Isonei's stomach was knotted as Daeira took her into her rooms. Draeseth was going to be beside himself until she was back in his sight. If he'd just let her-
"You look worried, Isonei." Daeira smiled warmly at her as her maids bustled fetching a gown and shoes that should fit. "My father may be able to shorten the time you spend with the Torgan further if you ask at dinner tonight."
"No, that isn't why I'm..." She shook her head as Daeira's smile faded.
"She's worried about Draeseth, that he's going to be upset and hurt that she came with us willingly." Isonei blinked as she heard Andnaeuth speaking from the doorway. She turned to look at him as he smiled coming closer. "My poor bruised fruit."
"As soon as I saw the marks he'd left I knew you were going to call me that again." Her lips twisted wryly. "I don't know what possessed him to think that shoeless with my hair undone was acceptable for dinner."
"I doubt dinner was on his mind. You are the only thing he wanted to eat. If he weren't trying to devour my queen of fools I'd offer to teach him the proper way to do it." Andnaeuth ran his finger over the marks on her neck, looking both angry and envious for a moment.
"He probably thought they'd be sent back to his room. I think it was threatened once if the Torgans didn't dress appropriately." Daeira sighed sourly.
"Dinner will not be cut short. If anything I will drag it out to steal back the moments he robbed me of in the garden." The spiteful smirk on his face made her poke at his side. Andnaeuth clasped his hands over his heart. "Does my own pain mean nothing?"
"You know that it does. And that I can't bear cruelty or spite." She watched his eyes soften as his expression became more genuine.
"Sister, I need a moment alone." He took Isonei by the hands pulling her toward the small room housing Daeira's dresses.
"Brother! You still need to go tell father why we're late. And that brute is going to be frothing at the mouth the longer it takes."
"Let him froth. I sent a guard to tell father. I need a moment with Isonei."
Pulling her into the room and closing the door, he dragged her to the back of it, pushing her between some of the dresses. "Isonei. I don't want you to go. I know that you chose and that the choice is being upheld no matter what I want, but it's driving me mad to see you chewed on," He tried to put on his jester's smile, "by anyone but me."
Nodding and wrapping her arms around his waist, she let him draw her into an embrace like the one in the alcove earlier. It felt so perfectly right to let him hold her close. "I adore you both. I hate that by staying or going I'm hurting one of you."
He kissed her hair and stroked it, running his fingers through it. "I keep trying to console myself, you'll be coming home to me. But I know that he'll try to keep you. The one person who lets me feel what I feel..." His voice dropped to a breathless whisper as if he were speaking scandalously, "The one person who would let me bite into her like a plum."
Isonei started laughing, unable stop for a moment. "Why is it I have such a fondness for horrible men?" Lifting her head, she saw the giddily adoring smile on his face and wished she was able to have them both.
His fingertips tilted her face up slightly farther as he leaned in to kiss her. "Let me steal one kiss before you go, my queen of fools."
Kissing him was nothing like Draeseth's hungry urgent kisses. Andnaeuth's kiss was tender yearning paired with skilled passion. The kiss of a man who knew exactly how to please with the brush of his tongue and the pressure of his lips. When he broke the kiss she was breathless and flushed.
"I have a gift for you, Isonei." From the pocket of his elegant grey doublet, he pulled a small velvet pouch. He shook it, letting her hear the faint jingle.
"One of your bells?" The smile that was splitting her face was almost painful and she couldn't make it stop.
He grinned exultantly, "I knew you would like it."
The door snapped open letting Daeira's exasperated voice come back to them clearly, "Brother, you've had all the time you can have. She needs to dress and we need to go to dinner."
Reluctantly, Andnaeuth pulled her back toward the door, pressing the pouch into her palm. "I made certain you had a year's worth of silphium, in case he should try to delay you in returning..."
"That's why I brought all of it." Isonei squeezed his hand reassuringly. "But I don't plan on being late for the festival. Someone," she tapped his forearm, "once told me I keep my word annoyingly well."
"If you stop I'll never forgive you." His rueful smile faded as the door opened and his sister appeared again. "We're coming out, Daeira. No need to-"
"The Torgan is standing outside of my door." Daeira's face was pinched and her scowl was almost as intimidating as Draeseth's could be. "One of the maids just stepped out to make certain we'd have a guard when we leave in a moment and the poor thing nearly fainted. He's glowering as if he can burn the door down with his stare."
"He's upset. He'll calm." Isonei offered with a sigh as she started to bite her inner lip.
"I hate to sound like him, my poor bruised fruit, but stop biting your lip." Andnaeuth stroked her cheek. "Out of your clothes, and do it slowly for me?" He waggled his eyebrows.
Daeira scoffed, pushing him back into the room with the dresses. "Over there Isonei, change quickly."
"Thank you." Isonei glanced at Andnaeuth, shaking her head trying not to laugh at his antics. He was playing the jester again almost capering in the closet trying to catch a glimpse as she was helped out of her dress.
She blinked in surprise as the maid pulled her chemise off to replace it with one of a more suitable color. Pressing her lips together she hoped that the marks Draeseth had left on her hips weren't visible outside of her undergarment.
"Were you trying to escape that he gripped you so hard?" Daeira's shocked murmur told her that some, at least, most certainly were.
"I bruise easily and he's very enthusiastic." She could feel her cheeks flushing as Andnaeuth pushed past his sister to touch the marks.
"If you're as forgiving when I leave marks on you, you may never be unbruised again," he murmured into her ear.
"Brother!" Daeira hissed at him. "That's not something to jest about."
The way Andnaeuth's hands were moving over her hips, Isonei knew very well that he wasn't jesting, the thought made her shiver. Draeseth was rough out of desire and a delicious lack of restraint. Andnaeuth would be much more controlled and from the way he'd kissed her, she knew she would enjoy every moment of it.
