Arabella woke to Helion's slow breath on her neck, his arms wrapped around her, naked body pressed against her back.
The sun streamed through the stained glass sky light, scattering ruby and gold light over the room, mottling Helion's warm skin with jewels.
The sheets had been pushed back to the foot of the bed in the night, and Arabella's robe had shifted up to reveal her hip up to her waist.
Where Helion's breath caressed her skin, the robe had also fallen away, leaving her shoulder and neck exposed and bare.
A small mewl rose in her chest, and she fought the urge to press herself further into the warmth of Helion.
But then Helion's arms tightened around her and pulled her close anyway.
His breath became heavier and his nose nuzzled her ear.
Arabella laughed softly and arched her neck.
"Good morning," he whispered, lips moving against her skin.
It tickled.
Another giggle escaped her, as though she were once again a youngling, and she squirmed in Helion's grasp.
He only laughed darkly and continued his path down her neck and into the crook of her shoulder
"Helion..."
Her voice was still thick with sleep and he hummed into her skin.
His warm hands crept to her naked hip and she rolled them up into his touch, head back.
Arabella reached up a hand and pulled softly at his hair, mussed with sleep.
Helion's hands tightened on her hips, his lips roaming the tender skin of her shoulder. 
Arabella sighed, pressing back into him.
When was the last time she had been woken like this?  When the morning had not brought dread, but gaiety?
When his hands brushed her stomach, she turned in his arms, facing him. 
Eyes still closed, lips parted, hair mussed, he could've been sleeping but for his roaming and errant fingers.
She reached up, gently brushing back the smooth curls of his hair.
Helion's eyes opened, deep molten gold in the sunlight. 
His wandering hands moved to catch her fingers, holding them against his cheek.
"Hello," he murmured.
Arabella's cheeks flushed.
"Hello."
A sleepy grin lit his face and he pulled her tightly into his arms, face buried in her hair.
Arabella sighed and closed her eyes again, bathing in the sunlight and warmth, both from Helion himself.
She could have lain there forever.
And she would have.
She groaned and stretched a bit.
Helion let out a indignant whine, that was anything but dignified, and attempted to draw her back to his body.
"Helion..."
He hugged against her skin and said nothing.
Arabella smiled despite herself, and felt an urge to burrow down into his arms and never leave.
"High Lord, you have duties to tend to."
Helion groaned again, and this time when he tried to pull her closer, she rolled out of his grasp.
"Ari..."
His voice was a rolling growl, thick with sleep.
She sat up, not bothering to pull the precariously hanging robe back up onto her naked shoulder.
Helion still lay sprawled, reaching for her, eyes still shut.
Arabella's lips curled up and she turned, crawling on all fours back across the bed towards his massive body until she straddled him.
Lowering her lips to his ear until her mouth brushed his skin, she murmured,
"My lord you must wake."
In a sudden wave, he surged up, gripping her body and flipping her onto her back so that his great mass smothered her.
His lips attacked her forehead, her neck, her bare shoulder, the naked skin of the top of her breast that the robe had nearly completely exposed, and she laughed and squirmed beneath him.
She couldn't keep her hands from trailing his back, scraping light trails into his skin with her blunt nails.
And it was clear to Arabella that he suffered mornings as every male did, for his arousal lay clear and hard against her leg.
"Helion," she whispered, laughter faded into something pungently arousing.
Would she ever be able to resist this golden eyed beautiful male that had now stopped his kisses down her body to stare into her soul?
Leaning up, she pressed her lips to his.
He groaned into her mouth, and the sound sent shocks of arousal down between her leg, her arousal already beginning to drip down her thighs.
"Ari," he murmured, and raised a hand, lacing his fingers through her hair.
She sighed in response.
But when his fingers became more insistent on her body, when his kisses grew more passionate and the arousal against and between her legs became unbearable, Arabella put a shaking hand against his chest, pulled away, and grimaced.
"Helion..."
Her voice cracked and a growl tumbled through Helion's chest.
But he stopped.
He gave her a half smile, cocky as ever, if not disappointed, and tucked her disarrayed hair back behind her ear.
Then, he sighed, climbed out of the bed, and extended a hand to her, reveling in the fact that her cheeks grew hot at his nakedness.
"Shall we to breakfast, my dear?"
...
Something troubled her. Greatly.
Helion closely watched Arabella as she ate breakfast across from him.
Yesterday, he had accepted the tears, the discomfort, the hesitance as open wounds from Beron's life and death.
But now... of course, those things did not heal overnight.
But there was something more than pain and shame.
Something poured off of her in sheets, making her tremble, making her quell her desire for him.
Arabella was keeping secrets.
Helion speared a cube of fruit and brought it to his mouth, still studying Arabella's face.
By the Mother he'd missed looking at her face.
But not like this.
Not with her shields up, even if there were less than when Beron was alive. 
Cauldron, how could he truly expect her to break down all of her walls only days after her liberation?
He was being selfish.
The next cube of fruit was nearly pulverized by his fork before he chewed on it grudgingly. 
He was being unfair and apathetic. 
He knew.
But Mother above, it killed him that she was keeping a secret from him. 
Not only for his own sake, but for hers. 
Whatever it was was eating her alive. 
Now, though, he would be patient. 
Helion would let his precious Ari come to him, in her own time, when she felt safe.
He leaned forward, elbows on the table, chin propped up on his fist.
"So, my dear,"
She looked up from her plate, eyes wide like a child caught with the holiday plums.
"How did you sleep?"
Helion held back a grin at her flushed cheeks.
Her body reacted so keenly to him.
But she cleared her throat and straightened her back as she said
"Just as well as you, my lord."
This time, it was Helion's turn for heat to creep up his throat, and he thanked the mother for his dark skin to hide it. 
He let his face grow sympathetic, morose.
"I do hope not, my lady.  I found that my sleep was quite..."
He grinned.
"Restless."
Arabella's blush deepened, and suddenly, the tension and secrecy between them was forgotten.
"Oh?"  Her eyes fell back to her plate, where she mindlessly pushed forgotten food around with her fork.
"And why is that, my lord?"
His filthy response was just behind his teeth, at the tip of his tongue, when he was interrupted by someone else's presence.
Glancing up, Helion stood and inclined his head.
"Amun."
His Master of Agriculture bowed at the waist, though he looked slightly troubled and out of breath as he rose.
"My lord Helion,"
Amun glanced uncertainly at Arabella, who had withdrawn within her shell again, and then back at Helion with expectancy in his eyes.
Helion furrowed his brow.
"Speak, Amun, so that the lady and I may finish our breakfast."
Amun opened his mouth and shut it once more, confusion now taking the place of expectation.
"My lord... the meeting..."
Helion raised an eyebrow.
He had finished his weekly meetings the evening before.
Amun cleared his throat.
"The meeting with the Master of Coin, and myself?"
Helion paused, and held back a groan.
Of course.
He had been so distracted, so eager to get back to Arabella the night before that he had postponed his final meeting of the week to discuss the finances of feeding the troops and their effort in feeding the homeless in neighboring courts.
Forcing himself to keep his eyes off of Arabella, to keep the guilt and embarrassment off of his face, Helion inclined his head.
"Forgive me, Amun. I shall join you both shortly."
Amun bowed, and dared a glance at the former lady of Autumn before slipping back out of the sun room.
Helion sighed and his shoulders dropped a bit before he turned back towards the table.
Arabella was studying him, curiosity in her russet eyes. 
When she cocked her head a bit, Helion quirked a brow.
"What are you gawking at, my dear?"
Her gaze became no less studious as she shook her head.
"Not gawking, Helion.  Learning."
This time, he let a grin lift his face again, and he leaned forward, bracing his forearms on the table so that their faces were level.
"Learning what, my lady?  You know me too well to learn any more."
Arabella smiled, and any eye other than his would miss the sadness there.
"No, Helion.  We've both changed."
There was a pang of something he couldn't identify in his chest.
Grief?  Resentment?
Fear?
He opened his mouth, not knowing how to respond to what she had said and the implications of it, but his eyes were pulled to the door.
This conversation was vitally important.
But it would take a long time, and already he was shirking his duties as High Lord.
Arabella smiled again, sweetly, and put a cool hand to Helion's cheek.
"Go.  I shall see you tonight."
Helion hesitated, and then gripped her hand and pressed his lips to her palm. 
"Sooner than that, my dear.  I will be by your side come noon."
And he forced himself to walk away without looking back.
Because if he looked in her eyes again, beheld her fiery hair, her alabaster skin...
Helion would never be able to leave her.
...
Arabella watched him leave, and prayed that he wouldn't turn back before he left. 
It was just a meeting. 
A few hours, at most. 
They had already suffered 700 years apart in silence. 
It was ridiculous, juvenile, to crave his presence at all hours of the day. 
Especially when she was absolutely bursting with guilt and the things she had kept from him.
Arabella needed time, to think, to clear her head of Helion's intoxicating presence.
To come to terms with the fact that she had very little time left to reveal her hand.
She set her fork down on her plate, long past done eating, and wrapped her arms about her stomach.
It was all a long time coming, but to have it so abruptly thrust upon her was overwhelming.
And there had been no lie when she had told Helion that they had both changed.
He had always been hot tempered, even if he could put on his mask of ice.
Would he react badly?
Of course he would. She shook her head.
How silly of her to even think that he would not.
The real question was, would he react the same way Beron had.
And if she didn't tell him soon, would he find out the same way Beron had?
Arabella's heart quickened, her blood growing cold, just at the memory of Beron.
Of what he had done.
Her breath grew shallow, heat pricking her eyes, hands clenched to stop them from shaking.
If Helion... if he raged as Beron had, or worse, if he turned his back on her as he had every right to do... that would be the final straw.
The cracks would widen and her world would crumble around her.
Arabella forced herself to close her eyes, to steady herself.
It took three minutes to finally force her lungs to take in a long, slow, deep breath.
Dropping her arms from her waist felt like breaking apart a statue.
Her eyes settled on a cube of fruit.
Everything here, even this fruit, was so beautiful.
Not perfect. Never perfect.
The imperfection was what drew her in from the beginning, as a youth.
The imperfection of a radiant high lord who could act with reckless abandon and damn the consequences.
But how did she fit in now?
She had worked so hard for so many years to arrange her broken pieces into a perfect mold.
She was perfectly broken, and from what she could see, Day was still imperfectly whole.
Her heart ached.
Helion still remembered who she used to be.
She didn't know if she could find that girl again.
She feared that Helion would grow tired of these episodes of terror that she had. That he would remember what she once was and cast aside who she had become.
Deep in her heart, she knew that he was not that way. That he was different from Beron. That he had honor and loyalty, and a deep and abiding love for her.
But her mind played games with her in the darkness.
It was why she had lost her nerve when she had arrived in Day.
Why she had avoided the true reason she had come so quickly to Helion's court after her husband's death.
Arabella had turned into a coward.
And she hated it.
She huffed a bitter laugh.
Even the fruit here was radiant.
Would her darkness infect it?
Or would the light be her salvation once again?

The day passed on virtually uneventfully. 
Helion's court treated her as a guest, however unwelcome they thought she was. 
Without Helion's hand in marriage, she had no status, and thus no responsibility as a lady. 
So she spent the day wandering the court, avoiding the other lords and ladies who resided in the palace, and refamiliarizing herself.
Arabella has a vivid memory of a certain place within the palace, hidden away from the crowds and business. 
A room, completely round, but for the floor, roofed in stained glass that filtered golden rainbows out across the entire chamber. 
Inside we're carefully cultivated plants that Helion had gifted to her, knowing her love of growing things. 
Over the years, she had thought often about her secluded greenhouse, with light like spilled gemstones that made those beautiful warm natured plants thrive. 
In the excitement and thrill of seeing Helion again, it had not occurred to her to ask where it was.
Instead, she took the chance to wander and find it again.
Arabella had also looked for Ahmes, but in failing to locate her dear friend, reverted back to her original, if not lazy, search.
It had been hours, at least four, since her breakfast with Helion.
Five, since waking up beside him, since his hands lit her body on fire.
She shivered, remembering his touch as she rounded a corner and started down a long corridor, her steps echoing along with the catch in her breath.
Vision tunneling, she walked aimlessly and without regard to caution. 
The only thing in her mind was his smile, his touch, his eyes... cauldron his eyes...
"You might want to work on controlling that, my lady."
Arabella jerked out of her daydream and whirled around.
Not ten feet from her, meaning she had walked past and not realized, a male leaned casually against the wall.
His easy smile was almost as cocky as Helion's but without the weight of the world behind it. 
Without a sharp edge.
It was soft, playful, devious.
A flush had risen to her cheeks almost immediately, and she must have looked ridiculous.
Before she had time to compose herself, or react, he pushed off of the wall and ambled towards her, with no shame or propriety.
Stopping before her, he bowed slightly at the waist.
"Lady Arabella."
The surprise wore off, and a wide smile took its place.
"Rawer!"
She threw her arms around him, and he laughed, picking her up and spinning her around in circles.
Arabella let out a laugh of her own, and Rawer put her down on her own two feet at last, hugging her tightly and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
When he finally pulled away, he held her at arms length.
"Hello, Ari," he grinned.
She smiled back and shook her head.
"What are you doing all the way back here? I thought you were supposed to be in a meeting with our high lord, Master of Coin."
She winked at him.
Rawer shifted on his feet, and raised a hand to the back of his neck awkwardly, but his chest swelled with pride.
"Ahmes told me she found you yesterday. I suppose I should've known she'd tell you all the exciting news."
Arabella laughed and took his other hand in both of hers.
"I've missed you so, dear friend.  How proud I am of you!"
She spotted a bench off to their left, further up the corridor, and led him to it, eagerly sitting.
"Now.  Tell me everything."
Rawer threw his head back, his laugh echoing loudly.
"Ari, our dear Ahmes has told you all there is to know!"
Arabella scoffed and rolled her eyes, taking her hands out of his to stab a finger into his arm.
He had the nerve to look injured.
"I want to hear everything from you, little scarab.  We both know Ahmes has a habit of telling stories."
She raised an eyebrow and Rawer nodded in false defeat.
"That she does."
He sighed.
"Alright.  Why don't we start with what you DO know, then, lady fox."
Arabella smiled joyously, for the first time truly forgetting her troubles. 
Oh, how she had missed her friends. 
She had many years to make up for.