There was either a rotating skylight above her or she was full-out  hallucinating.

Everything was spinning around her — the skylight ceiling, the walls lined with guards, everyone's faces had at least four eyes; eight for the most, as well as two Landons.

Cleo brings her head down and looks to her red dressed lap,  she brings her hands before her and had to squint to make sure that she really did have ten fingers or was it eleven? Someone told her it was eleven once. Wait yes that was Jezio.

She throws her head back again and takes deep breathes as she flittingly glances at the spinning ceiling.

She was high. So so so high.

If there was something Cleo could say that Mabel excelled in and she approved of it; it had to be this. The incense is deeply wafted with lavender but the majority of it was opium. Cleo doesn't think anyone realized that it was opium— firstly, because it's not to be used unless it's for medicinal purposes, and secondly each and every person including all the guards; which were heavily guarded tonight was just as entranced as her. So there was no way anybody knew what was happening to them right this moment. Only the experienced, like her, would know.

She giggles softly and falls back onto the pillows beneath her with a loud plop. She laughs again because she fell down so hard, she could hear it. But how? These cushions are silk. It's soft.

She shakes her head lightly and gazes around the room with her cheek against the soft pillows. Everyone wasn't stable. Their eyes are all half-closed, drooping and Landon looked so tired, his knees were flailing and his tongue was sticking out.

Cleo reaches out with her hand to him, but after realizing that he wasn't just a few steps away from her, she pulls it back in.

She should of said something to Mabel. But she didn't. She craved this so bloody much that she just couldn't bring it up to her. And also, she didn't want to hurt poor Mabel's feelings, even though she used way too much opium and too little lavender herbs in her smoking incense chalices all over the ballroom.

But Cleo appreciated it, to hell with the consequences by this second part of Mabels therapy. She was going to savour in every minute of this. And then she will sleep soundly for the first time in years. So screw what anyone else will say, not that they could in their current state anyway. But whoever was not high right now.

Mabel stands in the middle of the room, waving the incense stick around them all; uttering things like, "Blessings upon us all. Good things are coming, I use my spirits to cleanse us all from evil!"

After that Cleo got bored and took the nearby chalice, and actually took out a raw herb of opium and chewed it along with the sweet blood red wine they offered. The embers from it hasn't even burned her fingertips, and she thinks she has swallowed a piece of lavender by accident. She chugged so much wine down after that, but she could still taste the strong scent at the back of her throat.

Cleo has then summoned one of the completely naked servants whose nipples  were circled with golden paint, and the curls below their belly buttons the same, for more wine. Cleo wrinkles her nose when she saw how they had to be clad tonight. How was one possibly supposed to wash that paint off, especially from the hair?

But excluding that, she thought they looked nice. With hair done up intricately with golden ribbons and glitter, and so many bracelets of gold and chains wrapped in them all, the girls looked like gorgeous rich gems.

When they had the time for this she didn't know.

Cleo knows this was all for her ceremony which was coming up. And all these therapies and shit was for her own well-being which were preparations for her to lead. If she survived at least. But she appreciated it, well this one to be specific.

All around her were the rest of the maids, lounged about these pillows filling up more than half of the ballroom. The walls are covered in black velvet drapings meant to darken the room, with magnificent golden chandeliers on the ceiling and glittery powders coating nearly every part of the mosaic floors along with the satin pillows which were sprawled throughout the room— which was the only way to be seated during this event; and the main chandelier above them has cast translucent smudges of gold to form on the dark drapings, making it look like a night sky with golden stars.

Sniffing these opiates, and her regularly chewing them, has somehow made the effect of these even better than when she and Kaleb had first entered.

She sighs in delight and arches her back off the pillows. She needed this. Cleo looked like a dirty clothed menstrual cycle in this room compared to everyone else. Kaleb and herself has been the only people to not remove their clothing after the burial of Genevieve, and Cleo tries to run her cloudy head to whether a maid had told her to change her dress.

Kaleb stood there not looking at her, but the maids busying the room offering the elite courtesans with wine or cheese. Lady Delilah; she noticed has had the least to drink surprisingly, and  Sir Andrew's had one of the golden dolls on his lap, with his hand between her legs as he ate cheese off her breasts. The doll seemed to like it just as much as he did. She couldn't find Evan's or any of the other courtesans she didn't care about.

Cleo faces the front again, and cups her own breast. Small. Nothing. Useless.

She clicks her tongue and places both hands above her head.

Mabel has started saying prayers for Genevieve and her sister Gwen. Gwen was here but she only layed on the pillows not too far from where Cleo layed and she only drank wine. A little too much at that.

Some maids has been touching one another very intimately right here on the cushion beside her. She nearly disturbed them by asking whether Mabel ever announced this a sex party but she decided to ignore them, as she would most certainly be bothered if someone were to bother her sexy time too.

She groans and lays on her belly with her chin on her intertwined fingers making her face Kaleb directly. His eyes were closed but he stood solid with his hands behind his back and his sword in easy reach if anything were to happen.

Cleo curls her toes and lays flat on her hands facing Landon again. And before she could do anything else, she saw three maids getting right onto it with one another. She immediately turns to the other side.

Except for Mabel praying in her gold curtain with her bunny teeth bobbing out and waving around her stick like a fucking fairy, the room was quiet. Also excluding the sexual moans of Andrew and a few maids who were getting intimate.

Cleo loved it however. The silence. The absolutely no talking. The peace. If she had the opportunity to burn off everyone's tongues like she did with the bone man; Cleo would be the most wondrous person to ever have existed.

Talking was just too draining for her. Sometimes it was just too much.

Cleo flips onto her back again. She was starting to get crabby. She seemed to be the only person in this room unoccupied. Except for Landon, Delilah and Mabel. Obviously.

It is then when Cleo realizes just how sad this event was.

There was no golden men.

Cleo didn't want to see naked girls. That just made her self-conscious about her own much smaller breasts; because she has never seen a single guard look at her the way  these ones were looking at the servants dwelling around here in smoke.

She is a little disappointed that they didn't get any male servants to part take in this. Not that there were many, but still. If this was about her,  just where was her pleasure show?

She would of taken a male with her and made him lay with her here on the pillows and demand that he kiss her the way Jezio kissed her. Deep and passionately. And she would also want him to touch her the way Andrew touched that maid. Just because it looked and sounded fun.

Judging from their noises, he didn't even stop with her. Poor maid.

"Now, to calm the senses and to bring utopia to our minds and senses." Mabel sounds so erotic, Cleo wonders whether there was a man between her legs beneath that draping she wore.

Landon wouldn't appreciate that.

Mabel bends down to her tray filled with incense sticks and chalices, and brings up more herbs and lavender and some other kind of herb she never saw in her life. Cleo watches as Mabel mixes the herbs together in a chalice and lights it with a match and immediately closes the thurible grabbing it by its chains and swings it around.

That brought even more smoke, and before she knows it. The entire room has been filled with smoke, a few coughed but the majority of people here are too busy occupied with pleasuring one another to even notice.

This somehow took the steam in the room up a notch, and Cleo could only see the shadows of tangled bodies on the pillows. The smoke covered everything else, she couldn't see Landon nor Kaleb.

Music starts drifting around, instrumental but through the thick smoke she couldn't see anything to save her life. The band must be here somewhere. Also she hated this music. She never heard it before but she could already tell that she hated it.

Out of nowhere dancers appears out of the smoke and dances erotically before her and the rest of the courtesans in the room. They were clad in the same clothes as the maids, or maybe they were trained maids too— she didn't really care. But the only difference with the dancers is that they had golden bells fastened to their nipples so with every sway of the hips and hands roving around their bodies glamarously sent the bells ringing in tune with the music.

One stood right before her and swayed her hands in rhythm with the music, and the bells rung too, it brought Cleo's attention lower the girls body, and much to her horror she saw another bell on her belly that was so long to fell directly onto her curls between her legs.

Cleo wrinkles her nose, and immediately meets the girl's eyes. She was smiling at Cleo, her eyes were red. Cleo smiled back but without teeth. The maid runs her hand down her front to her bell and wiggles it and up again before swaying again.

Was this supposed to turn her on?

Cleo sits up and raises her hand to get the girls attention. The girl stops her dancing and frowns down at her, lowering her head to listen.

"Listen golden puppet, I'll save us both the embarrassment. So go dance for Landon over there, the old man with the monocle in case you are too toxicated to know who our General is."

Cleo grins at her fakely and the girl frowns even more but she starts moving away. "Aye! I didn't say that you could go. Do me a favour first."

Cleo clears her throat and lifts her empty chalice save for lavender up to her. "You see this? It's empty. Get me a new one. One with more opiates especially. And oh! Bring me more wine, bring me the fullest jug there is. I haven't had enough to drink. My mind isn't even spinning. That means I didn't have enough."

She clicks her tongue even though she knew that the girl clearly didn't understand a single thing she said. But she bows and says."Of course Miss." Before scuttling away.

Cleo falls back onto her cushions with a smug grin. Even though there was more smoke, and Cleo could barely see her toes right down, the opiates in her system has worn off and that was not good. Also she needed more wine in order for her to actually have a good sleep tonight. So this was her plan. She was simply going to get herself irrationally insane with weeds and wine whilst everyone else sexed themselves to sleep right here in the ballroom — and then she would take her trip back to her chambers alone, well Kaleb had to be there for her and she would pass out and sleep creditably.

As she lays there with the music in the background and dancing figures seen through the thick incense, and most importantly waiting for the maid to come to her as soon as possible before her grumpiness returns and she will then do something that Landon won't approve of; this all brought her attention to Jezio.

To be fair, she really didn't like the way he kissed that girl. What has possessed him to do that? Why hadn't he waited for her like he said he would. For a second she thought he wanted her, craved her, desired her; but clearly she was wrong. She was so goddamn stupid.

She turns to Landon, but she still couldn't see anything beyond the smoke. Fucking Mabel and her smoke. What was her plan anyway? To turn them all into dried meat? There. Her mood started changing, she could already feel it. She still had to speak to Landon about everything Ezra told her, and she had to start getting somewhere with it too. She can't keep running away like Kaleb said.

She shakes her head. Fuck that. If she enacted to running away then she will bloody run away no matter what.

"A penny for your thoughts?"

Cleo jerks and rests her hand on her racing heart and sits up immediately, her breathing harsh and loud.

"You scared me." She clicks her tongue at Kaleb but remains sitting. She wanted to sit cross-legs but this tight mermaid dress said otherwise. So she keeps her legs stretched out before her.

Kaleb comes out of the smoke like a trophy and suddenly her heart dropped in her chest. He is so beautiful. Forget everything she said about him. She had to listen to him. Don't run away Cleo don't run away.

He sits down beside her but keeps his knees bent as he rests his forearms on his shins. "I'm sorry. My job is to protect you, and not seeing you in the smoke is a bad call so instead why not take care of you here."

He looks at her warmly and she feels herself getting lost in his eyes. She could see how dilated his pupils were and how bloodshot it was too. And she definitely matched the same look. It was from the smoke, but she had some wine in her body too. So she must have looked ten times worse than him.

She gets into the same position as him and looks to the front to where they both could see a maids head between another one's legs and the moans made Cleo feel uncomfortable so she faces him again.

It wad then when she notices the sheen of sweat on him. The room is hot and stuffy, even with the high windows open on top. It felt like a scorching hot pot and everyone here was the vegetables. She brings her hand to her forehead and gets shocked when she feels the sweat on herself too. It coated her forehead in water and stuck her bangs right onto her face like second skin.

The same way it did with Kaleb's locks. The wet also made his hair much more curly so the soft tips curled against his neck so snugly it took everything in Cleo to not trace her finger directly onto those curls.

"I'm glad you came." Still studying his side face.

He turns to her and meets her eyes with a frown. "You are?"

She faces the front again. The maids are gone. "Yes. Being like this becomes tedious at some point. What better way to not spend it than with the King of the Guard."

The real reason was that she was lonely. She has nobody to sit here and to enjoy herself with. Unlike everyone else; there wasn't a single person here who would of asked to be with her here.

He chuckles a little too long, and Cleo realized he was high too. The concentration of opium was quite extreme she had to say, Cleo ponders whether it was Mabel's real idea. "I beg to differ. You should surely have some mates around here no?"

Even his voice was a little slurry. "No. I hate them all."

She raises her chin and starts looking around for this damn maid.

"Not even the maids?"

"Never."

She had no friends. It wasn't something she was proud of, but she had a better relationship with the horses in the stables than she did with anyone else in Court. She didn't like them, and they didn't like her either. It was a win win.

Kaleb has somehow come closer because she could feel the heat emanating from his body right into her side. Their thighs and knees were touching and even the backs of their hands which is right next to each other on their legs brushed together.

If she didn't like Kaleb, she would of scolded him for getting her further heated than she currently was.

"So, what were you thinking about before I came. You looked angry." He chuckles again.

What was she thinking about?

"Oh... It was about you." She replies proudly.

He rubs his hair back but the locks just falls right back onto his forehead. "What about me?"

She sees a figure coming towards them and she wanted to cry in delight. "How sensual you are."

Kaleb snorts and frowns at the golden maid before him.

Before the girl could say anything Cleo says, "Took you long enough. Is this a new thurible? Oh good it is. It's full. Thank you. You are dismissed."

The girl looks shocked but she bends down before them placing down the jug between two pillows on the floor, causing the bells to jiggle and bounce as her breasts fell forward with the impact. She bows and leaves to probably dance for someone who cared about seeing her naked.

Cleo was at the wine immediately filling her old silver cup with wine and filling the new one that the maid brought with her for Kaleb. He stared at the girls retreating ass which wasn't in gold unfortunately, looking very impressed with it as he continues staring at her body hungrily. She could see how he tried forcing his attention away from the maid to Cleo seldomly.

Well it had to be hard for him, he was already under a spell of opiates and soon now  wine also, so she really couldn't blame him.

"Here is some wine." She hands him the cup and she falls back on her elbow with her wine in the other hand as she lays on her side ravaging him rather studiously with her eyes.

He does the same and leans on his elbow on his side so that they both faced each other. "Gratitude. But I don't think it's a good idea if I do-"

She shrugs and finishes her wine in one go. She gets up to get more and is debating whether she should drink from the entire jug instead. She didn't want to be seen as a drunkard before Kaleb. So she goes for the latter of pouring more and once again getting into her position of facing him.

"Who cares? I insist. I'll take care of you this time." She sips her wine instead and Kaleb does the same.

He licks his lips but doesn't take another. "So you said how sensual I am?" He smirks and it brought butterflies in her belly.

She raises her cup at him. "Aye. Sensual indeed. I'm sure you haven't missed the way that the maids regularly delves into your looks. Especially Lady Delilah."

He grins showing his perfect white teeth and gives her a demure smile. "She seems quite demented."

"She is demented."

Kaleb harrumphs and causally watches a few dancers passing by them in the smoke and sips his wine delightfully. "What do you think about this evening? It's not something I would of ever imagined."

She finished her wine. But she didn't want to get more and seem like a hungry-stricken wine abuser. So she snatches some remaining herbs from the thurible and chews it while Kaleb looked away.

"It's not something I imagined either. Yet here we are, fascinating ourselves in botany and wine. I prefer this over that therapeutic display of body-twists. I'm sure Landon likes it too."

Kaleb quickly looks over her shoulder but looks back after seeing too much smoke. She immediately stopped chewing the foul hard opiates. It was still burning, so there were some embers in her mouth. The herbs were fresh too, it stung her tongue.

Kaleb takes another sip. Cleo feels the urge to snatch it away and gobble it down for him. "I'm glad he is here however. He works very hard."

OH good he noticed.

She curls her toes as she dryly swallows the herbs giving her no choice but to get more wine. "Me too. I am dead sure he will go back to work right after this though."

Kaleb laughs softly and the action made his eyes twinkle. "Would he be able to?"

Cleo places the jug next to her. "I am most certain he would. He is General Landon. He could do almost everything and anything."

Before Kaleb could reply to her, the music has increased and the dancers has begun to dance more vigorously and faster. The bells shook with them. Cleo tries to place her mind onto when they ever had the time for this. Or has she always been in her own world that she never noticed any of this happening under her nose.

A dancer came and Cleo sent a heat wave to her and gave her a sour look, which made the maid nod and dance away.

"Right where were we? Oh yes Landon. I am actually thinking now that a certain someone is the reason that he is here."

Kaleb frowns at her. "Who?"

She swirls her wine in her cup and jerks her chin to the sound of Mabel's voice echoing throughout the room continuing her praises and hopes and peace for this Court.

While Kaleb did that, Cleo threw in the last of the herbs into her wine and swirls it again. That would be her last herbs for the night. But she was definitely still planning to finish her wine. She may just finish the entire jug by the time Kaleb finished his first cup.

Well that's his problem. He clearly couldn't keep up.

"Mabel?" He sounds astonished as she takes  a huge gulp from her wine carrying the weeds and she is quick to chew it.

She swallows. "You really haven't noticed? Landon pretends to not be interested, but I know he is. Just as much as she is."

"It's hard to notice that with him always frowning and looking mad. I thought he ruminates too much to even consider a woman in his life."

She raises her brows. It hit her bangs that has become dryer. "Never. Sexual cravings doesn't just end in a man as he becomes older Kaleb." She licks her lips as she gives him a rather sultry look.

His eyes darkens, so he quickly clears his throat and takes plenty gulps— seen from the way his throat bobbed constantly.

She swirls her wine again and takes another sip. Her throat feels more scratchy than usual and quite dry. It was definitely not the air, not with the wine quenching her thirst so finely. It was her. Talking.

She hasn't even realized how tranquil it is to speak to someone on her level. She has never, never, never, spoken to anyone at her Court about standard happenings in Court. The maids had each other for that. The courtesans all spoke amongst themselves. And then there was her. She had no one. Until she met Jezio, which wasn't on an everyday basis all the time. So she really felt lonely during her time here in Court.

Until Kaleb showed up. It was fair to say that he somehow gave her a chance to have a mate who was the same as her. He spoke to her which was shockingly nice. Because usually the maids she speaks to runs away, or avoids her at all costs unless she demanded something. But that could be because of her as a person. She knows she wasn't likeable by most Courtesans including the lower class workers here. So she really understood partially of why she had no mates.

But being with Kaleb really made things a lot different for her. She didn't know if it was good or not.

"How are things with you? Your guard duties?" She could see how flushed he still looked and was sipping much more regularly now.

He gulps hard and gives her a lustful look which she could see he was trying very hard to rid of. "Good. I've been doing some teaching, lately-"

"And the issue with the Village?" She noticed that she keeps stopping him from finishing his sentences, but was she really interested about what he taught to the guards here.

"We found nothing. Must have been a fight like they say-"

"They?" Great. She stopped him again.

He starts becoming a little pale and he shakes slightly. He swirls his wine like she did and throws the cup back and shakes it well; indicating it was finished.

Well would you look at that.

"A few people my guards asked around there. Majority of them reported seeing nothing, and a few has heard a commotion but that's it. Nothing else happened after that."

She tries not to get excited before him. The last thing she wanted was for the villagers to know that a demon has breached their walls, that would bring too much unwanted attention and a war between her and her people. So it is best to keep this quiet.

"Something has changed about you. I just can't see what." Cleo could start feeling the effects of the wine and opium more.

Once again her head was spinning and she felt so fulfilled. The dark emptiness inside her closed, her body was buzzing with delight. Her fingertips felt numb as did her tongue. She started feeling so much more alive and thriving.

She drops onto her side and lays on both hands on her right cheek facing him. His gaze swathes over her, so it is clear he has started noticing that she was definitely drunk and clearly not herself.

Heat started curling through her belly an unexpected hot zapping heat. It drooped low, it took everything in her to not let herself become taken away by the pleasure moaning all around her.

Kaleb gently removes the nearly empty jug away from her and places it at his feet and he crawls closer to her so that he lay before her in the same position until their knees touched.

He was so close she could feel his heat. Smell his wine breathe and stare deeply into his deranged eyes. "There has?"

In the close proximity with Kaleb, Cleo finds it hard to talk. That and because she was heavily intoxicated, but it is mostly because she was so close to him. If she just simply stretched her hand out she would be touching that muscled chest she has been dreaming of trailing her fingers over. How that would feel running beneath her fingertips, strong muscle and soft skin. She was dying to know.

"You're much different than you were before I have to say. You don't look like the lost little boy anymore than the first day you were here."

She bites her lips to draw more blood to it, and to make them swell. She might as well kiss him and not remember the next morning than to go to bed feeling empty and cold.

"I suppose I have. I was more afraid of you." He eyes her lips and meets her eyes again. He was drunk. She could see it in his eyes. Definitely, maybe not as much as she was, but this wine was strong and it worked rapidly in the mind.

She tugs her lower lip and summons a tornado of flames in her eyes. "Why?"

He did something that for some reason enabled her mind to work again. He touched her arm with one finger. He traced it up and down slowly, his finger was rough and exotic, trailing on her satin skin. She could feel that touch right down in her toes. Heat has sprung onto her cheeks spreading everywhere, to her chest and lower.

"I heard that many were afraid of you and your power, they said you were... Well, crazy." His gaze follows his finger but she looks at his wine stained lips.

Were she not wasted right now, she would of demanded who dare spoke of her like that from Kaleb.

Instead she laughs a little too long and a little too loud. In the midst of the noise of everyone around her, she could barely hear herself laugh. She wondered where Landon was, and if he was alright; and whether he knew that Kaleb was with her right this second. Or... If he was occupied with the maid she sent him.

"I'm not crazy, no one understands me and that's what makes them think I'm crazy."

Kaleb doesn't reply for a long time and just continues gazing at her thoughtfully. He looks so sweet, she wonders whether his lips tasted sweet too.

"I don't think you're crazy. You're different and that's what causes people to not  understand you." He whispers that to her so quietly she almost couldn't hear it. She inches closer towards him until their noses almost brushed.

It was her turn to whisper, "Have you ever been with a woman Kaleb?"

His breathing hitched, panic arose in his eyes with his skin turning a shade of lighter red, and even his sweat has increased.

Cleo frowns and tangles her hands into his curls bringing his head so close that their noses finally touched. "Why do you look so worried? Is something wrong?" The question came right onto his lips. His breathe was hot on her face and fast.

Hell they were inches away from one another. "No, I'm good. And no, I have never been with a woman before."

She tugs on his hair softly and pulls her face back a little so that she regarded him sweetly. The colour came back into his face and he once again looked full of lust. She didn't know what happened just a second ago, but she is thinking that it could do with the fact that he was still a virgin. The same as her. She won't dwell into it again. Poor boy.

"Have you ever kissed anyone?"

They both breathed through their mouths, too hard and loud. The lust was clear between them, the way their knees pressed into each other, the way she tugged on his hair, him running his finger over her arm. It was all so hot, she couldn't wait to touch him any longer. She needed something now.

"No." It was a lie.

She could read his eyes. But she didn't care, this moment right here is what she wanted. She was also relieved her didn't ask the questions back, she could lie too; but she really didn't want to. She wants to be honest with him. Not that he could ask it back, that would deem disrespectful for her place of power.

Slowly, she removes her hand from his hair and runs it down his chest, passing many bulges of muscle and contours even through his thin shirt until it rested above his manhood.

"What would you do if we changed that?" He gulps.

Would it be wrong if she kissed him right here in the room. Would she get punishment for being with a man? She knows it wasn't right in the books for an Elemental to be married, or to provide offspring as that disrupted the cycle of the new births of the new Elementals. And besides would her child be half fire half human? She could never. And children hated her more than she hated them.

Kaleb moves his hand from her arm to her side, in the curve between her rub and hip. That simple touch she could feel was imprinted on her skin beneath her tight dress. She nearly forgot she was under a lust-spell. Every nerve ending came to life and her body was much more aware of what he was doing to her.

He rubs his hand up and down over the curve of her hip so that he nearly touched the side of her bottom, but in the blink of an eye she took his hand and placed it directly over her bottom.

"So?" She drawls, removing her hand and placing hers on his chest.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." He said it so fast he didn't get a chance to take a breathe at all.

                                                           °°°

His hand was intertwined with hers as they surreptitiously made their way out of the ballroom. They were heading toward her chambers, in their drunken state; her mostly, she is familiar with the route that they went. If Kaleb hadn't been holding her hand she would of crashed into so many walls  she would have had another concussion like that of Helhard.

It had to be a mission if they wanted to look for her through the smoke in the room, Cleo prays no one saw them. But perhaps if they saw her gone, they'd assume she went to her chambers out of pure boredom — something common with her.

The corridors were also quiet this time of night, Cleo looked in awe at the moon shining high in the sky, like someone who has never seen the moon before in her life. She hadn't realized that time had passed so quickly in the ballroom, it was actually hard to comprehend that it was already this time.

All too soon they reached her chambers, and immediately Kaleb opened her doors and pressed her back against the door banging it closed in the process.

Her room was dark she couldn't see his gorgeous eyes anymore. She pouts in sadness and then pulls him closer towards her so that he pressed his hard body against her small soft one. She then circles her arms around his neck and progresses a big flame which she throws to the unlit hearth across the room.

That enabled them to see one another in the dim lighting, the firelight brought shadows falling onto them, but she was too fascinated by how golden and delicious his skin looked from the light.

"I love how you can do that." He whispers erratically into her ear, after pressing his face against her neck and inhaling deeply.

He finds her hands which was at her sides, which he tangles together and brings it above her head. His calloused hands feels differently this time, much more erotic. It showed her just how strong he was. He brings his forehead against hers as they share breathes.

She stares deeply into his eyes, trying to send a message for him to just touch her already. He continues watching her, but then his gaze drops to her lips. He flicks his eyes up to hers and then down to her lips again, and ever so softly he presses his lips onto hers.

Heat blossoms in every part of Cleo's body. His lips are so soft, and sweet and gentle on hers. He didn't let his tongue in yet, he only kissed her passionately over and over and over.

She was desperate to feel more, she tries untangling her fingers from his but he doesn't allow her, he keeps her firmly planted on the door pressing his front directly in front of her.

She parts her lips and Kaleb is quick to respond to it— his tongue explores hers, caresses it and fights for dominance until she could hardly catch her breathe. His mouth is so wet and hot as sin, it felt too good to be true. He was an expert, the same way Jezio was. She was almost glad that she kissed him before Kaleb— she would of been struggling to find her way around his mouth.

She moans and arches herself forward, still kissing him hard, swinging her head left and right nearly every second with each kiss, he didn't stop his assault on her lips either, he was hard but sweet. Whereas Jezio's kiss was much more demanding.

She again tries fighting for release of her hands and still he doesn't give in. He then pulls away in which she gulps in air quickly and hungrily; Kaleb only took it as an opportunity to trail his lips down her neck, from her cheek which he pecked and her chin right down to the spot behind her ear, and finally the part above her breast.

Her core was burning at this point, she brought her hips forward to his and gasps at the hardness she feels there. Oh fuck.

He kisses her throat, stroking his velvet tongue all over, bathing her in his mouth. She loves that he tasted of wine, and he must have tasted her too, but of herbs as well.

Her head is spinning both in pleasures from the ecstasy and from his mouth, she couldn't think straight at all not with his mouth directly on hers once again.

He finally released her hands and she immediately flits it into his hair tugging his head lower to hers and kissing him just as hard as he wanted. Her lips hurt like hell, and they felt swollen but... she couldn't get enough of it. He gave in and matched her fast hard pace.

He grazes his hands over her breasts which brought zaps of hot white heat to assemble in her belly. He cups them and she moans into his mouth before he kissed it away. He then runs his hands over her hips and goes to her behind— he cups her ass which evoked another moan from both him and her. That brought stars to her vision so many she could barely hold herself upright.

With the door keeping  her stable and his body keeping her from falling onto her face, Kaleb finds her thighs and lifts the tight dress bit by bit until they reached her hips, he looks down to her thighs but alarm went into her way too quickly for him to even manage to see anything.

The lighting was dim, but those marks could still be seen on her skin, it was light enough.

"Look at me. Just keep your eyes on me." Her words weren't even slurry which said a lot about how she overcame her drunkenness in a matter of seconds.

Lucky enough he listened and gave her throat attention again, but with that he keeps lifting her dress up over her hips and he balls them in fists. Cleo runs her hands over his broad chest getting even more turned on by his masculinity and then she wraps her arms around his neck swiftly.

He cups her bottom and hoists her up, pressing her back against the door. She was higher up this way with her bare legs wrapping tightly around his waist as her hands settles onto his shoulders, with her front against his.

Kaleb keeps his hands on either side of her hips and brings his face into her neck inhaling deeply. He really liked doing that, she noticed. He doesn't grip her too tightly, but she has noticed how surprisingly gentle he was with her body, his kisses which went from soft to hard, his holds on her, he didn't even squeeze her breasts he just held them, and now with his hands on her hips she could feel enough to feel pleasure and no pressure points on it either. Either he was trained or he was afraid of hurting her.

The next thing he did, made her want to tip right over the edge. He thrusts his hips again, so she felt just how hard he was on her, she bites her lips to keep from crying out loud. He did it again and again. He moaned in tune with her with each thrust. It was so pleasurable even with his pants and her undergarments separating them. She thrusts her hips with him this time and he cries out with his face pressed tightly against hers breathing raggedly the same way she was.

She wanted them to have more, she really did, so what if no one approved? No one would know besides the two of them either way so what could go wrong.

Hell... Her entire body felt alive, the buzz started from her head to her toes, her breasts ached and so did her belly. Blood rushed every sense of her body. She didn't know what she was doing but her body sure adored it and she didn't want this to ever stop.

"Don't stop Kaleb." She whispers into his ear making sure to add the most lustf she could offer and she tries her best to sound as enticing and tempting as possible.

And he didn't, she wondered if he felt the same way she felt right now. Hot. Full of lust. She feels a build up in her core suddenly, each thrust of his hips made it grow more and more, it grew and grew, she was so nearly there-

Just when Cleo dropped her hand between them to Kaleb's  button of his breeches; a crash through her balcony doors sprung them both apart.

It hit so hard and fast her chest hurt with how fast her heart beat. Shock was in every part of her body, she shakily pulls her dress down before Kaleb could see, but he was already pulling his sword out and was before the abomination that destroyed their session.

Glass fragments are all over her floors, Cleo stepped into plenty of them already, one hit her cheek when the demon burst through the doors. Her entire room looked wrecked, the wind blasted in hot and dry and hard, it sang along with the demon currently roaring at Kaleb.

Kaleb throws blows onto it's scales but they all deflected right off his scales like a ball bouncing off a wall. She should of warned him about that. Oh well. It's too late now.

The demon growls loudly and jumps on her floor once breaking the tiles in the process, but it was to draw Kaleb's attention to look down and nearly fall over his feet from the earthquake that shook her entire her room during that jump.

"Kaleb get away now!" Her hands were already in flames as she hurriedly stands before the massive beast.

The demon with its duck talons, impacts the side of Kaleb's body and hurls him away with so much force that Kaleb flew across the room banging his head so hard against the wall she could of sworn she heard a crack in his skull.

He lay there motionless his head turned away from her, unmoving.

Cleo feels ire filling her. Pure rage and anger, she knows there are tears in her eyes at Kaleb getting hurt like that. She clenches her jaw and faces the demon her eyes completely inflamed.

Her body went on alert, she was uneasy on her feet, and yes she saw about two demons before her because of how drunk she was. But what she felt was anger despite her drunken soul.

Her head is spinning and her steps were completely mismatched as she settled before the demon.

Damn her and wasted self. The timing couldn't be more perfect.

Without thinking she lifts her hands as she removes the flames from her hearth and she throws it to the demon, knowing it'll do minimum damage but it'll save her time before her guards would arrive, who was even more useless than her.

But she needed time, she had to scare it off. It was all she could do.

How the hell hadn't they seen it outside?

The flames hits the demon squarely in the back letting it give out a shrill scream in which Cleo clamped her ears shut as it brought a ringing sensation in her ears.

That made the demon even more ferocious — it burned the demon but not enough as Cleo thought. She stands swayingly before it trying her best to summon more flames but her head couldn't stop buzzing. She could barely hold her eyes open.

This allows the demon to use its talons and then it flitted Cleo up into the air in a choke-hold with its talon scraping each side of her throat. She feels deja vu from Ezra. This excat position. It's face with no eyes and sharp glass-like teeth stood open to her, it forced her face down to meet those vicious teeth snapping them open and closed in the process.

The closer she reached its mouth the more she flailed and flailed, she kicks her legs but her legs were putty compared to the demons powerful thighs so the demon barely felt it. She is choking too; her hands were on its talons around her throat holding her in the air, she tries gasping but she could feel herself drifting off. Her face is blood red, too much blood reaching her face it made her already dizzy mind even more faint.

The demon stops his actions abruptly and instead hurls her right towards her chambers door. She broke right through the hard wood snapping the entire door in the process and falling onto the other side.

She grimaces hard. Tears have started streaming down her cheeks, something she barely did, and she ground her teeth at how sharp the pain was that shooted through every single part of her body. She was sure she broke her back, something must have snapped, it didn't feel normal anymore.

She opens her eyes as she sees dust and wood all over the darkened corridor, her vision was still blurry and there was a hint of red in it too, that certainlg can't be good. She lay on her belly scraping her nails on the floor beneath her— the pain was excruciating. She couldn't take it. She couldn't even lift herself up.

This was how she died. So it was from a demon after all. Landon was wrong about that part.

As she waited for her death laying motionless she heard scuttling around in her room and she sees the shadow of the demon with a big obstacle in its hands. It was her dresser. The bloody thing was going to smash her to pulp. Well fuck her.

She groans as her body goes stiff and another wave of pain enters her. Her head is cloudy and stars has begun to cloud her red vision. Oh where was Jezio? He would of help her. Make this all better for her-

"Mam!"

Cleo gets a start as she hears that wail. There was only one person who called her that.

She looks up and through the fog she could see a silhouette of a little person. She opens her mouth to will him away but oh the sun gods! She couldn't talk. It was as if her tongue  has stopped its work too.

Before she could do anything else Thane comes closer and closer with both his fists balled up. She stretches her hand out and forces her mind to will a flame. A flame to get the demon away from him.

The demon comes out with the dresser in both talons and that's when she hears the sharp intake of breathe coming from Thane.

Thane suddenly screams and runs back down the hallway, but the demon drops the dresser right next to her and not on her. With one big jump forward the demon reaches Thane and it uses its hooves to slip Thane's legs out from under him and next Cleo didn't know what happened.

The anger boils up inside of her so angrily she couldn't see anything else but Thane laying on his stomach with both his arms around his head, his last hope of protecting himself.

Her teeth got ground so hard she tasted blood from her gums. With a sharp refusal from her body she was up right before the demon could stab Thane's back.

She had to limp closer. One leg has completely stopped working. She briskly uses her last strength to call on a flame between both palms. The big ball of fire lit up the whole corridor gaining the attention of the demon and as it looked at her she sent it flying into it's face.

It hit the demon in the face, but as usual it didn't so much as burn off it's scales. The demon roars but Cleo feels herself give in.

She hears shouts and guards with bows and fire arrows flying towards the demon which sent it spreeing further in. She drops to her knees. Her body was giving up. Great timing to get drunk.

Before her eyes could close, she saw the sparkly wrappers of sweets sprawled all over the floor as he fell. That's what was bundled in his fists. Why would he come this time?

The last thing she heard and which she protested at, was hearing a loud squelch on Thane's body as the demons hoove trapped on him, before going further away from the loud and fire arrows gaining at it.

"Oh God's. Thane!" That was all she could croak before she succumbs to the darkness.