With Devotion's Visage and Pious Action, We Do Sugar O'er the Devil Himself

The following weeks Althea was like a pet with its tail between its legs. She was lovingly devoted to Durai in his return and did everything she could to prove her humble affection to him and that she did deeply care for his feelings. And with each loving demonstration she received half-hearted returns. He would smile with her from a place of superiority and a distance she felt very keenly.

It slowly started to drain her spirit. Even Baldrik and Mireya noticed that she had lost some of her natural glow. Her heart was only half in her work with Baldrik. He didn't complain, in fact he was feeling very well as the spring started to approach, but he was increasingly concerned for his Althea who he treasured very much. Mireya sometimes would brush Althea's hair in a deafening silence not saying a word and realized that what concerned her the most was that Althea didn't even notice that they were not talking. She just sat looking forward in a place far away.

One night Althea forgot to go to the dining hall for dinner. She had just sat near her greenhouse looking at the setting sun and not fully feeling the cold. Her hands had turned slightly purple as the sun set, and still she sat on watching the sun disappear.

"I brought you some dinner."

Althea hardly registered Durai's voice behind her. He walked in front of her and saw her pale face and discolored fingers. He quickly grasped her hands in his to warm them up. "What are you doing out here? Do you want to fall ill?" She looked up at him and his questions, but she couldn't really see him. He picked her up and quickly brought her inside to the bed. He covered her with thick blankets and rubbed warmth into her.

Once she had regained some color back in her face, he decided to try and reach her from the far place she hid herself, "Listen, Althea. We both know that you are sorry for what you did, but getting yourself sick will not prove anything." Althea barely felt the warmth of a tear run down her face. "I forgive you, Althea, if it will stop you from doing this to yourself. No matter how hurt I am, seeing you do this hurts me even more."

As Durai finally stated forgiveness even after all this time, Althea started to come around. She wanted so much to feel his embrace and his loving kiss again, though even at these words she dare not assume the first move to him. She simply looked at him with understanding and obedience. "I'm so sorry. I won't break my word ever again."

"I know you won't."

That night they embraced each other and kissed as they once had. He held her with the devotion and ardent passion as he had before, and she succumbed to his possession with such grateful pleasure that she felt tears of relief spring from her eyes after their lovemaking. As he rolled onto his back at the conclusion of their passionate reconciliation, she lay on her side and clutched at him needing him terribly. She passed out despite her desperate struggle to stay awake; she was physically and emotionally exhausted.

As her breathing slowed and Durai knew that she was asleep against him, he shifted to face her and watch her sleeping face. "Mine," he whispered. "You will always be mine, my lovely dove."

....

The light of the sun the next morning woke Althea slowly from her deep sleep. As the fog of dreams lifted from her, she remembered the night before. She turned frantically half expecting to find herself alone in her bed. Her heart was elated to see that Durai had remained with her throughout the night.

"I'm so glad you're still here," she admitted.

"I felt that you earned a good night sleep." She was relieved at his kindness and brought her bare chest to lay with his. He slowly caressed her back as she embraced him and savored her smooth, naked skin. His desire for her increased with ever inch he felt of her until they both could see the evidence of his lustful intent. Althea smiled at this thankful that she could still elicit this kind of emotion from him despite all she had done him. Perhaps he truly had forgiven her.

They lovingly fondled each other long into the morning forgetting about breakfast until a knock at the door roused them from their fervor. "My lady?" a lady's voice from behind the door beckoned.

Althea looked at Durai who teasingly kissed down her neck as she tried to respond. "I am not decent," she replied trying not to give herself away. "I'm dressing. What is it?"

Muffled giggling came from behind the door. Obviously Durai and Althea were fooling no one. "My lady, My Lord Baldrik inquires about you. He is ready for his daily regiment with you."

"I'll be there as fast as I can!" Althea called back to dismiss the girls at the door who will no doubt be rushing to gossip to the rest of the castle.

Althea kissed Durai and moved to get dressed and start on with her responsibilities. "Where are you going?" Durai asked with his expression instantly changed.

Althea looked back at him and was confused. "I'm getting dressed?" she more asked than exclaimed. "It's time for my work with Baldrik."

His darkened expression stopped her from going any further. "So he calls, and you would leave me just like that? He says jump…"

"No?" she answered still confused and a new type of scared that came without her realizing it had arrived. "It's not like that. He needs my help…"

"What about I need you?" he asked as he rolled onto his back and exposed more of his bare chest reminding her very much of what she was walking away from. "We were busy, and I was needing you. I AM needing you. Doesn't that matter?"

Althea discarded her robe she hadn't had a chance to slip into and went to his side as though he were a wounded animal. "Of course that matters. You matter a great deal to me. I love you."

"Then I think you should start acting like it." Althea searched his face for signs of a joke or deception and found only seriousness as hard as stone. "I am the man you love. You may go when I am finished. Don' you owe me at least that?"

Althea felt aggrieved from his biting words and the look in his eyes. How could she just leave him like this after she had just started to gain his trust? She did love him, and she decided she should stop simply saying he words. The man she loved deserved to feel that devotion completely and without doubt. And he was doubting her love, and that was a fault on her. It was up to her to change it. Besides, Baldrik had been doing so well for about a month; it wouldn't hurt him to wait.

She slipped into bed beside him. "That's right, Dove. Don't fly away from me." His hungry arms held her tightly and possessively.