With so many of foreign dignitaries visiting Taengea this time of year, it made perfect sense that his entire family made their way into the city for the accompanying festivities. Yes, even the children. While the two youngest girls were still just shy of their premiere in court, Orion knew they were safe and sound nestled among the Leventi flock. He was convinced that something had to have been in the air for those few years that resulted in so many girls being born across their provinces.

At least he could laud the fact that he could produce a male heir. He had Pallas, who for being near on the age of 15 still resembled a newborn colt, both in length of limb and height. And his clumsiness as well. He was of age to attend court, of course, though Orion had many a sigh from merely watching the lad trip over thin air as he adjusted to his rapid growing feet.

Orion would be spared such sights, as not only was he able to dump his own children amongst the Leventi, but Diogenes, Orphion, Erasmos, and Esdras had also made their way into the capital for various reasons - business and fun. This left the remaining lord blessedly alone in the vast Kassotis estate, which felt even more massive without the constant barrage of noise.

Even the rain had softened the din of the city below, the lights from the gambling houses struggling to break through the downpour. Business would be slow tonight, as the rain had begun well before evening had fallen. Few would set out into this to cast their die and toss their coin, no matter the appeal. Poor dears would have to stay in with their families...

But not Orion.

Relieved of all duties, familial and professional, Orion still took to the task of starting the accounts for the upcoming month. His son and nephews would never wish to miss their allowances and Diogenes reminded him of the upcoming fire festivals at the end of the next month. Orders for food, girls, and for some godsforsaken reason, feathers? Diogenes had a way of seeing what others would enjoy and managed to make it manifest without fail...so long as Orion alloted the gold. It was a system that worked for decades now and would hardly ever stop, even as Orphion managed to balance his father's passionate nature with a more militant sense of determination.

Once the ink dried, the ledgers were put away, and Orion was finally able to set out on the selfish endeavors - a bath, a book, and some peace.

Until the rapid tap of a servants footfalls approached, the hurry in the step already giving him pause, knowing his evening was about to be interrupted.

"My Lord," the servant said, eyes wide as a doe and somehow breathless. As she bowed, Orion took a long sigh, preparing to ask what was on fire, but she continued quickly, "P-Princess Tythra of Colchis is here. In the sitting room. She asked for you by name." The girl looked up at him as if she were in disbelief, and even a touch of skepticism pinched between her brows.

Orion's brows furrowed. Even over the rain, he would have heard a carriage arrive, but beyond that, what was she doing in Argothia? Memories flooded him a moment - how long had it been, even? - but before they could carry him away, he spoke, glancing quickly at the window and piecing together why he had not heard hoofbeats.

"Ready her a change of change of clothes, the ones from the store room," Orion said, the slightest pause in his words as he felt discomfort at offering a once-lover of his the clothes of his late wife. No matter, though. "Pull a bath just in case she prefers and have the cooks prepare something warm, a tea to start and then something more filling. Go."

The young woman began to dash away but Orion stopped her, taking the towel from her hands and ushering her in the other direction to care for the other orders. Moving towards the main sitting area, a slow smile crept along his lips for a moment, but with a breath, he ran his hand through his hair to smooth it and turned the corner.

Thank the gods of his composure, because the sight of her soaked to the bone was the most unprincesslike thing he had ever seen, but her regal stature and posture kept her dignified.

"My Princess," he started, bowing appropriately before crossing to her, "You surprise me. I did not know you would be away from the capital, much less in Argothia. Had I known..." Well, what would he have done? Written? Neither of them had done that over the years. In fact, it was as if they had stepped back in time, just being near one another. Their bodies, though, did not forget, as he felt an umfamiliar tumbling sensation beneath his ribs.

Were these...nerves?

Opening the towel and stepping to drape it over her shoulders, he gestured closer to the hearth, where there were two chairs - yes, still expensive, but now of an age they could be replaced, Orion justified - where they could sit.

"Dare I ask how it came to this?"

Orion's eyes crinkled catlike as his lips pressed into a soft hum at her response, a huff of a laugh serving as a confession that, well, she was right. To an extent. After all, he had purposefully not gone to Vasiliadon, even knowing full well that she was among the foreign presence in the capital. It did not do to seem too eager, even if the princess was an old...friend. Neither had written to one another or kept in touch at all. Rarely on old records would he find her name there, and much as she pointed out, he would pass over it with a soft thought and go about his business.

He ensured the towel was secure around her shoulder by allowing his hands to linger for a moment too long, parting only as they moved to sit.

Just as striking and beautiful as the day they met, Orion felt as if he could see through time. If his eyes lingered long enough in the hearth light, he could see the young woman he met and held close so many years ago. Then, with a blink, he saw the same woman - beautiful still, but even more elegant than before, even in her current state. Something about the way the gown clung to her legs sparked the most desirous of urges in him, yet, ever the gentleman, it did not show.

Nodding at her tale, his eyes flickered out to the downpour then back to her again. No, it would not do to send his own help out in the downpour until it lifted, lest they end up with their own lame horses and doused servants. If they were smart, they would hold fast and wait. These storms did not last long, despite their strength.

"My men will ensure that the carriage is recovered once it lifts, though my own are at your disposal if you prefer on continuing onward." His words stilled a moment, leaving a silent question there, but as he watched the maidservant enter, he added, "Once you are warm and dry, though."

As the tea was delivered and the promise of a bath delivered, Orion nodded to the young woman before the princess' words caught his attention.

As his eyes lifted to the portrait, looking over the now-too-young images of his children and the face of his late wife. An unfamiliar pang of guilt prodded at his stomach, coupled with the fact that it was not guilt for the loss or for sitting next to the Colchian princess now - but acknowledging that the last time their paths crossed, he had been married. That thought and feeling passed quickly, and though he adjusted the way he sat in his chair ever so slightly, there was no intensity to feeling behind his words.

"Cassandra was an excellent mother to our children and they sorely miss her." Eliana and Rhea had shed so many tears in the year since, comforting one another when whatever words Orion offered did not soothe appropriately. Pallas did his best at attempted stoicism but often turned more towards distraction to keep from thinking on it. The siblings had one another, along with their cousins, which was a relief in Orion's eyes. It was clear they felt her loss more distinctly than he did.

Pullin his thoughts away from familial issues and returning them to the woman before him was not a difficult task. The flickering of wants and desires licked like flames at the back of his mind, darkening his eyes slightly as he rose to stand and extended a hand to her, intending to lead her to the baths.

"If you want for anything, anything at all, it is yours." Beneath the courtesy of the offer, there was a thinly masked second meaning. As their proximity to one another drew closer, the heat building there began to compete with that of the hearth they stood near.

Orion felt the briefest moment of concern and uncertainty as the Colchian royal did not look up from her tea, taking a soft, near-silent sip.

A thousand thoughts flickered across his mind as if to explain it. Had things changed so terribly much in all these years? Both had lost spouses, raised children...they were older now. Sure, what they had shared all those years ago, bound together in dim candlelight and soft bedding as time seemed to stop around them, lingered in his mind more than any other tryst. But did she share those same memories?

Ultimately, even as those doubts skittered across the recesses of his mind, he knew that it would not show. After all, every word he said could be taken with the simplicity of cordiality. His words had been offered and carefully placed in such a way that it could spare both of them embarrassment. An easy exit, if they so wished.

And that was nearly what he thought would take place as Tythra rose from her chair, setting the tea aside. Then, everything shifted, and a slow smile crept across his face as their eyes met, like a flame set to a pool of oil.

There it was, that light in her eyes. Time seemed to morph around them once again, taking them back years and stopping it from passing at all. As she passed through the doorway towards the baths, Orion took a look around. Everyone in their household was open and transparent about the physical, carnal pleasures of life. It was what Argothia and synonymously the Kassotis were known for. Yet, here and now, with no witnesses besides the house staff, the spark of desire turned into a roaring flame within him.

In the time it took for her to be led to the opulent, stone baths, Orion followed his orders, obtaining one of the more decadent bottles of wine and two chalices, and making his own way to the baths. A hand smoothed his hair and ran across the folds of his chiton before he pressed open the door, stepping into the heated, steamed room and closing it. The clasp make a soft snapping sound that echoed off the stone.

Setting the glasses and bottle aside on a table, he slowly crossed to her.

"If I may..."

He stepped behind her slowly, his hands moving to the soaked sash about her waist and making quick work of the knot there, allowing it to fall to the floor. His eyes remained on the task at hand, purposefully slow and methodical as he helped her from her soaked clothes.

The scent of her perfume lingered in the warm air, different from the more familiar smell of bathing oils and salts. It was irresistible, and as his fingertips slowly traced along her upper arm to unclasp the fibulae at her shoulder, he turned in head to breathe it in, his nose tracing featherlight along the curve of her ear.

As he exhaled, the clatter of her fibulae on the stone beneath their feet echoed through the room, and he his hand traced along her shoulder a moment before he helped her step from her dress and toward the pool of water.

He drank in the sight of her, her frame just as lithe as it had been those years ago, but now with the seductive addition of roundness to her hips. He wanted to sink his fingertips into the supple skin there, but...patience...

"I'll pour the wine," he said, once she stepped into the water, offering the flash of smile. As he moved to where he set the wine, he made steady work of releasing himself from his own attire, allowing it to puddle onto the floor just the same. With the wine poured, he crossed the room and stepped in to share the pool of water with her, releasing a pleasured sigh as the warm water wrapped around his skin.

A thousand inconvenient thoughts flickered through his mind, like reaves of paper caught by a wind - present, but not close enough to be read. As the potent blend of desire, determination, and memory took command of his body, guiding him down the hall, his mind did its best to collect those fluttering thoughts and store them away, out of mind.

Now was not the time for thoughts of his late wife to come to the surface, but the thoughts of what was to come could not help but touch similar memories at a tangent. They satisfied one another enough to find contentment and companionship. It could not be helped after a certain amount of time, but even deep within their marriage, things were casual, comfortable, and complacent. Though they lived in the same house, there were spells when they seemed to exist entirely outside of one another, leaving their marriage bed neither warm with passion or cold with apathy, but...comfortable.

It never stirred him in the way that merely the sight of Tythra's bare shoulder did just now...

Perhaps it was the memories that sweetened that desire, and had he been even a few years younger, he would have given in to his urges as she craned her neck. But time had given him patience and experience that he had lacked before, and he even felt the smallest sense of satisfaction that only a combination of resistance and anticipation could provide.

Orion smiled, eyes slightly heavy as he surrendered to the warmth of the water around them. Beneath the light ripples of water, distorted by the oils across the surface, he could see the shape of her, hidden just below her shoulders as she swirled the wine and commented on it.

"Yes, indeed. It was an offer of peace from the Condos to the Leventi following a border dispute, given as a gift some years ago." More than some years ago, actually. It had been given to his father before his own birth, shortly after Orson obtained the barony from the Leventi for his involvement and support in that conflict. It was a valuable vintage, and rare. Only a few from that same stock remained within the estate, but...there was no need to go into all of that.

Nothing was less sexy than a history lesson.

"I hope it is to your taste," he said, shortly before lifting the glass to his own lips, savoring the layers of flavor that had developed and deepened with age. Few things aged as well as this...and fortunately there were three examples of such in the room - himself, the wine, and Tythra.

Anticipation surged through him, concealed of course, as she drifted closer to him. As if it were a dance, their arms moved in harmony - hers finding their way around his neck, and his to the curve of her hips at the waist, slipping over her skin lightly.

He nearly protested at her offering out of courtesy, but was quickly silenced by a soft, long hum at her touch. His eyes closed a moment, opening slowly to meet hers. The spark in his eyes matched the curve of her lips.

"You're too kind," he purred, all while he drew her closer to him, their chests flush, the warmth of the water paling in comparison to the heat that built between them.

Then, he let his hands wander, exploring nearly every curve of her, while teasingly brushing just barely by every place the feral, young man he once was would have sought first. The purposeful hesitance heightened his lust with every passing moment.

Their faces were tantalizingly close, their noses brushing once or twice, lips parted as if begging to be kissed, inching closer...

"I remember..." he asked, his voice low and husky, "...your gown." His eyes flicked up to hers, a devilish smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "I had never seen blue so deep before...you drew me like a moth to a flame..."

And his thumb purposefully grazed the curve of her breast as a laugh escaped him...

"And so many damn knots...all for the sake of fashion..."

It had frustrated him beyond words in the heat of that moment, trying to reveal what was hidden beneath her gown that day. His hand drew up her ribcage, between the valley of her chest until his hand mirrored the way her hand own cradled his neck, burying his fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck. His eyes lingered on hers a moment leaning in as he murmured...

"You were unforgettable...."

Before capturing her lips with his own.