Chapter 9

"It has being a long time hasn't it?" Nirvana said, her voice silky, slipping into Tempest's chambers.

  The Hell-hound King froze in the act of fiddling with his pants buckle, his eyes widened in terror. "What the hell are you doing in my room?" He demanded.

  "Is that anyway to greet an old friend." She pouted, sliding closer to him in a simple bustier and sheer, short robe.

"We were never friends." He said tightly, his eyes moving between her and the hidden spot he kept his removed undershirt.

"That is true." She walked up to his bare chest, she was tall but he was still well over a feet taller than her. "We were more than that." She tacked on, sliding a hand up his body.

   Tempest flinched back like she'd burnt him. "Don't do anything you'll regret Nirvana." He warned darkly, his eyes narrowing.

  "Oh I don't see me regretting this at all." She purred reaching for him again.

He side stepped her. "My wife went to see our son, he'll be back any moment now. You should leave." He said shortly, finally finding the elusive piece of clothing.

  "I see you tossing out labels like I give a damn." She said airily before giving a sly smile and a slow twirl. "Is there anything wrong with me."

   Tempest kept his gaze stoically on her face. "It's not going to work Nirvana." He said coldly.

   "Well I'll never know till I try." She smiled.

"Fuck! You're impossible." He dragged a hand down his face, escaping her fluttering hands again but barely.

  "Dad, mom said..." Azure burst in, halting at the scene before him.

Tempest, shirtless and clutching said shirt like a lifeline, looking terrorized and Nirvana, half naked leaning to grab him.

   "Did I interrupt something?" He asked drily, raising a brow.

"No you didn't." Tempest said firmly, still clutching the piece of clothing, the Queen had her hands on him. "Nirvana was just leaving.

   "Uh huh." Azure nodded with no small amount of obvious disbelief. "Well, mother said to get his black box, the one he keeps all his hair products in." He requested, still staring at the frozen positions of the monarchs.

  "It's in the closet behind you, the one that has the black stripe, not that one, the other one." Tempest directed, begging Nirvana with his eyes to leave. She ignored him.

  "Are you even trying? They all have black stripes." Azure exclaimed impatiently, starting to get pissed at the succinct directions.

   "It's not my fault they're all bloody identical." The King fired back.

  "That's why I asked you, I figured you'd walk over and show me the closet yourself but you're playing statues over there with my future mother in law."

   "Who's playing statues?" Vinyl asked absently, coming in the open door. "What the hell is happening here?" She asked in shock as she viewed their compromising positions.

"Is what I'd like to know." Azure supported, waiting expectantly.

  "Nothing you should concern yourselves with." Queen Nirvana finally spoke up, going to sit comfortably on the broad bed. "Tempest and I are just discussing political matters." She waved dismissively.

"In your underwear?" Vinyl questioned disbelievingly.

  She just shrugged.

Tempest walked over to a closet and picked out the sought after item and handed it to his son. "Will you bring him down to dinner?"

  "I'd better." He tossed over a shoulder walking out. "You'd lose your balls if I didn't."

   "The Council Head was looking for you." Vinyl said shakily, giving them the evil eye. "Next time I'm going to tell him to play hide and seek with you himself." She shuddered, going straight to Mist's chambers.

   "Just what do you want?" Tempest demanded in exasperation, color draining from his face at the thought of everything that was happening to him. "Are you trying to ruin my marriage?"

   It'll hurt the tiny bitch if he lost to a girl won't it?" She mused to herself, ignoring his questions.

Tempest threw his hands up, already fully dressed. "This is exactly why I didn't want to come here."

  "Pipe down." She shushed him. "You'll make people think I'm a bad host."

  He leveled her a look. "I don't know what you're trying to pull off and trust me when I say I don't give a flying fuck but leave me the fuck out of it." He pointed at her. "Considering what happened in the past, one would think you'd have more self pride." He murmured.

  Nirvana's eyes darkened. "Don't you dare bring that up."

"Then get the hell out of my room." He said icily.

"You're in my Kingdom Tempest, you can't afford to get on my bad side." She threatened, sprawling on his bed.

  Tempest raked a hand down his face in frustration, knowing she was more than right. "Women are pieces of work." He muttered, shaking his head, his thick braid waving from side to side.

   "And that's why you decided to hands off them altogether isn't it?" She hummed, striking a seductive pose on his bed.

  "What are you trying to do?" He demanded, glaring at her. "Trying to get me bloody killed? My sexual preference doesn't need your approval. You know what? I'm leaving you, since you've refused to leave me alone."

    "Oh there's no need for that." She sighed, slipping off the bed. "I'll be on my way now, it's almost time for dinner anyway."

   Tempest just stood stiffly, wishing he could pick her up and toss her out the chambers.

She paused at the door and he tensed, expecting the worst.

"You know this isn't over." She leaned against a door post. "It doesn't matter if you know what I want or not. I always get what I want in the end." She smirked, strutting off.

   He sat at the opposite end of the bed from where the indentation of her body was still obvious and placed both hands on his head.

   "You're so screwed." Sol chuckled, leaning against a wall.

He snorted bitterly, not looking up. "Yeah no kidding."

  "Crescent had a feeling this would happen." The Royal Assassin said, looking skyward.

  "No. He was being a jealous paranoid." Tempest bit out.

"You still think so?" He asked with dry humor.

  "No." He repeated, defeatedly.

"You want to know what I think?" Sol asked him.

  "Does my opinion matter? You'll shove it down my throat anyway." He replied monotonously.

"True but that's because you're an oversized bastard with shoe laces for brain cells." He snorted.

  Tempest didn't reply.

"I don't think she wants you here." He started.

The King shot him a look. "What! That doesn't even make sense, then why is she all over me?"

   "Simple, to make you leave earlier than planned." He shrugged. "Crescent is so damned happy here, he might decide to stay for the entire one hundred years of punishment. There's no rule anywhere stating that you can't stay with you son during the time he has to spend."

   "That means she planned to do something to Azure." He mused, starting to look very interested.

Sol shrugged again, a look of utter boredom on his face. "Maybe, maybe not." He muttered apathetically.

  Tempest just fell back on to the bed in absolute frustration. "I remember now why I never ask you what you're thinking."

   "I hope you aren't planning on a nap." Sol shot him a look, floating absently around the room. "It's time for dinner."

   "Don't you think you need a life?" Tempest asked good naturedly with a far away look in his eyes.

"I believe I'll escort you to dinner." Sol continued like he hadn't said anything. "Unless you want to show up looking like road kill you better get dressed." He added, leaning over the King to peer in his face.

  "Fine, fine I will." Tempest agreed, batting his silky black hair from his face. "No need to get romantic."

   Sol stood up and smirked. "I doubt you'd be able to handle it."

"Of course there's no way I could." He agreed quickly, walking into his dressing room. "You're horrible at it."