Helion stirred, still heavy with sleep, blinking in the light of his chambers.

The other side of the bed was abnormally chilly, and he glanced over to see that Arabella was gone.

He groaned as he stretched, and propped himself up on an elbow.

There she was, sitting at the desk, hunched over a parchment with a pen in her hands, fervently scribbling.

Her hair was unbound, loose and shining like tongues of fire down her back, stark against her pale skin. 

Memories surfaced of that alabaster skin kissed with pink when she spent too long with him out in the gardens, and Helion slowly smirked as he remembered her words to him.

"What is pleasure without a little pain?"
Arabella, young a full of fire, smirked at him, eyes hooded, as she slowly backed away towards the fountain. 

Helion grinned wickedly. 

If she wanted a chase, then she would get it. 

He stalked towards her, desperate to close the distance she was creating, the promise of many painful pleasures held in his eyes. 

When cool water slapped him in the face, making him sputter and blink, he realized that this wasn't only a chase. 

It only made them both so much more wicked. 

Mother above, she was such a wild thing then. 

They both were. 

Wild, and feral for each other. 

Arabella was right. 

They were both much changed.  He had much to relearn about the female he loved, and as much as he mourned the young lovers they had once been, the thought of spending lifetimes rediscovering her was... thrilling. 

It made his heart beat faster, made his stomach flutter, made the blood beneath his skin heat.

Before his mind could carry him away, Helion gently rolled out of the bed, silently padding over to her desk.

He softly pulled aside her hair, exposing her slender neck, and ran his warm fingers down her skin.

She shivered in response, under his touch, and his skin heated even more.

"Good morning," she murmured, and his body reacted to the thickness of her voice.

He hummed, reigning himself in once more, and leaned down to press his lips to the curve of her pale shoulder.

"Who are you writing, my love?"

Arabella set the pen down and turned in her seat, catching his lips with hers briefly. 

"Eris.  I fear I cannot excuse my behavior and absence very well, so I write him often.  It helps keep my mind at ease if I know he is still safe."

Her voice was soft, unused and filled with sleep, and Helion found himself immersing himself in the sound of it.

But... Eris?

"You've been writing him regularly?"

His stomach turned a bit.

Arabella turned fully, twisted in her seat to look at him.

"Yes I have. I trust him, Helion. You know I do."

Helion opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself, thinking again of how he should respond.

"Ari... he is your son," he said slowly, cautiously, and for a brief moment he thought he saw a spark of defiance and flame in her eyes.

"Yes, he is," she said.

He cringed at the defensive tone.

"Just listen, please," he pleaded.

"Eris has a long history with the courts."

Arabella started to speak, indignant, but Helion rushed on.

"Ari, even if Eris did not have such a tangled past, perhaps we should still be cautious with any communication to Autumn. You trust Eris, but what of your other sons? There were spies in Beron's court, and your son just inherited that court."

Her brow furrowed slightly, but she only brushed a cool, slender, pale hand against his cheek. 

Helion had to fight the urge to throw aside his caution at her touch. 

"My love, believe that I know the risks of Autumn.  I have lived them for my entire life."

He looked away, and was filled with shame. 

Of course she knew.  Just because he was High Lord didn't mean he was better versed on the dangers of the courts. 

She continued.

"I also know that my son is a High Lord, and that I have associated myself intimately with another High Lord."

Arabella urged his eyes back to hers.

"Helion, this is our chance, our and everyone else's, to finally be at peace with Autumn.  Eris is our chance.  And I refuse to squander it by abandoning him completely." 

He stared at her curiously. 

This was the first time he had heard her speak of Autumn with authority and strength in her voice since she had been back. 
It filled him with pride, with love. 
She was healing. 
And with no small amount of self satisfaction, he realized that he had given her a safe place to heal. 

Helion smiled at her, and she grinned back at him. 

"You're glowing, my lord," she murmured. 

He laughed and circled around so he was facing her, kneeling before her. 

Mother above, he loved kneeling before her. 

"Only for you, Ari."

She smirked, and for a brief moment, Helion saw the young female he had met at that fateful masquerade, all those centuries ago. 

"I know," she quipped, and he saw a flush rise to her cheeks.

She released a shuddering breath as Helion lost his self control and slid his hands up her thighs, felt her skin heating beneath his palms.

"Careful, my dear," he murmured, and lowered his head to the inside of her leg, pressing a chaste kiss to the soft velvet of her knee.

His stomach fluttered at her soft whimper, strained and needy.

Gods, the smell of her.

"Helion..."

He hummed against her skin, inching teasing kisses up, higher and higher, cursing himself for taking so long. 

He ached, he longed, he needed.

The fabric of her skirt gave way for his wandering hands, melting away like water beneath his fingers, and he bit back a groan as his cock twitched at the sight of her.

"Helion-"

Eyes hooded, vision clouded with lust, Helion brought his eyes back to Arabella's flushed face.

His body hummed with desire.

He watched Arabella's chest rise and fall rapidly, her skin mottled pink.

"Is something wrong, my love," he said, voice thick and low.

With a significant amount of male pride, he watched her, flustered, shake her head and try to speak.

If his touch could do that to her, she had yet to see what she could do to him.

"I... mother above."

She cursed and he gave her a crooked grin as she composed herself.

A few deep breaths later, Helion was aching, cock throbbing as he knelt before her, her scent surrounding him, the urge to take her over the desk monumental.

"I can't right now, my love..."

Gods, he was going to shatter something.

Helion released a shaky laugh, and looked down, let his forehead fall against her knee.

How gods damn embarrassing.

Of course she couldn't. With all the progress they had made, she had still withdrawn herself from the intimacy they both craved from each other, even in the most idyllic circumstance.

This was so far from that.

Speaking of her son, of court relations. In the midst of her writing to Eris, no less.

He chucked again, breathy and humorless.

Mother above he was practically pubescent, getting so worked up like this.

Visibly and unmistakably hard.

"Helion I'm sorry-" her hand was in his hair, her fingers running across his head.

A growl rose in his chest and he gently pulled away, desperate to escape her intoxicating touch before he came right there.

"Don't apologize," he said.

His voice was gravelly and he cleared his throat before standing, revealing the humiliating evidence of his desire for her.

"Oh-" he glanced back at her.
Her hands were clasped over her mouth, and her shoulders shook ever so slightly.

Helion stared for a moment, before clarity struck him, and he gaped.

"My lady are you... laughing at me?"

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, but her shoulders only shook harder.

Helion barked a laugh and felt his face grow hot.

"Mother above woman, will you never let me know peace?"

By now, she was bent over the arm of the chair, hiding her face which was surely scarlet, nearly cackling as he stood beside her, perplexed, bemused, and more than a little embarrassed.

"Ari... oh come now Arabella... it's not..."

Mirthful shame coated his stomach and nearly instantly solved his predicament.

"Arabella please," he laughed.

"I'm sorry," she gasped.

"I'm sorry, I just wasn't expecting... so much!"

Another fit of laughter consumed her as he smiled, indignant, and sucked on a tooth.

"Well perhaps-"

"Wait," she stopped him, and composed herself. 

"You, my lord, have meetings today.  And I..."

Helion's own smile faded as she sobered. 

"I must reach out to Eris.  And... I would like to discuss this further.  Perhaps at lunch?"

The hopeful look in her eyes made his knees go weak, and he bent to place a kiss on her brow. 

"At lunch, then.  And tonight, perhaps, we can revisit other things."

He winked at her as she flushed once more, and laughed when she shooed him towards the bathing rooms to clean and dress.

...

The mirth and heat of the morning had been a pleasant and brief distraction from the thunder clouds of dread that loomed in Arabella's mind.

By the time the sun had fully risen, it was a forgotten joy as she gathered her courage and fortitude.

Helion had made the very point she had been battling with for weeks now, sending furtive and secret letters to her eldest.

She did indeed know the dangers of Autumn. And she had been circumventing and disregarding them in desperate attempts to aid Eris.

Eris, who struggled more than he let on as High Lord of Autumn.

Arabella sighed in frustration, pacing the length of Helion's chambers.

She had not left them yet today, favoring instead the agonizing process of knowing how to ask Helion to permit an audience with Eris.

The letter in her hands, one of many edited copies she had written this morning, was already crimped at the edges.

The contents of its pages were simple.

That she loved her son, and that she wanted to help him.

Her request was not so simple.

Why should Eris trust help from Helion?

For all her sons knew, Helion was a cold and calculating Lord, unmoving and endlessly powerful.

Dangerous.

And while that was entirely true, it was not in and of itself the entirety of Helion.

Helion, who would crawl through broken glass for her, who would destroy her enemies or fall to his knees before his own enemies to protect her.

Arabella grimaced.

She had lied to her sons all their lives, and so had Helion.

Surrounded by deception and false friends at every turn, Eris might never forgive her, let alone accept her proposal.

Stopping in her tracks, Arabella breathed long and deep.

Without looking at the contents of her letter, she swiftly bent over the desk and poured the bubbling wax that had been melting since early morning over the folded parchment, stamping it firmly with her signet.

She watched as the wax began to cool, the creased letter unkempt and in a sorry state.

It did not matter.

She had to send this message to Eris before her lunch with Helion.

Her stomach twisted with the guilt of going behind his back like this, but it must be done.

Gently, she tucked the letter into a small satchel that she had prepared.

Eris would need it if there was to be any hope of reconciliation between courts.

She gripped it tightly and, without a moment to lose, let her feet carry her to the courier's chambers.

...

If anyone is still reading this, I'm so sorry for the multiple year delays lmfao I'm so mentally ill it's wild 😂 this is sort of also a filler chapter that was meant to be longer but came to a halt quicker than I would've liked.  Thanks for reading yall, and if I am able to update then expect some serious plot movement soon