The long road

Sirius looked across at the burning eyes of Deathbelle, and managed a soft, wry smile. Somehow finding amusement in their predicament. Of his desire to take her, but the prohibitions that meant he could not. His attraction and love to Deathbelle had not waned, but today, today he felt especially weakened by it.

Her suggestion was a good one, and he picked up his empty tea cup and placed it to the side. “I would be delighted to.” he promised, making for the den’s entrance. He was not fleeing, he was strategically exiting.

He padded down to the beach, the shore that lay not far from her palace, and kept walking. First his toes submerged, then his ankles, his knees, his stomach. He ducked his head beneath the ocean, feeling it cooling the heat that had not left him since Deathbelle had uttered those four dangerous words. When he came out again, shaking his head and coat, and padding back to the sandy short, he looked to Deathbelle. As though he had not done something strange at all. “Shall we, my Empress?” he asked, nodding forward and indicating the patrol.