All good things...

Several hours from noon on the ninth day of his vacation from R'sath, Ahsch paused in his studying, looking up with a frown as shouting reached his ears from beyond his office. Shouting which was getting closer. Mahat, do you know...? he started to ask.

I just heard it, the familiar said with a telling weariness in her voice. Kirasiel's apparently decided to come calling.

"Fuck," the swear left his lips moments before the door to his study were thrown open, and the bitch appeared, followed by a somewhat frantic pair of sentinels.

"My Lord Prophet," Ahsch tried not to sigh at the far-too-late-to-get-rid-of title that one of the sentinels used, "apologies, but she wouldn't..."

The hrafthi held up one hand, the other going through his raven locks and fidgeting with a particular feather. "It's fine," he interrupted. "I doubt there's much you could have done to stop her at all. You may go." Mahat, Ariin, be on-hand, if you please.

He got a pair of affirmations as he watched the two sentinels bow out and close the door, then turned his attention to his most unwelcome guest. "You couldn't wait two more days?" he asked, voice dry.

Kirasiel lifted her chin as she swept a lock of her golden hair over he shoulder. "Undo it."

Ahsch raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

She snarled. "You'll be begging for my pardon if you don't undo your fucking commands," she nearly shouted.

He **** his face into passive neutrality even as he swallowed, an amused thought that the high royal's ire was much preferable to face than the situation with Elui only a few days before. Clasping his hands and leaning forward, he gave a simple answer. "No."

The study was deadly silent. "No?" Kirasiel's voice was difficult to parse. Surprised for sure.

The hrafthi nodded. "No," he repeated. "I believe I implied enough for you to understand before I departed R'sath, but it's come to a point where I cannot simply allow you to do as you will and have your actions reflect on me."

She scoffed, her blue eyes flashing with annoyance. And, Heart Sight told him, a touch of arousal. "My acts as Head of House Celes do not reflect upon you, the husband of the 'Lord' of House Odestag. Not unless you claim allegiance publicly."

Ahsch rolled his own eyes. "I wasn't referring to the visuals of your actions and my non-existent involvement in them," he replied. "I'm referring to the fact that we are bonded, and that bond has consequences; specifically, your actions, being those of my Thrall, reflect on me as your Master. Unfortunate, I would say, but at the moment, unavoidable."

Kirasiel stared him down. "Are you saying," she began slowly, "that you are reneging on your promise to avoid involvement with me and seek a means to remove that bond?"

He met her gaze evenly. "I'm saying several things, actually; and since you're being so damned obstinate and also came here alone, I'll spell it out explicitly for you." He took a deep breath. He'd hoped for more time before taking this step, but she **** his hand. "I find the support of Byrdrek Fel'len to be concerning, given how close he seemed to be with your late family, and his position as your - apparently sole - advisor. I further suspect him of being involved with Fauna Odestag, who I believe is directly responsible for her own son's **** as she tried to poison her daughter. Therefore, I find your questionable actions as Head of House Celes - engaging in activities and supporting proposals quite counter to what your late family would have - to be highly influenced by those two, who I fear have dark designs upon the Kingdom, and almost certainly upon my wife. As such, I, both as your Master and as Enochiel, command you to use that intellect you keep buried under your fucking pettiness to reevaluate your actions as the Head of House Celes, and to distances yourself from Byrdrek Fel'len and Fauna Odestag. I further command you to reveal all that you know of their likely conspiracy so that we can take action to stop them. And I finally command you to..." he stopped, glancing down as he frowned at himself. The next command... the last time he'd ordered her around with sexual connotations, it hadn't gone well...

You can if you want to, Mahat tempted him. She's obviously turned on by the power you have over her. Would it hurt to order her to...

Yes. At the very least, it would hurt my integrity. He took a deep breath, and met Kirasiel's shocked gaze again. "Just those three," he said. "My commands to you, as your Master and as Enochiel, God of Bonds, Sex, Dominance, and Bodies, are as follows: firstly, to use you intellect, which I know you have buried under all that pettiness you'd prefer to use, to reevaluate your actions as the Head of House Celes; secondly, to distance yourself from Byrdrek Fel'len and Fauna Odestag, who I strongly suspect are not your allies in truth, but are using you; and finally, to reveal all that you know about their plans to me so that we can take action to stop what I believe is a conspiracy that at the very least means to kill my wife, and at the worst might be aimed to destabilize the Kingdom, potentially even as a coup."

There was a flaring in Ahsch's bond to his domain of Dominance, and a sort of layering through Dominant's Tithe as his commands to his Thrall locked in. "I trust that I don't need to give you the full of the implied commands to keep the secrets you know about me, or to not betray me?" Again, he felt the commands lock into place.

Kirasiel snarled at him and she took a stomp forward, leaning down over his desk with her hands planted wide, her golden hair swinging forward to frame her face wildly. "You know they don't **** me to obey!"

He met her gaze. "No. But I also know what happened after just a couple days of resisting my commands back at Sarvas."

The fight in her eyes dimmed slightly. "You dare?"

"I wasn't lying when I told you a powerful being had warned me that your actions would affect me. As your Master, you are my responsibility, and by letting you take actions that are a bane to yourself and others - without just cause - I am allowing my Fate to be linked to the doom you heap upon yourself. I will not - I cannot - stand for that. If I must bring you to heel this way, then I will." He glared at her for a moment longer. "In case I hadn't made it clear last we spoke, any unspent permission slips you have are no longer valid. If you fucking behave yourself, I'll be nice; hells, I'll probably let you cum whenever you want if you just work with me. But if you insist on fighting me every godsdamned step of the way, then you will probably end up waiting a long time before your next orgasm." Unlike before, the command didn't lock in, but rather solidified what had already existed before.

There was another flash of emotion in her eyes, and this time, he didn't dare confirm his suspicions - his fears - with Heart Sight. "If there is nothing else," he prompted, turning back towards his study materials.

Kirasiel snorted. "What, not going to insist I spill all my dirty secrets to you?"

"That depends entirely on you," he pointed out, not looking up. "As you said, I can't **** you to obey right now. But I can be patient. And I don't think you so foolish as to act more rashly than you already have."

Slowly, the royal cunt stood, staring down at him. Minutes passed, and Ahsch **** himself to ignore her, to continue his work.

Eventually she left, and he finally relaxed after the door slammed shut behind her. A few moments later, Mahat and Ariin came in, and Ahsch saw Naemui and Elui peering in through the open door, and suspected that Dorin and the others linked into Daydreamweave were being kept up-to-date by one or the other of his girls.

"Are you alright?" his sister asked.

Ahsch glanced at his hand, which was trembling. "I hope I didn't just fuck things up."

The second disruption came a few hours prior to dinner, though it came in a - ironically - must quieter manner. Namely, an unassuming woman simply letting herself into the library where Ahsch was teaching his sister the various medical spells he intended for Enochiel's priests to learn and use. The two hrafthi glanced up, twin, mirror-like pupils flashing with surprise. "Hello?" Ahsch greeted the woman. She was wearing a plain gray robe, same as they had on-hand for anyone who needed one. But he didn't recognize her; not that that meant much, given the over 100 people now living in the Temple, though to be fair, he didn't think anyone would send someone he was completely unfamiliar with to fetch him for anything.

A familiar, purring giggle put him on edge though. "All that training and you still fail to recognize me through the bond we share," the woman's predatory voice chided. "I'm almost hurt. Though I suppose I'm gratified that this paltry disguise fools even a 'god.'"

At her prompting, Ahsch did check his bonds, and found that he shared one with this woman. Or rather, this dragon. "Phashim," he growled.

With a smirk, the illusion dissipated from her, revealing the Mystical Calamity in all her nearly-nude, green-scaled glory. "Mother and I are... well, not impressed, but far more satisfied than the last time we spoke, 'godling,'" she said.

"I suppose I should be impressed by that," Ahsch replied dryly.

Phashim hummed in mild amusement, her gaze sweeping up and down his body, practically devouring him with her eyes. "Divinity... almost suits you," she said, before focusing her gaze on his. "But talk isn't what brought me here today."

"Then it's another test," Ariin said, and Ahsch sighed.

"Indeed. Name a location and be there tomorrow, at noon."

Ahsch only had to think for a moment. "The valley this forest stretches to," he said. It was far enough away he doubted anyone would find them, but not so far as to make him travel there and back all day.