Imriel turned his head cautiously to look behind him before shifting to lie on his other side, making sure not to jostle the sleeping form next to him. He looked down at Sidonie, mostly seeing only a riot of blond hair piled unceremoniously on top of her head, a change from her day-to-day look of groomed perfection. He quickly looked for what had woken him up, and realized the temperature had dropped tremendously after the sun had dipped below the horizon, and he was freezing, mostly because he hadn't bothered to put on nightclothes after an energetic evening with Sidonie. Easing out from under the covers and untangling himself from Sidonie's warm embrace, he stumbled over to the wide open window and shut it quickly, missing the warmth of the blankets and her warm body. Too late he realized the window created an awful screech when opened and closed, and as he turned towards the bed he saw Sidonie already starting to wake up under the covers. Out of reflex she flipped over and reached under the end table, where Imriel knew a dagger was hidden. She looked at him, confused for a moment before recognizing him and collapsing back on the pillows, pulling the covers completely over herself, leaving only her face visible.

"Imriel," She whispered out, voice hoarse from sleep, "Why are you up? Did the b….?"

"Shhhh," he muttered. "I'm just closing the window."

"Ah. For a second I thought you were sneaking back in from a liaison with another woman," she quietly joked. Imriel could barely keep himself from laughing out loud, but somehow he managed to. Glancing at the ropes still tied to the headboard he said, "I think I might die of exhaustion if I were having an affair with another woman; you're not easy to keep up with you know."

This time it was Sidonie chuckling, and she also struggled to stay quiet. As Imriel crawled back into bed, she twined herself around him. "You know you love me for it. Especially when I do things like this."She looked at him with a smoldering gaze, her hands slowly caressing their way down his chest, resting for a second on the inner sides of his hips before following the same path back up his chest.

"Sidonie," he forced out of his throat before moaning under her touch, flashes of their earlier passions flashing through his head.

"What, Imriel?" She said in an 'innocent' voice, propping herself up above him. "Is there something you want?"

"You know exactly what I want," He whispered, feeling surprisingly impatient.

She slowly leaned in to kiss him as she slowly shifted her body so she was laying on top of him, making sure to brush up against his phallus as she executed the move. Imriel gripped her hips hard, exhaustion tearing the remaining shreds of his patience to bits. He was ready to go rough and fast, and Sidonie knew this, purposefully torturing him by dragging out his pleasure at an agonizingly slow pace, causing Imriel to growl in frustration.

"Is there something you want, dear?" Sidonie repeated her question, teasing her husband without mercy. Imriel had had enough.

"Actually yes, there is," He responded in kind. "You." With that he flipped her onto her back, causing her to let out a shriek of surprise, and he pinned her down, kissing her with a furious passion. Imriel was planning all the ways he could make his wife shout his name when the guards came rushing through the door upon hearing the queen yell in the middle of the night. By the time they realized Sidonie was in no mortal danger, it was too late, and the shrieks of an awakened baby were filling the room. Imriel and Sidonie shared a glance.

"Before dawn she's your child," Sidonie said half jokingly. Imriel sighed (who knew parenthood involved such a loss of sleep?) and got out of bed once more, this time pausing to find his pants.

"Your Majesties, we're so sorry, we didn't mean to wake the baby, we thought…."The guards went on and on, stating profuse apologies, until Imriel heard Sidonie cut them off, thanking them for their awareness on the job, and how she couldn't have a better line-up of men to guard her life. Imriel smiled to himself as he walked into the nursery; his wife was always the diplomat.

"Shhhh, little one," he crooned, leaning over Adeline's crib. Her tuft of golden hair had been mussed in sleep and was sticking out at strange angles, while her pale eyelids were squashed shut over eyes as blue as the sea. Her little fist flew about her head in a fit of fury as Imriel scooped his daughter out of her crib, supporting her head with an ease born of practice. He rocked the tiny princess as he crooned softly to her, and her fury at being awoken slowly abated. He heard the guard stumble out of the bedchamber at about the same time the nursery door opened and Sidonie crossed over the floor quickly, wrapping her arms around his waist and greeting her daughter with a smile.

"I should probably feed her before we go back to bed," Sidonie stated, her voice at a more audible level now that their little girl was already awake.

"Probably," he responded, but he was unwilling to relinquish the small bundle that had brought him so much joy. And so they stood there, just enjoying each other's presence, and as he felt his heart swell to the point of bursting with love, Imriel knew there was no place he would rather be.

A/N: I haven't readNaamah's Kissyet, so I am at a loss as to the names/looks of the royal heirs, so I invented my own. I figured it was easier than trying to find the names of the heir and potentially finding/reading spoilers for the book.