> I looked into his eyes, and in them I saw destruction. At the time I couldn’t tell for whom, be it my family or our enemies, and truthfully a part of me didn’t care. I was taken in by his charisma, his presence, and the force of his existence. For the first time in my life, I felt vulnerable—and in that vulnerability, I felt safe in a way nobody had achieved before him. It is impossible to explain, perhaps, but it is the truth. Now the red-gold of that sunset is the same hue as the power that burns the worlds of the Humanosphere, and truthfully, I cannot say I regret a thing.

The restaurant Circe had brought them to was named the Lion’s Pride, and Arthur couldn’t help but chuckle at the name when they walked under the proudly hanging sign.

“The name?” Circe guessed from beside him.

“Guilty.” he said with a wry smile.

She laughed in kind and together they entered the premises.

The Lion’s Pride was an open-plan restaurant built from three storeys of treated wood of various origins, and lit by standing braziers and hanging lanterns that were even then coming to life in the wake of the gradually approaching sunset. Its bottom level was designed evidently as a dance floor and bar, though the former was presently unoccupied.

“It stays basically full during the night hours.” Circe said while they passed the lightly armored security at one of the many open areas of the bottom floor, and made their way toward the stairs to the upper levels.

“I take it we’ll hear some bass-heavy music soon?” Arthur enquired while following her, hands in his pockets casually and eyes instinctively sweeping for threats.

“Of a sort, yeah.” Circe said while taking the steps one at a time in a way that threatened to break his focus entirely.

He instead focused on the interior of the restaurant, and reminded himself that Circe—like him, in fact—had been designed to draw eyes. Her height, her curves, her natural grace, her power, her stunningly symmetrical features; all of it was intended to engender a desire in others.

Add in a prodigiously dense helping of psions and a lifetime of training to accentuate every one of her most attractive features while simultaneously commanding every room she entered, and Arthur was able to take some solace in his self-diagnosed weakness.

It wasn’t an excuse not to control himself, of course, but it helped him rationalize his reactions to her, and the way she had been making him feel. Arthur was not a man prone to being unable to control himself, he knew that, and so the experience of flustered attraction resulting from his exposure to Circe was even more disconcerting because of it.

He had to master himself.

Arthur, those thoughts in mind, followed her up the stairs while very determinedly not looking at her lower body while she ascended above him.

Several moments later they passed through the family-oriented setting of the middle floor’s large tables, and reached the third level’s more formal and intimate dinner seating.

He looked up from his extremely focused stare at the smoothly polished wood of the stairwell’s banister to see Circe looking back at him with an approving smile, and what he almost thought might have been a glimmer of disappointment at the same time.

Before he could do more than frown in confusion, she was walking away, and Arthur was left feeling conflicted by the heiress’ strange expression.

The uncertain idea that perhaps Circe had been testing his decency filled his mind.

He dismissed the thought as vanity and paranoia, and followed after her.

“Your highness!” a warm woman’s voice greeted them upon emerging onto the top level. “Welcome back to the Lion’s Pride!”

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Arthur’s eyes searched for and located the voice’s source when he stepped up behind Circe.

The speaker was a redhead of average height, with a light smattering of freckles on her cheeks, full lips painted a light shade of pink, and an elegant white chiton cinched above her hips and extending down just past her thighs. She’d combined the traditional garb with a pair of shin-high sandals with golden straps, and nothing else visible above her knees.

Though from Arthur’s experience, it was very likely she was wearing some manner of shorts or sportswear undergarments to preserve her dignity.

Hopefully.

“Hello, Nika.” Circe greeted the redhead with a fond look. “I’m glad to see you’re doing well.”

“Business is booming, my lady, and it only booms more when a member of the Leos clan patronizes our establishment. The fact it’s the Lion Princess herself, this time, is worth more than your impressive weight in gold!”

Arthur’s eyebrows rose in surprise at the words, but Circe seemed to take the inference about her weight as a compliment, and even placed her hands on her hips to show off the musculature of her arms—somehow managing to combine feminine elegance and a warrior’s sculpting all at once.

Several other faces among the dining guests turned their way, and then promptly faltered and looked away upon what Arthur assumed was the recognized presence of two Kidemónes.

“You’re flattering me, Nika. You know how I feel about flattery.” Circe said without ire, and seemingly without noticing the looks from the other patrons. She seemed in her element when in public, and her easy comfort despite the crowded room only affirmed Arthur’s respect for her comportment and sheer presence.

“Only when you’re in a good mood?” Nika asked slyly, and slipped forward to take one of Circe’s arms in one of her far daintier ones. “Though, your highness, I have to know—” she glanced back at Arthur with appreciative appraisal and then turned back to Circe “—whether or not it’s true that the hunk of out-sector meat behind you is really the new Leos Hetairoi.”

Endymion and Perseus shifted at Arthur’s sides when Nika spoke, and he glanced at both Kidemónes in question.

It was Perseus who spoke, quietly, through his helmet while Circe laughed at Nika and leaned in to speak quietly to the buxom redhead.

“It’s up to lady Leos what she says, but it’ll complicate matters if she admits to it. We’re just assessing exits in the worst case scenario.”

“The worst case scenario?” Arthur asked warily.

“Assassination attempt.” Perseus replied simply, before stepping away to perform what Arthur interpreted as a security sweep, following a muted click of communication from Endymion.

“Come on, your highness!” Nika said in a voice that pulled back Arthur’s attention, and drew him to follow in the two ladies’ wake. “You know I can keep a secret.”

“No you cannot, Nika.” Circe laughed fondly. “But you know we adore you anyway. I can’t say what Arthur is, anyway, because that hasn’t been decided yet.”

Nika’s blue eyes snuck another glance at Arthur, and she grinned.

“Ohoho. Arthur is it, my lady? Not Kyrio?”

Circe flushed at Nika’s words, and very lightly smacked the much shorter woman’s arm. “Nika, stop, you’re embarrassing me.”

The redhead giggled and actually wiggled in excitement when she replied. “I think your red cheeks are doing that themselves, your highness, but I shan’t add more fuel to that particular fire. The rumor mills are already raging all over the ‘Net.”

“Artemis helps me,” Circe said with a groan, “I can only imagine.”

“Everything from the bastard son of Leonidas XIV to a Fringe noble, and even speculation he’s a True Core Lord in exile, if you can believe it!’

Arthur’s heartrate spiked at Nika’s words, and he narrowed his eyes slightly on the redhead. Had that simply been a rumor, or was she dropping hints he needed to be wary of? Preparation and paranoia warred with forced relaxation and rational restraint, and Arthur re-assessed exits himself just in case. If he and Circe did need a quick exit, he wanted one at hand.

“I’ll have the kitchen prepare your usual fare, and I’ll throw in our best bottle of retsina.” Nika said while she and Circe came to a halt near what appeared to be a sectioned off section of their level, and apparently led to a balcony marked by two black drapes bearing the crimson lion of House Leos.. “I’ll also make sure nobody disturbs your date.”

“Nika!” Circe said with a very visible look of mortification. “It is not a date!”

“Sure it isn’t, my lady. Just like I’m not a gossip, right?”

Nika winked at Circe, stood on her toes to plant a light kiss on the woman’s cheek—which Circe returned automatically—and then stepped away with a respectful curtsy and flounced past Arthur, to whom she gave a decidedly and shockingly cold look.

“If you let anything happen to her or hurt her in any way,” Nika said softly when she passed, “all of Pallikári will ensure you live just long enough to regret it, Fringer.”

Arthur’s eyebrows rose into his hairline at her shocking change of demeanor, but the woman was already smiling and laughing with one of the other guests before he could do more than watch her go.

“Arthur?” Circe called out to him warmly, and stole back his attention. “Are you coming?”

Arthur blinked back to his senses and turned to look at Circe, at which point he smiled and nodded, and hurried to catch up to her.

The Kidemónes arrived at the same time as he did.