There was silence in the living room for a moment after Kelnor left. Iris sipped her tea, averting her eyes from Char and Rath. While she was talking, the fairies had settled on her lap and the cushion beside her, opposite from Char, and they remained there still, their soft golden light lending warmth to the otherwise chilly atmosphere. Char was surprised Iris wasn't crying. He glanced over at Rath, whose blue eyes were dark with anger and unfocused, and he slid closer to Iris and draped his arm across her shoulders. She looked up at him quickly, but he kept his eyes on Rath for the moment.

"Hey, Rath."

Rath snapped back to reality and met Char's gaze. "What?"

"Now would probably be a good time to tell Mother she's back."

Rath's lips curled up in a smirk. "Meaning you want some alone time. I get it." He stood up and headed for the door.

"Iris needs a new wardrobe, too," Char added.

"Nope," Rath shot back over his shoulder as he left. "It's your turn for a shopping trip with Mother."

Iris dropped her gaze back to the teacup and didn't say anything. Char took the empty cup from her hands and leaned forward to set it on the coffee table, returning his arm to her shoulders and his free hand to her far cheek to turn her gently to face him.

"You didn't tell them everything."

She shook her head slightly.

"What did he do to you, Iris?" Char asked gently.

She looked up at him, her brown eyes pained, and dipped down to rest her head on his shoulder and break their eyeline again. "I thought the fairies were spoiling me that first day after you left. But they knew what was coming."

"Iris."

"He pretended to be a voice from the amulet. And...he pretended to be you."

Char sucked in a breath.

"Stroking my hair and touching my cheek. He kept doing that. Even when he was strapping me down to the table, telling me how he killed Jonah right there, telling me what he was going to do to me. He had a fairy trapped in a jar, and he killed it, right in front of me, and then he started. And when he was done...when he carried me back to bed...he kissed me."

"I'm going to kill him," Char growled, protectively pulling her tighter. "I knew something wasn't right, and I knew you were lying to me when I came back, but I thought it couldn't be that serious if you wouldn't tell me. And he had the nerve to smile and tell me you were such a good girl, such a good student, doing exactly what he told you. He was talking about how you were letting him torture you. Was he there in the room with you when I left? When I saw you through the window?"

She nodded. "He was sitting right next to me. I thought he was going to kill a fairy because I couldn't convince you that nothing was wrong. He made them bring him the book you'd given me, and he made me show it to him, like I did to you. Then he burned it, and he took me up to his study."

"Iris...I'm so sorry." Char rested his cheek on her head, wrapping his other arm across her front to complete his comforting embrace.

"I asked him once, after he kissed me, if he even felt anything when he did that. He laughed and said he didn't, but he enjoyed making me suffer."

"He's never touching you again," Char said vehemently. "I don't care what it takes. You're never going through that again."

A fairy flitted into their downcast view, hovering over their laps with the book Iris said was burned.

"Thank you," she said, a smile in her voice as she took it from the fairy. "I didn't know they saved it. This is a copy they made. They gave it to me the next day, after I...took their punishment for hiding the original."

Char groaned. "Why is there always more?"

"You don't need to hear it," Iris said, setting the book on their apposing thighs and opening the cover.

"I want to know all of it, Iris. That way, I can be sufficiently informed when I tear him apart with my bare hands."

She turned the page, silent for a moment. "It takes twenty-four hours for me to recover to this point, where I'm just stiff and sore. He made the fairies wake me up early after the second session so he could have breakfast with me and observe the after effects. The fairies were so kind and tender with me, like they always are, and he realized I was in a state where the slightest movement caused intense pain. So he...kissed me." She swallowed. "And he was purposefully rough."

The fairies huddled up against her thigh opposite from Char, trembling, and her hand left the book to drift across her lap toward them, palm up.

"It's okay," she reassured them. "I told you then, it wasn't your fault. You were only trying to help."

One bounced into her hand and then shot up to her lips, touching them and zipping away. The rest followed, like little golden bits of popcorn. She was giggling well before the last one touched her lips and zoomed across the room. Even Char felt the slightest release of tension in his shoulders watching the interaction.

"One of them did that the night I brought you here. I went in to get my pajamas, and it touched my lips and then touched yours." Char gently tucked her hair back behind her ear. "You smiled then, too."

"They started that right after you left." She looked up at him shyly. "I think they saw how happy kissing you made me, and then they did that whenever I talked about you, or whenever I was feeling down."

"Kissing me makes you happy?" he asked suggestively, a smile playing across his lips.

She nodded. He leaned in and kissed her gently, their lips molding together, his movements hesitant at first because of everything she'd just told him. She didn't flinch or pull away, so he kissed her again, a little longer, cupping her cheek in his hand. The third time, his tongue swiped lightly across her lips, which parted easily for him, and he leaned in, savoring her taste, her feel, her soft sigh. Her hand curled into his shirt, and his arm left her shoulders so he could hold her face in both hands, his touch tender and restrained.

"Iris," he breathed, kissing her again before she could speak. She replied with a moan instead, leaning back against the sofa as his weight pushed her into it. He removed his hands from her face to cup her waist, sliding them around to the small of her back, up along her spine.

"Char," she gasped, "your mother's coming."

He sighed and rested his forehead against hers. "I have a lot of work to do, Iris," he murmured. "To make you forget him." His hands slid back down her spine to the small of her back, back around to cup her waist again. "You're trembling."

"I think that's enough for now," she said, her voice breathy, her brown eyes dreamy.

"For now?" he asked, smirking.

Her blush deepened. "A priest raised me, Char."

He settled back against the sofa beside her, his smirk reaching up to his sharp green eyes as he traced a finger down her cheek. "A priest who told me he'd send you to the river so I could pick you up."

"It wasn't that kind of pickup," she protested, reaching up to take his hand from her cheek. He intertwined his fingers with hers and brought her hand to his lips, kissing the back of it lightly.

"Wasn't it?"

"He wouldn't have sent me there if he knew what you were really like," she accused teasingly, her brown eyes sparkling.

"You may be right." He found and kissed her ring finger. "Guess I'll have to do this the right way, huh?"

Her brown eyes shot wide open, and he chuckled. "I told you I was bringing you home with me after all this was over, Iris."

"But-"

"I'm serious about you, Iris."

Stone grated against stone, and Iris' hands flew to her flaming cheeks. Char chuckled again and threw his arm around her shoulder.

"They already know," he whispered in her ear.

"Iris!" Elera exclaimed, racing across the room to the sofa. She wrenched Iris free from Char and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Mother, she can't breathe," Rath said casually.

"Let me have a look at you," Elera said, pushing Iris back by her shoulders and staring at her intently. "Oh, you poor thing," she said, and then she was crushing Iris with another hug before she had a chance to respond.

"Mother," Char reprimanded.

"And you." Elera didn't loosen her grip in the slightest as she glared over Iris' shoulder at Char. "Leaving her alone like that. What were you thinking?"

"He didn't know-" Iris tried to say, but Elera cut her off by pushing her back again and kissing her cheeks.

"Where are your clothes? Char, did you forget her clothes?"

"I was a little more focused on saving her life, Mother," he replied wearily.

"Well, no matter. We'll just have to buy you some new ones. And you'll stay with me again while they get this mess figured out," Elera said with finality.

"I appreciate that, but I don't think I can make the trip right now," Iris replied.

Elera frowned. "Why not?"

"If you'd let her move, you'd see that she's pretty stiff, Mother," Rath supplied from his chair across from Char.

"I'll be okay," Iris reassured her. "It just takes a few days to recover. The fairies are taking good care of me."

Elera looked around the room with sharp blue eyes, seeing the little golden orbs settling on the furniture for the first time. "Fairies?" she asked disdainfully. "What are they doing here?"

"Oh, they're really very sweet," Iris intervened on their behalf, taking Elera's hand. "They were with me in the tower, and they've been taking care of me this whole time."

Elera gave Iris a reluctant smile and squeezed her hand. "Well, then they must not be all bad. Iris, you sit down and rest. Char, come with me."

Rath snickered.

"And you behave," Elera said firmly. "The last thing this poor girl needs is you teasing her."

"Yes, Mother," Rath said obediently, trying - and failing - to keep a straight face.

Char sighed and stood up, following Elera to the door and smacking Rath on the shoulder as he passed him.

"We'll be back soon," Elera said, turning back to flash Iris a motherly smile before she left.