Everyone had insisted she should remove to Whitestone for at least a few days, if not longer, just in case running into one of her guards caused Otahan Thull to try attacking her again. There'd been too many people to message, even when too many of them had turned out to be dead. She hadn't left Zepyrah until she'd seen to it that they'd been as prepared as they could be, though maybe her not being there would at least put them in less danger. By the time she got to Whitestone, Allura and Pike were both already in town and putting wards up. Allura had also heard back from her contacts in the Dwendalian Empire, who had already been looking into Ludinus Da'leth's recent activities, and promised to contact her as soon as they learned more.
She hadn't eaten in enough hours that when Vex hustled her to the dining table and served her too much food, she ate without even arguing. That maybe lessened her fatigue, but that might have just raised her anxiety further. They were finishing up when she felt Vex's hand gently touch her arm, as she murmured, "Darling, you're trembling. What did that Marquesian girl's message do to you? Is it true you were screaming?"
"It's nothing. I'll be fine." She genuinely thought she would be, and she didn't want Imogen blamed for something she almost surely hadn't intended for. "I just need to rest, I think."
Vex leaned in further, and murmured, "I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone, tonight. Vesper's arrived, and she would happily share a room with you once she's wrestled her father out of his workshop. Gwen's probably still up, and would let you sit with her until then. Or..."
"Take me upstairs," Keyleth replied, maybe a little louder than was quite discreet. But it wasn't like most of the castle staff didn't know by now. The de Rolos had been taking her up to their bedroom for years now, after all. Many of them probably didn't think anything was happening. Nothing had for more of it than not.
Vesper had done a quicker job than her mother had anticipated. They came into the bedroom to find Percy already there, at his desk writing rapidly with a dirty old shirt still on. He looked up, and before Vex could say anything, he said, "I just had a few thoughts about the ley lines. I'm not even going to try to make sense of them right now, to be honest; I figured we could sleep on them and look them over in the morning."
Vex sighed, but turned toward the bed without bothering to say anything, and that was suddenly more than Keyleth could bear. "Why did we ever go about wanting to know so much about those in the first place?" she cried out. "If we hadn't, there are now five of my people who might be alive and happy today!"
"Oh, darling." Vex took hold of her, and dragged her over to the bed with her. "We can guess what you're thinking."
"I told him to stay the course." She said it out loud anyway. "I sent him to his death. Him and his friend both."
That got Percy to stop, and come over and join them. "If they hadn't done it," he said, "if he hadn't been there for that bitch to say what she said when she killed him, we'd still have no real idea who actually tried to kill you all those years ago. And it's very clear we only got the full warning about what's coming because of what happened; I doubt Miss Temult would've even been able, let alone willing, to send such a message otherwise. If we make proper use of it, they'll neither of them have died in vain."
Keyleth saw his point. When she'd broken the news of Orym's death to Nel, she'd even said through her tears that he would rather have died to get word of the danger to them than lived and them not been prepared for it. But such sentiments would never make her feel better.
Vex and Percy probably both knew that, too, but, Vex still said, "You know you can't dwell on this, right, Keyleth? This kind of thing...it happens, even to those who try so hard to avoid it. And even if we've got a bit of a waiting game right now, we still can't afford to be distracted."
"I know," she said, "but I don't know if I can help it."
"You need to at least sleep soundly, tonight," Percy said as he shifted further back onto the bed, then promptly made a noise of discomfort.
"Percy." Vex's tone turned sharp. "How much have you been running around your workshop without using the cane?"
He looked sheepish. "I might have forgotten about it for a bit. I was very busy. I still need to show you the improvements on your broom, and I had another idea for using the acid." He was sagging now, the day's adrenaline clearly wearing off.
"You're going to be horribly sore in the morning," she told him, moving to pull the shirt up and place her hands on his back. Keyleth moved to help as well, putting her hands on his shoulders and using a little bit of healing magic on his strained muscles.
Percy leaned back into his wife's touches, and she used an arm to draw him closer, and let him press his face into her hair, which she'd partially pulled loose. "Thank you, my dear. Thanks to you both."
"Anytime," said Keyleth. Then, because their easy intimacy was making her ache, she asked, "Just....could you hold me?"
"Always, darling," said Vex, and moments later they were either side of her, wrapping her up in their arms. Keyleth buried her face in the crook of Percy's neck and let her breathing go ragged in her distress, curling herself up in their embraces like a child as she felt the knots in her chest come painfully loose. Now she was the one with soothing hands on her back, and soft kisses pressed into her hair, careful and chaste. The month to come now felt far more bearable.
She was vaguely aware that Percy and Vex were also still touching each other, their arms pressed against her as they reached past her. She also became aware of it when Percy's erection first pressed against her leg, which she would not care about until they did.
What made her finally react was the realization that both of their breathing was also getting short. At first she worried about Percy's being short for more alarming reasons, but when Vex's was too, and she might have also been squirming against her a bit, Keyleth nudged them both back from her, drew herself up, and asked, "Do you two want to...to....I'd, um, I'd be glad to...."
The two of them lunged for each other, and Keyleth slid free, casting her pregnancy prevention spell on Vex as she went, taking them in as they kissed like the end of the world was already confirmed, her getting moans out of him as she climbed into his lap, which he might have even been more free with for Keyleth's benefit, at least if he remembered she was there at the moment.
Keyleth had not wanted to have sex with anyone herself since Vax's death. At one point, it had felt a little strange to even remember that she once had. Although with the sheer amount of time she might still live, she'd always supposed it would probably happen again sooner or later. Sometimes, when she looked at Vex, she even thought she could find herself wanting her before her long life ended. It wasn't even impossible it might happen with Percy.
For now, she found that she instead liked to watch, and Vex and Percy found they enjoyed her watching them. She even liked to help with the logistics, like helping Percy hold his limbs back so Vex could fuck him face to face.
None of them were up to the extra work that would require tonight, though. Instead, when Percy landed naked on his back next to her, Vex, her dress still only half off, pressed loose kisses down his body, winking at Keyleth before taking him into her mouth, which made him shudder and roll around the bed so beautifully. She stayed down there just long enough to reduce Percy to a whimpering mess, before pulling herself up and slowly letting her dress slide down completely, untying her breast band as she did so.
Keyleth wasn't sure if Vex was hoping she'd have a reaction to that. But honestly, she was too busy watching Percy's reaction instead. Some might have thought him just a leering old man, complete with his mouth hanging open and his gaze right on her breasts for a significant amount of time. But she then saw him lift it to meet hers, and she saw the warmth that passed between the two of them.
Then her smallclothes were off as well, and she was on top of her husband, and Keyleth didn't know where to look. There were their faces, both mixes of pleasure and passion and adoration. There were also their hands, eager and grabby, but also tender, stopping to stroke each other's faces and one of each's at one point grabbing each other and holding on as their bodies joined together. The way their very skins pressed into each other, as if they couldn't get close enough.
Eventually Vex reared back, and now Keyleth absolutely was taken by the sight of her. "She is the only creature I will ever get on my knees for," Percy had said to Keyleth once, while they were drunk and talking about gods, and Keyleth now understood why he had felt the need for such sentiments. There was something not divine, maybe, but greater than mere mortal, about Vex when she was like this, all her mind, strength, and energy honed in on a target, riding her husband with ease, and ferocious in her pleasure. She visibly looked older than Keyleth did now, and to Keyleth's eyes the maturity gave her regalness, made her more beautiful.
Keyleth sidled up to Percy to get the best view, curling around him with her hands on his shoulders. It was hardly the first time she'd done such a thing. He didn't even react; he wasn't in a state to.
But when she looked over at his face, now screwed up with his effort to hold on, but his eyes still fluttering open to look at his wife as much as possible, that face she had known so long, that now looked maybe older than a human man his age normally would, a new tenderness filled Keyleth, and she took him firmly into her arms, which he leaned into-and a new, sharp, very unexpected desire hit her.
"I want to kiss you," she gasped out. "Just kiss, nothing else."
Vex stopped. Percy, too, stilled his hips. Keyleth waited anxiously as they moved their faces about in clear communication, fighting the urge to take it back.
Then Vex nodded, and resumed her movements as Percy tilted his head towards her.
The kiss started out slow and cautious from both sides, as Keyleth tried to remember what to even do. But as she cradled his head, hands in his hair, Percy's kisses turned hungry, and Keyleth let them, drinking in his passion and pleasure as it built and crested, until finally his mouth went slack against hers and his cry of release vibrated between them.
They parted and look up just in time to see Vex as she came. She looked glorious to the end as she arched back with it, everything heaving and shuddering.
Then she looked at Keyleth, and she must have read both the question and the answer in her face, because a moment later she, too, was kissing her. It was heated, though not too hard, and Keyleth felt it down to her toes. As yet she still didn't want to do more than this with either of them, but the kissing was really good.
The exertion had taken its toll on Vex as well as Percy, though. When they parted, she slumped a little against Keyleth, who hesitantly took hold of her. "Are you all right? Are you both? Was that too much?"
"Think all three of us needed that," Vex said into her collarbone. "Agreed, Percy dear?"
"Agreed," they heard him reply, and both women knew he was going to fall asleep within a couple more minutes at most.
"Good," Vex said. "Now let's get you at least cleaned up and preferably in your nightclothes before you pass out completely."
Percy actually managed to stay awake long enough to get his limbs into them, then slept as they buttoned him up and pulled the covers over him. By the time they'd finished cleaning themselves up (Keyleth had sweated more than she thought she would), and changed into nightgowns, Vex looked and Keyleth felt almost as tired.
Even so, as they crawled into the bed beside Percy, Vex whispered to her, "You do know Percy is right. We needed that second message. Also, the way I see it, your guard did what he did because his husband had been killed and he wanted to find out by who and at least do something about them. I think we can both understand that he made the choices he made, and exactly why he made them. I know in his place, I probably would've done the same thing."
"He wasn't as strong as us," she sighed. "Not as experienced, not as powerful. It sounded very much like he and his friends got in way over their heads."
"And we never did the same? Hells, we were still in it when we first ran up against Vecna. Who knows, maybe before this month ends, his friends will make this Otohan Thull rue the day she ever let her shadows lay hands on your guards."
That thought comforted Vex far more than it comforted Keyleth, but she still felt better than she had when she'd first arrived in Whitestone that day. Especially when Vex pulled her close, and she knew herself to be surrounded by love.
"Remember what we told you," was the last thing Vex softly said to her when they drifted off. "If you find yourself desiring more from us than you're getting, maybe more than what you wanted before...well, the majority of things are at least up for discussion."