She nodded in return, took up her tea, and sipped a dainty sip.

However, her hand was slightly shaking.

“It is good to know,” he started gently as she set her cup back in its saucer and her gaze came to his, “that love does not die.”

Her nostrils flared before she looked away.

Reginald stood and turned his attention to the guard in the room.

“Find her a clean, warm gown, bag the one she wears, and then escort her to her previous quarters,” he commanded.

“Yes, sir,” the guard said.

“Milady,” he murmured to her.

“Master Reginald,” she murmured back.

With that, Reginald exited the room.

King True

Guest Bedchamber, Sky Citadel, Sky Bay

AIREN

“Darling, look at me,” True demanded.

Farah, concerning herself greatly with the clasp of his mantle at the base of his throat, lifted her gaze and looked into his eyes.

“It is soon to be done,” he said.

“What if there’s some trick?” she asked.

“Then it would be a foolhardy trick,” he answered.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean more lives won’t be lost.”

He took her chin against the crook of his finger and his thumb.

“This will be done,” he stated firmly. “And then we will seek and dispatch the Beast. After that, we will return home, be coronated, and then set about the arduous work of making a family.”

Her lips quirked.

He fully grinned and asked, “Can I take that as indication you are at one with my plan?”

“Can I request a single amendment? That we go about the practicing of the making of a family for, oh, say, six or seven months before we actually get busy with the work of doing it?”

His grin widened. “I can grant that amendment.”

She smiled up at him.

He bent his head and kissed it on her lips.

When he lifted away, he said, “Today will be a New Airen.”

“Praise the gods.”

He touched his mouth to hers again, took his fingers from her chin only to stroke her cheek, and then he left her in their chamber.

Teddy

Sheep’s Head Inn, Gulliver, A Town Seventy-Five Miles from the Firenz Border

WODELL

Teddy was interrupted in what he was doing when the noises came through the wall.

He was certain to close his lips tight at the tip and keep his hold about the base strong as he released his mouth from Faunus’s cock and looked up to his warrior.

Faunus had his fingers wrapped tenderly around the back of Teddy’s neck, and even though he had been watching Teddy’s work, his head was now turned to the side, his gaze to the wall.

Feeling Teddy’s eyes, he looked down.

And smiled.

A knock sounded at the door.

Both men shifted their attention to it.