But now, they had been called to spend some time out in the company of other people, namely their friends. As they left the library, he still had his arm around her waist, though.

Zylvia felt rather content being wrapped in his arms. Even if Kaldrek did not love her, he treated her special, and she loved him. That was enough for her...at least for now.

And besides, even if he did not grow to love her, who else would he love? They had bound themselves in marriage, and she knew Kaldrek would never break that. He was a rather loyal person by nature, after all. No matter what she knew her husband would never betray her. And not just because of the high penalty of breaking the marriage covenant, it was because he was the sort to honor any promises he made in the first place.

Kaldrek removed his hand from her waist as they arrived at the door of the sitting room. Their best friends were actually not in the room when they entered.

She went and sat on the blue chair that she had shared with Kaldrek last time. He joined her almost immediately. A smile erupted on her face as she leaned against her lover, putting her head against his shoulder. He put his arm around her shoulders with an answering smile.

"Well, Zylv..." A gentle squeeze on her shoulders accompanied what he was saying. "What should we do as we wait for then to actually arrive here to join us?"

Her husband had lowered his head to speak directly in her ear. The feel of his breath on her ear made her cheeks redden. His face was so close. Not that they had never been this close before or anything. Even before they had gotten married they had quite often gotten physical comfort through hugs from each other. That had been totally platonic though, and now, well, she knew what her husband was doing was more of a romantic teasing nature.

"Talk, I guess?" Her voice was unsteady though as she tried to answer him and she avoided looking at him. She did not trust herself to not do something to him right now. And their king and queen would be here shortly. Not really the time to be overly affectionate with her husband.

"Oh, about what, dear?" Her husband leaned his head against hers, as his hand rubbed her arm gently.

Her heart gave the flutter it always did whenever he called her that. She had the feeling her husband was enjoying teasing her. "Kaldrek...." She racked her head trying to think of something to say but when she was having difficulty, a question which had been bothering her slipped out, "Do you love me?" It came out in much a whisper, filled with trepidation she could not keep out. She peeled back a little to look at his face.

His eyes had widened at her question as he pulled back and looked down at her. She was not sure what the expression on his face meant, "Zylv, I...."

That was when Jayesh and Fayre actually arrived to join them. As the two were entering she jumped a little away from her husband, somewhat embarra.s.sed at almost being caught leaning into him like that. She placed an innocent smile on her face, hoping they would not notice anything. Kaldrek swallowed whatever he had been going to say, and pulled his gaze away from her face.

"Sorry if we took a while," Jayesh smiled as he entered with his lovely queen on his arm.

"No problem," Zylvia smiled, trying not to think of whatever her husband had been going to say. She did not know whether to be relieved or disappointed that they had arrived right when they had. It depended on what his answer was, she was hoping at least an answer of him getting there, she did not dare to hope for more.

"We have not just spent some time all together in a while," Fayre beamed as she looked around at them.

"Where is Hazel?" Though Zylvia did not expect to see her, she hoped that they were not just ignoring the girl. She was, after all, their guest.

"She wanted some time to herself." Jayesh smiled, "It was a good opportunity for us all to spend some time together, just the four of us like old times."

Fayre snorted in laughter, "More like she was going to go bug her knight for the rest of the day. Poor guy," She did not sound all that sorry for him.

Zylvia smiled with a shake of her curls, "Well, you don't sound particularly sorry for him. Then again the boy could probably use her obvious acceptance of him."

As Fayre laughed, Zylvia noticed that her husband was not saying anything. She was surprised that he had not, as he seemed to find Asrar kinda intriguing. Was Kaldrek okay? She snuck a glance at him. His eyes seemed kinda stormy and he looked to be in deep thought.