new position, feeling exposed. Her breasts were crushed against the rough texture of the wooden tabletop.

Next moment, Sonea heard the rustle of silk, and felt Akkarin's hard member positioned at her entrance. Keeping Sonea immobile with the hand on the back of her neck, he pushed deep into her in one sudden movement.

Sonea let out a small whimper at the strong sensation. Before, he had always begun slowly, and this unyielding push was slightly painful. Her position over the table, hands still bound behind her, was beginning to make her muscles ache in protest at the discomfort.

But her mind was a confusion of sensations: on the one hand, she was desperately aroused by his dominance, on the other, she wondered if her mistake had cost her his tenderness.

Akkarin lifted his hand off her neck to hold either side of her hips in a pincer-like grip, his fingers digging into the flesh of her buttocks. He withdrew then plunged back into her roughly, to the hilt. Sonea moaned at the sensation. She could feel him hitting the depths of her, inside. It gave her a dull ache low in her abdomen that left her wanting more.

"Please, touch me, High Lord…" she whispered, but Akkarin ignored her. He pounded into her, his pace quickening. He used his hands on Sonea's hips to make sure only he could control the pace and intensity. The rough surface of the table began scratching Sonea's cheek and she could hear the loud, repeated slaps of their bodies making contact.

"No. Since you act alone, Sonea, so will I," Akkarin said, his icy voice steady despite the exertion of his movements.

Sonea closed her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat. An unbearable tension was rising in her as Akkarin's thrusts began to send her hips into the edge of the table. The movement began to rub her clit against the surface and the sob she had held back turned into a loud moan.

Akkarin's breathing grew ragged as he slammed into her again and again, his hands never touching her except to grip her hips. Sonea began to feel waves of pleasure as she rubbed up against the edge of the table again and again. As she began to climb towards the point of ecstasy, however, Akkarin grunted quietly and pulled away, pushing her hips away from him and spilling his seed on her lower back. Sonea's muscles clenched around nothing, and the sensation of building tension inside her trailed away before it could reach a peak. She whimpered softly as she was left empty with a dull ache.

Eventually, Sonea realised the magical bind keeping her hands behind her back had disappeared. She lowered her hands onto the table and, with shaking arms, slowly pushed herself upright. She heard the rustle of Akkarin's robes behind her, and slowly turned around towards him, her eyes lowered.

"Use my private bath upstairs. Goodnight," Akkarin said quietly, his tone still cold.

Sonea wanted to feel his arms around her, wanted to feel the kisses he would always give after they had been intimate. But she knew his eyes would match his voice right now, and she could not bring herself to look into them.

"Yes, High Lord," she said quietly, bending down to gather her ruined set of novice's robes and pulling them around her body as best she could. She then bundled the torn underclothes in her other hand, turned around and headed out the door of the underground room, still looking at the floor. As she shut the door behind her, Sonea thought she heard Akkarin release a shaking sigh.

The residence was dark and silent. Sonea crept up the stairs, wincing at the tension in her shoulders from the restraints her hands had been in. She walked into Akkarin's bedroom then into the private bath it connected to, running scalding hot water into the tub.

As she gingerly lowered her body into the water, still shaken from both the earlier confrontation and from what had just happened in the underground room, she closed her eyes. A small sob of frustration escaped her, and as her muscles began to relax, her hand crept to the place between her legs, was still aching for release.