Damn, she had to ask, not let it be like Elayn hoped she would. Damn. How was she to know she’d respond to the vampire’s excited plans for a future where they walked together so enthusiastically? But she had, something that as she examined it seemed right, and she didn’t feel inclined to take it back, but. Damn.

Her “mistress”-- how could she do anything but laugh at that? Serana might hold the leash, but it was only because Elayn let her. In this bookish vampire’s presence she’d known peace, when her wolf should have been raging, so of course she would follow her. Of course.

She stopped her pacing for a moment, and turned to the vampire, and found she could not meet those worried golden eyes. Funny, they looked nothing like the cold glint of Harkon’s eyes. They were warm, like amber and firelight.

What to say? Maybe the truth. “I… enjoy your company,” she said, then found the words weren’t enough. She tried again. “It is soothing. To be around you. In a way I have not felt before.”

She glanced at Serana’s face, where she saw understanding dawn. Then surprise. Then… awe? She looked away again. Then the vampire rose.

“May I… touch you?” she asked.

Elayn nodded and then she was there, standing before her, cupping her jaw in a gentle hand that smelled like nightshade and dusty books. The touch sent a thrill through her, one that left her muscles loose in its wake and she sighed, letting her eyes slide shut, letting herself lean into the touch.

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Then Serana’s cool breath washed over her face and she opened her eyes to find golden eyes very close to hers, their lips nearly touching. The distance was a question, and Elayn answered by closing it.

It was a sweet kiss, softened by offered trust and grateful acceptance. Then it was over too soon, and Serana leaned back to give her some space. Elayn sighed roughly, grateful and yet disappointed. She decided to just be grateful and smiled.

“Thank you,” she said, hoping her meaning carried over.

The gentle look on Serana’s face said it had.

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Serana led the way to her mother’s hidden laboratory-- after she asked Elayn to change into her furred form. If they ran across Vingalmo again, she wanted a chance to terrorize the old polecat for trying his luck with Elayn.

But as fortune-- or misfortune-- would have it, Vingalmo was nowhere to be seen, and they ascended the stairs to the lab with no incident. Serana settled herself on a dusty chaise lounge with one of her mother’s journals while Elayn sniffed around the lab. After a while she settled against the lounge by Serana’s arm.

Feeling bold, she held her book with one hand, while she let the other hang down by Elayn’s ruff. When the werewolf made no motion to move, she slipped her hand into the soft fur around her shoulders, and scratched softly.

Elayn made a rumbling noise and sighed, pressing herself up so Serana’s hand was more firmly against the spot between her shoulder blades. A smile slid over her lips as she kept up the petting motion of her hand, and she shifted a little so she could keep doing it, and continued to read.

When dawn came, they went back to Serana’s room, and Elayn turned back. Odd how her clothes came with her, and disappeared when she changed. She chalked it up to one of the oddities of magic and paid it no further mind.

The werewolf made to curl up on the end of the bed when Serana stopped her with a gentle hand on her arm. “Would you like to sleep on the bed properly?” she asked, letting amusement color her tone.

Elayn looked at her, then at the end of the bed, then nodded slowly. She remained standing while Serana readied herself for sleep, then while she slid under the blankets. Only then did Elayn lie on top of the covers, arms at her sides. She seemed too stiff to sleep, and Serana hoped she would relax and rest as she herself drifted off into dreams.