To feel a hardening rod, as it was, was yet another first for Alexia. She had no real idea how to deal with that besides letting her instincts guide her to rub herself against it, increasing the pressure of contact.

Neither of the two knew how long had passed since they had started but eventually, much to Alexia’s dismay, Caius’s hand relaxed on her thigh and he pulled his face away from hers.

"This really seems an inappropriate place for this," Caius said.

Alexia had just leaned forward, her instincts guiding her to insist they continue but Caius’s words helped her regain her sense. She blinked a few times, dropped her leg from his side, her hand from his hair but still held on to his hip. Seemingly unable to let go. In turn, while Caius had taken his hand off her thigh, he still held the back of her neck, and his thumb was also still on her cheek.

"What— the hell was that?" Alexia asked, sounding breathless.

"Hmm?" Caius responded.

"What the hell did you just do?" Alexia asked.

She tried to make her eyes glare at Caius but they couldn’t muster the intensity. Not when pleasure was still coursing through her. Not when she still occasionally shivered in delight, her physical and magical strength being powerless to help her curb a mental and emotional reaction.

"You mean what did we just do?" Caius corrected her lightly.

"Gods..." Alexia let out as she placed a hand on her forehead.

"You know, for all your accusations of me being unfaithful, you succumbed so easily," Caius teased, leaning his face close to hers again.

Alexia placed a hand on his chest but once again, as those purple eyes pulled her in, she lost the strength to push him away. If anything, her hand on his hip seemed ready to pull him closer.

"Shut up," she said but could not manage any real bite into her words.

"Mmm, because there’s something else you’d rather I use my lips for?" Caius teased as he leaned even closer, his lips inches from touching hers and he just stayed there. Waiting.

Alexia clenched her hand into a fist, her nails digging into her palm as she tried to keep from succumbing.

"How are you doing this?" She asked with a frustrated groan as she leaned closer, as though pulled by a magnetic force. Their lips met in the barest of kisses, so light and so spine-tingling that Alexia’s knees grew weak.

But then, Caius was gone. His hand off her face and her hand off his hip as he took many steps back.

"It makes you a bit of a hypocrite for how you treated Lyanna," he chuckled as he continued to tease,

"We’ve never done anything close to that."

"I don’t believe you," Alexia said.

"Why would I lie?" Caius asked her with a little laugh and then his expression grew serious as he looked at the door at the end of the corridor— the door of the dungeon.

He felt a bit silly now that he had allowed himself to get carried away with Alexia while being so close to such a location of misery. Even though the Arcane Formations kept all that away from where he and Alexia currently stood.

"We should get back to the Function," Alexia said with a frown as she dusted her gown. It was spotless though and as perfect as it had been before Caius had her pressed against the wall.

There were far too many enchantments on it for it to get damaged or rumpled so easily.

Alexia didn’t wait for Caius as she walked away but he was only a few feet behind her. His brows were furrowed in thought as he found himself steeped in questions about the Dungeon and the Vampires inside it.

Alexia would have likely been occupied with similar thoughts if her mind weren’t such a jumbled mess. She had questions for herself about what just happened— Wondering if she ever knew her own preferences.

When she and Caius walked back into the Function Hall and female gazes flicked over in their direction, she felt strange. On one hand, she now understood the allure Caius carried. On the other hand, she couldn’t help but think that no matter how wild their imaginations were about Caius, the real thing was almost certain to surpass it.

"Young Lord. My Lady," Olivia and Gareth’s voices were loudest among the Hellsingers as they approached Caius and Alexia.

"Calm yourself," Alexia said, "We’re fine."

The Hellsingers had battled with the decision to stay back, and even now that the two returned safely, they felt ashamed to have let them go alone in the first place.

What if something had happened to them?

Caius wasn’t paying much attention to that conversation, his eyes were moving around the Hall.

’Leonce Duval isn’t here,’ he thought, finding it strange that the host was so absent from his own Function.

He crossed glances with Duncan Acheron again and saw the Prince smirk at him. He didn’t return the gesture and just kept his eyes roaming until he saw Lyanna talking to a Noble. She seemed distracted and Caius had a feeling her senses were still trained on the Dungeon. That could also mean she had ’seen’ what happened between Caius and Alexia.

"Huh," he let out before signaling for a waiter to bring him a glass of wine.

Alexia did the same and was chugging them down as though she hoped the wine would help her work through her confused emotions.

"My, my, all this talking bores me!" Duncan said in a voice that carried, causing a sudden silence as all eyes turned to him.

Duncan reveled in the attention, in the authority he carried in the moment as he adjusted his stance.

"We stand here chatting as we would anywhere about matters of no real importance to the situation at hand. Until Leonce Duval commences the topic of the day, how about we do something more interesting;

A Test of skill."

There were murmurs in the crowd. Not really positive but also not particularly negative. The Nobles seemed to be mostly waiting for whatever point Duncan had to make.

"How about friendly duels among ourselves? Noble against Noble," Duncan said.

Now the murmurs veered towards negative. These were high society people who came for good wine and conversation with maybe the discussion of serious matters. Very few, even those who took pride in their Magical/Martial skills seemed excited to fight tonight.

Duncan didn’t care. By the smile on his face, he had a target already and Caius was starting to get a very annoying feeling.

"Caius Von Helsing," Duncan called then.

’Of course,’ Caius thought with a mental roll of his eyes.

"Your Legend is on the lips of many in the Capital. To fend off a Demon... impressive," Duncan said.

"Legend? You honor me," Caius said lightly.

"How about you show us those famed skills of yours?" Duncan said.

"There was a broadcast of the battle... Surely you’ve seen it, Your Lordship," Caius said, "An exhibition seems unnecessary."

"Oh, but I insist," Duncan said and now there was a tingle of electricity in the air.

Duncan was representing Imperial Power and Caius had a feeling that he was itching to abuse it. Caius frowned at the attempt to corner him and then his eyes wandered in search until they found Lyanna’s. She wasn’t distracted anymore.

—"My Lord, Duncan is a Lochxen Alumni. Graduated a decade or so ago."— Lyanna said directly in his head, the smile on her lips was slight.

Caius was amazed at how quickly she could tell what he wanted to know without him actually needing to ask.

"Your Lordship, I am a Lochxen First Year," Caius said calmly, an idea already forming in his head,

"What fair matchup could I get among the many experienced Mages and Mage-Knights in the Hall. Who would even want to fight someone so much their junior?"

"Oh, I’m sure we’ll find someone," Duncan said, and only now did Caius seem to notice that there was a smirking noble standing by Duncan’s side. He’d bet all he had that the Noble was Duncan’s ally and his would-be opponent.

But he couldn’t care less about that. The Prince was his target.

"Oh, so you’re volunteering," Caius said to Duncan, ignoring the Noble by his side, as he nodded with gratitude,

"Of course, only Your Lordship would be so generous."

"What— No, I’m—" Duncan started but before he could finish, Lyanna’s voice interrupted him.

"The Prince is graciously offering himself for our entertainment," She said loudly, her voice ringing sweetly,

"I think that deserves a round of applause."

She kickstarted it and soon, every Noble in the Hall joined in, clapping so loud that whatever protest Duncan tried to form was drowned out quickly.