A Lie

.:2:.

Harrow woke up with Sarai out of their bed and had half a mind to go back to sleep and leave his wife in Atarah's care. She stood sentry behind their doors with the watch every day as part of her responsibilities as the personal guard of Katolis's Lady.

And then he remembered that they had given the mage three days off.

Something that was born when the King of the Dragons died, the fear of losing someone important, stung his heart. Harrow flung the covers aside and left the bed. He slipped on his red and golden robe, stepping out the door after his wife, feeling foolish but hurrying all the same.

As soon as the door opened, he came face-to-face with Atarah, who was dressed in her armored robes a fair distance from where Harrow stood. Behind her was Sarai, peeking owlishly at her husband, who stared back in bemusement.

"See? He rises immediately after you, my lady. Most likely attuned to your warmth and movements, and unconsciously responding to them."

"You just woke up?" he asked, perplexed. Sarai's eyes curved at her guard's words, but there was a blush on her cheeks that gave away her take on the subject.

"I finally woke up before you, figured I could do something else to rub it in," she drawled, her sly face contradicting the still-present flush. Upon noticing the stubbornness of his wife, Harrow smiled fondly.

"Such as?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

The couple began to look at each other intensely and Atarah automatically shuffled back, making the most of her boots' charm to make a silent escape a few meters away as the two embraced each other, sharing the first kiss of the day. There usually weren't many; mostly, the two much preferred to tease the other instead. It was something about their dominant natures finding pleasure in getting their partner to submit first. However, both were equally whipped, and they had a habit of submitting simultaneously, which onlookers found adorable and dubbed as their bond. Atarah was probably the only one to pick apart the reasons for their behavior and find amusement that they never really made the other cave in before they did.

"Great, now you made my guard run away," Sarai mockingly complained when they separated.

"You know as well as I do that she's more likely watching in the shadows," the dark man retorted, adjusting his hold on the bold brunette to walk side-by-side in the halls. Atarah let out a confirming huff. "I thought she would take the day off we offered. We did take away some of her time yesterday."

"You do realize how these changes are affecting her routine, right?" Sarai spared a glance sideways, and her face fell flat at the sight of her husband raising an eyebrow at her. For all that Harrow looked out for his people, he had a habit of missing the small things. Fortunately, he had her.

"Harrow, Atarah has been in service at the 'manor' for five years, and for more than half of that time, she was my guard. The most social downtime she could have gotten is with the staff. But even then, becoming my personal mage guard would have severely limited what little interaction she had with others. With her quiet personality, it's inevitable that Atarah would accept not being social and make her job her life.

"Just yesterday—yesterday, Harrow—we asked her to take on another job that will require substantially more social interaction in a completely new environment away from what has become her home. You shouldn't have expected her to gain a new personality or adapt so quickly."