My profuse thanks to Todger65 for all his help with editing!
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A quiet, insistent murmur roused Isonei from her comfortable sleep and she tried to bury her head under her pillow in annoyance. Draeseth's low laughter as she buried her face in his underarm woke her up the rest of the way.
"My Isonei, I would keep you in bed for the day and let you use me as your pillow but the Daga wanted you to be reminded that you were meant to return to your room. The sun is not yet up."
With a whine and then a sigh of resignation she nodded against him and started to sit up, "You make a very comfortable pillow, though someone should wash you." Isonei wrinkled her nose at him with a mischievous smile.
He narrowed his eyes at her and gave her a growling grunt. "The way you bury your face in my skin, I think you like the way I smell. I think you just like to tease me."
"I love to tease you." She kissed his chest with a smile. "And you don't smell bad, just... strongly." Moving to kiss his smiling face she felt the roughness of his cheek. "Your cheeks are rough!"
Draeseth's smile widened into a grin as she climbed on top of him to straddle his chest and rub his face. "It pleases you?"
"It does, it feel so strange. It fascinates me." Isonei leaned to rub her cheek against his.
The sound of Krouth clearing his throat pointedly made Draeseth snap something in Torgan that didn't sound complimentary.
"Don't snap at him, my Draeseth. He's trying to keep us both out of trouble." Giving him a soft, yearning kiss before stroking his rough cheeks again and climbing out of bed, she picked up her chemise from the floor, shook it out and put it on.
Pulling the covers aside Draeseth moved to the edge of the bed, watching her intently as she picked up her dress as well. "Come here for a moment?"
She laid the rumpled dress on the bed and stepped between his legs with a smile, running her hands over his bare chest and shoulders. "My flower wine?"
"Were you angry that I was praying when you came in last night?" He glanced to Krouth. "It was suggested that I ask."
"I was a little angry and very disappointed, because you told me not to linger and then I came here to find you busy with something else." Isonei gave him a wry smile. "If it had been anything other than prayer I'd have sulked at you until you stopped."
He made an amused sound in his throat. "You think that a wise choice?"
"I think with the mood we were both in we'd have quarreled loudly enough to bring the Daga. As it is I need to try to compose an eloquent apology in Lerian for losing my temper with him." She pressed her face to his for a moment before stepping back. "I need to go, my Draeseth. I will see you at breakfast."
Isonei slipped into her underskirt and dress, fastening it as she walked around the bed looking for her shoes. Krouth held them as he stood by the door, making no move to give them to her.
"You seemed soundly asleep when I left the room, Lady Isonei. Did something wake you?" He pointedly avoided looking in Draeseth's direction as he kept his eyes averted.
"I had a bad dream. I don't remember much of it but I think I was being chased through my father's house."
"Going to bed in a foul mood leads to unpleasant dreams." Krouth offered her her shoes once she'd finished fastening her dress completely.
"It does. I hadn't intended to go to sleep any more than my poor Draeseth did in the chair." She could have sworn she saw him suppress a smile.
"Perhaps next time you'll try to improve your mood before lying down?" He opened the door as she slipped her shoes on.
Stopping in front of him, and in her sweetest tone, Isonei informed him, "I would have been happy to but my husband was praying and I didn't think it was appropriate ask him to kiss me out of it while he was occupied."
Krouth stiffened and frowned but Draeseth was grinning broadly as she glanced back at him before leaving the room.
Making her way out of the family rooms, Isonei paused. If Draeseth and the Daga would be going to see the elder Daga in her place... She wondered if the veiled priests would even be awake at this hour. If they weren't, she could always offer him an apology for her behavior first and then speak to him properly later. Changing her direction she went to find out.
Down in the crypts there were lanterns already lit making her hopeful she could speak to the elder Daga. But when she saw the Daga standing in the chamber with his father's sarg she almost turned around. Daga Liadith turned first, beckoning her closer.
Worrying the inside of her lip with her teeth she tried to think of the best way to begin her apology. Entering the chamber she looked at him nervously,
"My Daga-"
"Kneel, daughter of Liadith. My father is taking me to task."
"Why my Daga?"
She took her place on the kneeler and after a moment's silence began to try to apologize.
"I uhhmm I did not suffer my anger well. There was disrespect and I am sorry."
"There was disrespect on both sides, your anger was justified and my father doesn't believe you should be chided."
He paused and she turned her head to look at him.
He hadn't placed his hand on her head. Isonei noticed the way he looked at the sarg. When his father had gently chided him as a child he'd looked defiant, now he looked the way she'd felt when her father had chided her. Isonei reached out and took his hand.
"I did something I should not have done, daughter of Liadith. My father... my father says you must be told. I went to speak to Arissa through her window. The maids went to sleep and we went walking in the garden."
His eyes were a muddy green and he hesitated looking away.
"I don't know how to ask this delicately in Lerian, my Daga. Were you... intimate with her?" She studied his face.
"Yes."
The Daga looked back to the sarg.
"I'll share my silphium with her immediately." A thought occurred to her and she asked apprehensively, "Did you give me time with Draeseth so that you could-"
"No!"
The Daga pulled his hand away and rubbed his face before crouching next to her.
"No, I didn't. She and I... we went to see if you had fallen asleep. It was late and you hadn't returned."
He sighed and covered his face.
"Through the window..."
"You-you watched us?" Isonei felt like she must be misunderstanding him.
"Yes."
He took a deep breath and switched to Aran, lowering his hands. "We watched. When you fell asleep we spoke of what you'd done and... I took her to my bed. I have violated your privacy and that of my guest, and I have broken Daga Gildith's trust. Please... forgive me."
Isonei blinked and took a deep breath trying to comprehend. He and Arissa had watched them through the window... "How much did you see?"
"When we arrived you were in your chemise, the Torgan was..." he cleared his throat and looked away from her.
She started to laugh and covered her face, "You saw that and didn't walk away? I know your fondness of peering into windows, my Daga but..."
"You're laughing?"
"My Daga, what else should I do? I think I'm more upset that you took her to bed. I thought better of you, you should have more self-restraint."
"Arissa wanted to be sure I wasn't as large as your Torgan, the sight of him frightened her. And the more we watched, the two of you were laughing and talking while you..." He cleared his throat. "She and I both wanted to enjoy each other that way."
"You could have waited to do that after the ceremony."
"It didn't feel that way." The Daga looked at her sheepishly.
Isonei reached out and touched his face with an exasperated sigh. "How was it?"
