You're going to pay for that later...

"You ASS!"

You peer over the missive you'd been pretending to read as your wife storms into your quarters, "Hello my sweeting, what has you so-"

You're cut off as Marissa grabs you by the front of your tunic and lifts you from your reclining position, entirely off the ground in fact, "I was THIS CLOSE! I HAD him! He'll barely even speak to me now!"

"Really? I didn't think he held my opinion in such high regard." Your voice sounds strangled.

"He doesn't, you arrogant hedge-born! He's scared! AGH! Three weeks of work GONE!" She bodily hurls you at the bed, landing in a great puff of feathers. You lie there for a moment, assessing whether you were suffering anything more than the pains of age before gingerly propping yourself up.

"Well, you had a full three weeks of uninterrupted time to break him down. I've barely had a moment to Anna between court and my other duties." Not entirely correct but negotiations were rarely truthful.

Marissa is on you as you try to rise, still breathing heavily out of repressed rage, but a glimmer of humor enters her eyes, "Oh? So it's to be a competition my king?"

"Hedge-born to king from one sentence to the next, I can tell you approve. But no-" You manage to flip her around onto the bed, with enough resistance to show that it's only because she let you, "Even barring my duties, I have the harder target. Anna is a sweet and chaste young woman. Donmal is... a man."

Marissa's legs wrap around your waist, arms easily disengaging from your grasp, "Don't be so dismissive of her lust my king. And Donmal is no pushover. If I were a human mother I'd be proud of his..." her lip curled, "moral fiber." She chuckles darkly, "I suppose I'm not SO disappointed to enjoy a little more delayed gratification..." claw-like nails rasp down your back threateningly, drawing faint lines on your skin but totally shredding your tunic, "But I swear, Bryce, if you get in my way again I'll tear you apart."

Feeling incorrigible, and a little suicidal, you lean down to whisper in her ear, "You love it."

She growls like a creature five times her size but doesn't stop you from nuzzling her neck.

It's several days before you even see your wife again and you're getting a little worried, more for your own safety than hers. Much to your alarm, when she does materialize she's standing over you in the early morning, smiling down at your prone form.

"I swear I didn't do anything."

She giggles, sliding down gracefully to sit beside you, "Good reflex but no, I have a surprise for you. A good one."

You narrow your eyes but they go wide as saucers when she beckons another figure from the shadows.