Obsession is the height of passion, but what does one do when they find themselves enthralled with their enemy. Talamayas Sol loses his mother when he stumbles upon a mage in the deserts of his territory, and he is plunged into a despair he's never...
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The roles had certainly flipped as Tala stood in the Arc greeting room awaiting Neil. So many years ago, Vincent had brought a trembling boy and left him at his feet. Fifty years had passed, and that small trembling boy refused to let his father's darkness grab hold of him. Neil was a leader now, one people leaned on, loved, and fought for. Without Neil, Tala himself would have never considered mages as allies nor given any a chance.
Not even Wren.
In a way, Tala owed Neil for showing him a different path, and Silvia for the strange circumstances that led to Wren's freedom. Without those two things, he'd likely still be torturing a man in his dungeons with a wall of bars dividing them from facing each other. A lot had happened, and though he'd forgiven Wren, his mother accepting him had washed away any lingering hurt. Tala was ready for his new life, for this changing world, and to on occasion get out of the desert.
"Tala," Neil called, and Tala turned to the man striding into the greeting room. Strange things had happened to vampire politics once they'd accepted the mages into their territory, but even before, Neil had seldom greeted anyone on his throne.
"Neil... are you okay?" Tala had been excited to see him, but it faded as he saw just how frazzled the man was. His shirt was only half buttoned and done so lopsided, his pallor was whiter than he was used to, and his crimson eyes shadowed under a sheen of silver hair.
"I'd be better if you wore a shirt," Neil said, his frown stiffening as he looked over his bare chest.
Since Tala had never worn a shirt, it was a strange thing for Neil to mention, and Tala leaned over to see if he was fully awake. It didn't look that way.
"Have you been sleeping?" Tala asked, fidgeting with his hands. He wanted to hug Neil, to tell him that he'd help with whatever he needed, assure him that he was here for him, but the man looked like he'd snap if someone so much as stepped on a twig.
"Not really. I haven't slept much at all in the last few months" –Neil rubbed his face and then honed back in on his naked chest. "Can I wrap you in a tapestry?" Neil looked to the silver and blue fabric hung from the castle walls, and Tala took a full step back.
"I'd really rather not," Tala objected, stiffening his muscles.
"Oh, hey, Talamayas," a calmer voice, Silvia's, sounded behind him, but it sent a hideous growl through Neil that had Tala raising an eyebrow to his hair line. "Oh, don't be bothered by him," Silvia groaned as she joined their side, keeping closer to Neil who slid his arm around her hips and pulled her closer.
Silvia was stunning as always, a vision of strength and beauty, but she was just as Neil was–dressed in pants one could only sleep in and a loose billowy mage shirt that was tied up only to her breastbone and showed all of her neck. It was quite smooth for someone with a vampire mate, and Tala's examining it drew another low growl out of his closest friend. Rationally, he was no threat to either of them, so he lowered his eyes to Neil to see just what the hell was going on.
