He had let the time between visits to Deathbelle stretch on too long. His beautiful children, and the constructions going on within his pack were a distraction. He missed his old friend, and childhood flame of his heart. The Ashen Phoenix would be a sight for sore eyes, and once he considered it he did not linger. He took himself to the borders between their territories, watching the water that separated them with a twist of his muzzle. Here was the largest part of why he let so much time pass between them… reasons of kids and packs aside.

He swallowed his mistrust of the ocean, and stepped reluctantly towards it. Fighting for the calm Zee always managed to bestow upon him as he walked the shallow land bridge between each territory, knowing the drop on either side would sink him. Dense fool that he was.

He stepped off on the first of Deathbelles archipelago of islands, and raised his head, calling to work out where he might find her.

She planned to make the big announcement tomorrow, it was well past time the pack was brought back together for a meeting and they need to be informed off everything the Empress had to tell her family. Deathbelle had every intention of seeking Sirius out that evening, but the sound of his voice on her beach brought her forth from the palace.

The empress was only just beginning to show her glow of pregnancy. The little grin that played on her features, the hope that filled her eyes, the eager breath she seemed to hold. Belle tipped back her head and called back to her once guardian, her heart skipping a beat as he braved the shallow ocean waters to visit her.

Dainty paws carried the graceful woman in his direction, if he made his way in her direction the two of them would meet somewhere in the middle. Deathbelle stopped on a sunny outcropping on a hill looking over the beach. Lush tropical plants grew heavily around the platform and gave the space a more private feeling. Belle offered a loving grin as she waited for Seer to join her.

The sound of her dainty howl answered him, and he turned in the direction of its cry and found her. The familiar sight of her blacks and creams across the backdrop of the ocean brought out a grin. He really had let too much time pass between seeing her last.

He picked up his pace, and didn’t hesitate to reach forward and draw her into a bear hug. Her lithe frame swallowed by his for a moment, before he released her. He took a step back then, surprisingly showing on his face. Before her first litter, and before his own, he would not have recognised the scent of pregnancy. Now he had been around it enough that he could see the warm glow it left in her. “Deathbelle…” he said surprised, “Congratulations?’ his words were warm and sincere, and a hopeful grin began on his features. Had she found a male to treat her right and love her? He knew his beloved queen only wanted to be loved.

Sirius found her quickly and didn’t halt once he’d caught up with her. Before she knew it Deathbelle was caught up in a huge bear hug, she pressed her head against his chest and held onto him tightly in return before allowing him to let go. She could tell how well the Empire as whole was doing by how little she saw of her highest ranking officials. Zee had stopped by a few times, but Sirius had been much more absent.

”Hello, Sirius.” She greeted warmly, a smile unable to be dampened on her face. She chuckled as he questioned a congratulations. ”Yes, I’m expecting.” Deathbelle couldn’t hide she was overjoyed about it either. ”How are yours doing? I saw Aslatiel the other day but your brood doesn’t venture over here too much.”

“A fact i’m only grateful for. Most of them accidently gained my… mistrust of water early on. Because of it, I'm not having to brave the ocean and pluck them free every other day.” he said with an easy laugh. Grateful not because it was Deathbelles territory, to which they were welcome, but because the path across still made him uneasy.

He turned his attention back to her belly, giving it a teasing prod. “So who’s massaging your feet these days now that you have all this extra burden?” he asked, partly prying, partly teasing as he wondered how much of her life he has missed in watching his own brood grow.

Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that both fathers of her children had gifted her a young woman as a present during her pregnancy. Zee was the first of these, from Archon, and it felt like years had passed since the moment she met the woman. So much had happened since those first few days together.

”A girl named Daedra.” She offered with her sweet voice, she’d become quite fond of the dark furred she wolf. She was good at her duties, was pleasant to look at, and wasn’t going to go get married to the man that she loved. ”Hannibal gave her to me.” She explained further, ”She’s lovely but I still miss Zee.” Ah simpler times. ”Why’d you have to steal her from me?” Oh what a twist, when she had once believed it to be Zee that stole away Sirius.

Ah! So she did have another handmaiden. She wondered if Zee would be jealous to hear it. When she mentioned Hannibal, Sirius winced, but mostly managed to hide it. Hannibal? Was that the father to her children. He had some uncomfortable history with the man and Deathbelle, but he had managed to put most of that aside these days. He respected the Warrior. It was the idea of him with Deathbelle… something he clearly had to get over. He could not have Deathbelle, but his Empress deserved happiness.

“Zee misses you as well. Perhaps you would like to come around for dinner some time, i’m sure she would be happy to see you” he said politely. Knowing the Empress was a woman both he and Zee would give the world to, and besides, he was keen to pull his thoughts away from Hannibal.

Hannibal did indeed make the Empress happy. She loved many wolves over her lifetime but he meant so much to her. Family tradition made their close family ties mean nothing to the Klein goddess. Their children would hold pure lineage, something they could be proud of. Like her older children could hold tight to the knowledge they were born of a line of divinity. She tried to ignore the subtle reaction in Sirius, at least he had the sense not to say anything.

”I’d love to.” She told him warmly. There was no maternity leave for an Empress, and even if she got as big as her first pregnancy she was going to appear for that dinner. ”I’ll be the pregnant one this time, you need to come to the palace more often.” She encouraged him. ”You know, I’ve missed you too.” She reached over to nuzzle his neck teasingly. No matter what she was going through, having Seer beside her gave her comfort. Especially now that their separate relationships had progressed.

She leaned closer and nuzzled him, surprising him with the action. He never quite knew what emotions Deathbelle would bring out in him. For so long they held themselves apart, and then allowed themselves some touch, and then apart again. He was still figuring out how they fit together, but at the end of the day, he loved his Empress. His fealty was to her, and his love as well.

He didn’t take long to lean into it, and kiss her cheek, a tentative smile approaching his lips. “I will have to come over more often, and i’ll send the kids to do chores for you. It’ll be a good thing for them to learn.” he said, and besides, they would need to understand sooner rather than later how Deathbelle was their Empress.

Deathbelle would love Sirius for the rest of her life, their bonds began when they were children and even though the pair of them experienced their highs and lows that bond would never break. He leaned into her touch and the corners of Belle’s lips pulled back into an affectionate smile. She felt bliss at his kiss as the two of them renewed their love for one another. Even if they were denied romance the love they shared was more than obvious.

”You should,” she spoke softly as she curled herself up against him, forgetting how much she missed his daily presence. ”It’s been hard going from seeing you everyday to seeing you so rarely.” As she had expected when the Armada was formed Sirius was forced from her side to the responsibilities of leadership. ”I’d love to put your children to work, with the new ones on the way I’ll need all the help I can get.” She chuckled softly. ”Do you think…” she started hesitantly, uncertain how her words might be recieved. ”Do you think any of our children will be as close as we once were?”

He drew an affectionate smile from her lips, an expression that was, in the moment, for him alone.he returned it in kind, the arsh Warlord features melting away with surprising ease as she saw the wolf deeper inside, as she always had. Deathbelle was the wolf who had shown him kindness and friendship in some of the darker points in his life.

Now that there was a land bridge between the two of them, he had no excuse for not visiting. Even if he didn’t quite trust the walk across. The ocean was immense when all you stood was a little pile of sand.

“The work will do them good, I’ll send them over with the instructions to follow your lead as though you were me.” he promised. They would never be slaves as they almost had been, but they would learn to respect and follow their Empress