Kezia had been so relieved as he welcomed her back to the palace with him. To their room, the one she had once shared with him and spent every morning curled up at his side and every night re-memorizing the way he kissed her. She wanted to be reminded again, wanted him to pull her within the room and let all their frustration and missing and longing get a bit of relief. Her eyes were instantly glancing around the room and she felt emotion build in a large wave in her chest. It looked exactly the same as she had left that day. As if he didn’t allow anyone to touch or clean her things… even the pair of shoes that were haphazardly kicked off at the foot of the bed.

Dark eyes moved to look up to him as he spoke, her brows pinching slightly in confusion. He had something for her? Perhaps a lecture now that they weren’t in public anymore about how badly she had wounded him. She felt she deserved every tongue lashing he could want to give her after her disappearing act. He didn’t start off with words, not as they were shut within the room and he moved to the bed, pulling a small package to his lap and then gesturing for her to join him. Both Geb and Raiden slipped to the ground and it seemed this would be the grand tour given by Raiden as they hopped around the room.

Kezia wasted no time in slipping next to him, her thigh pressing to his as she felt herself unable to look away from his face. The sharp angles as he was beside her and wouldn’t turn her attention to the box until he would go to reveal whatever was within.

Sylas couldn't help but take a moment to soak it all up. Kezia here beside him, their legs pressed together. There was a time when he would have thought that he would never crave the touch of another but he had missed this. Desperately. It took a particular strength of will to take the time to do this first when all he wanted to do was be tangled together with her on this bed and kissing her with all the emotion he'd been burying since she had left.

His gaze scanned her features again, admiring everything from the curve of her nose to the fullness of her lips and the color of her eyes. It was with a shuddering breath that he pulled his gaze away and opened the lid to the box. Inside were two necklaces that he pulled out and showed to her. They were both exactly the same, a chain that held a snake in a perfect circle, grabbing onto it's own tail. "I made these for us," he explained. "After you left. I...I couldn't stand being parted from you, having no idea where you were and no way to get to you." It made him sound desperate, he knew. "No way to help you, or protect you... So I decided to do something about it."

He held the necklaces in his gloved palm, the circles resting over one another. "These are portal necklaces. Something new and unique. They are connected to each other. All you do is hold onto the necklace and spin it three times. A portal will immediately open up to wherever the other necklace is. To wherever the other person is..." He searched her face for any sort of reaction. "We'll always be able to find each other. To help each other." And he would never have to lose her again, even if they needed to be parted.

The feeling was a mutual one that went unspoken. Sitting beside him, she stared back and studied his face just as much as he was doing to her. She longed to reach out to him, to climb into his lap as she had done many times before after years of him getting used to her. She wanted to kiss him and hold him close, to do so until she was breathless and left wanting as they usually stopped before any final act of joining would happen. It was her relationship with him, and she had grown to love and understand it.

His eyes dropped from hers and the spell was broken, allowing her own gaze drop to the box as he opened it and presented the two matching necklaces. But her eyes went back to his face as he spoke, as he explained why he had made these for them. It wasn't just a decoration for her to wear around her neck, the one he had made unscarred so many years ago now with his magic. But it was so they could find one another, never be lost to one another. And that was something that made her really sink into the bed beside him as she looked back at the golden snakes that laid on his gloved palm.

Kezia didn't say anything for a long moment, studying the necklace and what it meant. Sylas, even after she left, he had made these in hopes he'd see her again. Even when she had given up hope that she'd ever see the outside of Elderskeep... her hand reached forward and she took one of them, running her thumb over the circle as she brought it closer to her. "You really want to be with me." She said it softly, looking back up at him. It was then that she shifted, moving to her knees on the bed and undoing the clasp of the necklace and leaning forward to secure it around his neck. "And I... Sylas I want to be with you." She said it softly as she secured it in place and then smoothed her hands over the necklace until it laid against his chest.

"We won't be apart like that ever again." She swore to him, settling back on her knees beside him.

Sylas was trying to read her expression, to guess what she might be feeling. At her statement of him really wanting to be with her he began to wonder for the first time if the feelings he had were not quite reciprocated. Did this gesture, this attempt to keep them from parting, just make him look desperate?

But those growing concerns were quickly swept away as she moved up onto her knees and clasped the necklace around his own neck. His hand moved to rest over hers as he rested against his chest on top of his necklace. So she did feel that same. The relief and joy he felt in that filled his body, filled his soul. If one wanted to collect his soul, now would be the optimum time to do so.

As she swore they would never be apart the way they had been when she left he felt his body tremble slightly as if he'd been clasping his muscles tightly for months and could now finally let go. He smiled tenderly, eyes brimming with emotions that he had never been very good at showing. He took the second necklace between his hands and leaned forward to clasp it around her neck. His gloved fingers brushed against the back of her neck and in that instant it wasn't enough.

With the necklace secure he moved his hands to gently clasp her jaw between his hands as he moved in to press a deep and passionate kiss to her lips, desperately trying to express all of his feelings through that connection.

Had anyone else wanted to clasp a necklace around her throat she might have bolted, the idea of such a thing there again... as that collar had once been... she had to shake herself from the thought. Because this was Sylas, and the necklace had been thought about, she could tell by the fact it wasn't going to be tight against her neck but rather hang a little lower. So she could breathe and it could rest at the top of her chest.

She went to say something else, as his fingers moved against her neck, to tell him again that she didn't plan to leave or that she wouldn't without him. Not like she had before. That they'd go together if it was a long period of time or something that could even be slightly dangerous... but his hands took her face and pulled her forward, silencing her with a kiss. A soft sound that was one of approval and relief left her, muffled by his lips against hers. He kissed her in a way that happened only a few times in the past, only when they were alone and usually after they had unwound a little.

Kezia kissed him with a fire that was given fuel, her hands curling into his top and pulling him closer before they slide around his shoulders. He didn't need to say anything, because she understood in that moment that she was it. She was his everything. As he was hers. Which she could only hope was conveyed just the same to him through her movements, from the way she curled against him on their bed and moved closer still. Not quite moving to straddle him, she knew to move slow, but pressing to his side.

Slow. Sylas had always needed it to be slow and Kezia had always graciously gone along with that. Yet for the first time, slow wasn't enough for him. He had thought he had lost her forever and now that he had her back he felt desperate to take advantage of every second, as if each one might be their last. He didn't want to feel that way but he couldn't help it. Not in this moment.

He released her just long enough to rip off both of his gloves and toss them to the floor before his hands were against her again. Where once it had caused him to feel panicked to touch the skin of someone else, in this moment it was only her skin he wanted to feel. He needed to feel the parts of her that were warm and full of life. His hands caressed her jaw and her neck before one moved to her low back and the other moved to her knee where he desperately pulled her skirt higher until his palm gripped against her bare thigh.

A soft hum left his lips as they were pressed to hers and nothing else in the world mattered except for the two of them.

He separated quickly from her and she almost, out of habit, apologized to him. She must’ve read his signals wrong and moved too quickly from the start, a small apology was ready but it was the sudden movements that had her looking in time to see those gloves fly off and hit the ground. Wide, brown eyes went back to him but she was quickly claimed again.

His kiss demanding, his hands pulling at her and the noise that left her was pure feminine delight. Kezia didn’t stop this time, her leg making it over his lap in time for him to get under the skirting she wore and touch her. His hand soft against her thigh made her curl around him closer, hands weaving into his dark hair and pulling him closer. “Sylas,” she breathed his name against his lips, shuddering as she placed soft kisses along his lips and then each corner.

She wanted to keep going, but he’d always driven when and where they stopped…

Her fingers in his hair was as familiar as it was a happy encouragement to continue. He legs around him felt secure rather than confining. Everything was Kezia was just different than it was, or had ever been, with anyone else. For all the things that made him feel uncomfortable or panicked with others had the opposite effect with it was with Kezia. As logical as he was, it was something he still didn't fully understand. Nor, surprisingly, something that he really questioned. Instead he was grateful for it. He hungered for it.

It wasn't as though they hadn't done anything since they had been together but Sylas' fears had always kept them from 'completing the task' so to speak. The breathy sound of his name on her lips drove him wild. "I want you," he whispered to her, his body trembling with an unfulfilled need. "All of you, Kezia." Kezia, his Kezia, back home in their room. Together.

His hand under her skirt moved higher but he lost his confidence as he reached where her thigh met her torso and the trembling was evident in his fingers. It wasn't that he felt uncomfortable touching her, just that he didn't know how. It wasn't a subject he'd ever taken the time to study.

"Show me?" he asked, his voice barely audible. "How do I make you feel good?" He was a bit embarrassed to even ask but his lust for her in the moment took precedence over his embarrassing lack of knowledge on this subject.

They had been here before, over the last five years, they had always toed the line but never crossing it. Leaving Kezia, someone born and raised Dresmondi, scrambling to control herself but pulling it off successfully as she reminded herself each time that he didn’t dare touch anyone else like he did her. Even with his gloves, he didn’t shake hands. He didn’t embrace others who have known him for far longer than he knew her. Even now, she told herself that he was indeed closing in on the spot that ached for him, his bare touch.

But like all times, he faltered, his hand stilling where it was and it was only when he whispered his next words did she understand that this time… he might’ve meant exactly what he said. He wanted all of her. Parting from him, the curly haired Dresmondi looked at him, her breathing still heavy just from their kissing. “Do you remember… when you watched me the one time?” She didn’t detail it out now, knowing he’d know what she meant. When she had laid in this very bed… “It’s like that… but then more… so much more.” Her hands raised to cup his cheeks, thumbs brushing over the sharp peek of his cheek bones.

“Sylas, I can show you, teach you…” she started, “but you don’t have to do anything. You tell me when it’s too much.” Kezia waited, running her eyes down to where his hand disappeared under her skirting and his fingers dug into her hip. One hand fell to cover his. Waiting for his answer…

It wasn't easy to make Sylas blush but as she asked about the time he'd watched her his face and ears certainly warmed into a heated color. How could he forget? He gave the smallest of head nods to confirm the answer to her question as he relieved that day in his mind. His body had certainly wanted to do more than watch but he simply hadn't been able to. He never had been able to get particularly far, always pulling back in the moment when it really counted. He remembered where she had placed her fingers and how she had moved them. More than that he remembered the sounds she made and the way her body moved as she found that moment of release...yes, his face was bright red at the memory.

Like that but more. He wasn't sure what she meant but he had currently lost the ability to speak and so he simply allowed himself to trust her, to go along with whatever she wanted to show him and teach him. He trusted her in a way he never trusted anyone else.

He finally cleared his throat a little as she waited for his response and he nodded to her, his tongue wetting his lips to help him speak. "I know. I promise I'll tell you," he affirmed. "I want to do this with you, Kezia," he added, his voice a shaky whisper but filled with more desire than nerves this time.

The color filling his cheeks told her exactly where his mind had went, and where it seemed to stay for a long moment. Kezia smiled, but bit back the chuckle that wanted to come with it. She remembered watching him as much as he watched her, his hand constantly flexing at his side like it wanted to do something, or maybe it was trying to mimic the motions… but his legs remained stiff and he didn’t move.

But now, his words didn’t sound so hesitant. No, she knew that strain in a man’s voice. And how could she deny him? This was five years of pining and wanting and lusting and loving one another finally… finally coming to a head. The smile she gave him was cheek splitting wide, and she drew his hand over the spot he had hesitated to ever touch of her. Slowly, with a confidence as her hand cupped the back of his hand, she moved her hand to encourage his.

Her lips brushing against his neck and under his ear. Soft murmurs of encouragement leaving her, praising him when he did something on his own or took over. His name a blessing that she spoke as she reached up at one point and started disrobing.

There was so much graciousness and joy in her face that Sylas couldn't help but feel that this was right. Everything that they had been to had finally led them here. Where they went from here...he didn't have enough blood in his brain to think about that at the moment.

She did as he asked and helped him, guided him, his hand moving between her legs. It was one of very few places that'd he'd never had the courage to actually touch and even now she was leading him slowly, starting with a layer of fabric between his hand and her skin. Still, he felt the added warmth there and the way she reacted when he touch certain spots. He was unsure of what those spots were exactly, not being able to see what he was doing but though his hand shook slightly, he remained determined.

His lips and the heat of her breath against his neck and below his ear was more than enough motivation to keep going and it wasn't long before he was trying to make choices and movements on his own, exploring her.

His hand paused as she began to disrobe and the night would truly begin.

[FADE TO BLACK]

[ FADE IN ]

Curled up at his side, Kezia had never felt more at peace or relaxed. There wasn’t a part of her that wasn’t still buzzing with satisfaction, for he had done well. More than well, and she was more than thankful for his curious nature and determination. Soft kisses were placed along his arm and shoulder as she tucked herself closer to him, hair messy and her leg tucked between his as she pulled him closer.

“Was it worth the wait?” She asked, a grin on her face as she looked up at him. Dark eyes dancing with pure delight.