we drank the water.

He wasn't missing much in terms of her reading, unless he liked uncovering the mystery behind a Victorian murder plot. A work of fiction, unlike what she was accustomed to, closing the book as if she was about to set it aside, before tapping the corner of it to her chin.

"What I usually do with souls is fairly mundane. They get sold to the highest bidder, then they have their fun with them. The body, on the other hand--" She set the book aside on an end table, craning her neck over the back of the couch to see that he had palmed a bottle of scotch. Hm, better than nothing to wet the palette.

"--That depends on my mood. If you run, I'll send my dogs after you. They'll start with your tendons, helping themselves to the meat on your thighs. Or if you prefer that I leave your corpse intact, I could shoot you between the eyes--" She demonstrated by raising her finger and pointing at the saddle of his nose, before drifting down towards his lips.

"Someone has a very high opinion of themselves..." She returned to her book once more, turning the page over in her lap, legs crossed at the knee with her ankle swaying like the pendulum of a ticking clock. Or not that unlike the swaying of a cat's tail, slow, yet relaxed in her own environment.

It didn’t take long for them to stand right before a door, which one didn’t matter as Dio could barely contrail himself. It was locked but that didn’t stop the vampire, he was able to easily open it and get them inside, closing it behind them. “No one should bother us here but…we may be close enough that they will hear of things get…loud~” as he spoke he moved his hands up and down her body, feeling her up very comfortably, knowing she was his and he was hers. “Now shall we?~” with those words he pulled her into a deep passionate kiss, their tongues dancing g intimately as his hands felt up her firm rear more roughly.

"You have... such a vivid imagination... I'm surprised that you held back for as long as you did..." She parsed between each kiss, hands still clamoring to undo the knot in his tie, before tearing it off wildly like she was cracking a whip. She then placed a hand upon his jaw, pushing back off the wall while guiding him in for a better taste, her other hand slipping down under his collar and sliding off his jacket, over his broad shoulders.

"You see right through me, my dearheart... Now, are you more gentleman or beast, I wonder?" She was partial to both sides of him, but now she knew that the beast in him reigned supreme, after stoking a fire in him that could not be quenched. She gasped as his hands squeezed her breasts, threatening to tear the fabric and make a mess of her where they stood.

It was only as she glanced over his shoulder that she remembered where they had stolen off to, digging her nails into his neck and the small of his back as she saw the bed just a few steps behind them.

A reminder. A scolding. Whatever it was, the princess did not quite like it.

Of course they were here to hunt, but did they really have to? Nunnally would much rather talk to Luna, and perhaps just ride, and ride, and ride, pretending she didn’t have to go back. But being someone accustomed to obedience, she simply nodded and did her best to follow the instructions.

Her tutor had recently stirred very different emotions within her. A sort of boldness she had never suspected herself capable of, but also the persistent feeling that the other woman was far better suited to whatever duties awaited Nunnally. It was an odd feeling, and one Nunnally could not seem to shake.

So, for now she remained as silent as the forest itself.

Nunnally had never ventured this deep into the woods, so early in the morning, and certainly not in winter. It was captivating. It was new. Even if her cheeks stung slightly from the chill, the princess was truly enjoying it.

Should her father really want this for her?

The question lingered as she continued trying her best. After all, he didn’t have to teach her any of this. A superficial understanding of hunting would have been more than enough to meet the expectations of the world beyond the palace walls. So, did he really...? The thought lingered, (too) difficult to ignore. Yet she would never ask her tutor so directly. Instead, her question took a different shape; perhaps allowing two separate curiosities to be addressed at once.

Money, came the reply, and it didn’t surprise the princess in the slightest. She had hoped the answer might be challenge instead, for that would have suggested her suspicions were correct. But money and power were the most common motivations of all. But then came Luna's own question.

Nunnally fell silent, watching the snow-covered trees stretching before her. The winter landscape felt so natural, while she herself seemed strangely out of place within it.

“No...” – she finally replied – “I never consider anything my father asks of me tedious. In a way, I know there is always a reason behind it, even if I cannot see it yet. It is the same with hunting. You teach me far more than most highborn girls are ever taught. And he allows it.”

She paused.

But she could tell that the princess was still spry and willful, and not so tightly bound by tradition... yet. She could see the light shine in her eyes, how she marveled at the winter scenery so far beyond the safety of the palace walls. Well, safety was a relative term, when everyone there in a powdered wig and a frock was smiling through their teeth, and only looking out for their own interests. Such was the nature of politics, gambling with the lives of others and putting out pawns as cannon fodder.

It was a world that she knew from a different time, with different players, but the game was still much the same. And it was just as exhausting as she remembered, something she was all too eager to cast off and leave in the past where it belonged. The vestments of her prior nobility, which were no longer of any use to her. Not after she died and received judgement for her crimes.

She was much more suited to the role she had now. A hunter, out on the frontier, on the fringe of polite society while still operating within it, protecting her own investments and ruthlessly doing everything that it took to survive.

As for the reason she was allowed to teach her, a princess, on the ways of the hunt... Well, the answer was more mundane than she might have hoped.

"To prepare you for entering into high society, of course. This may not be the same as etiquette training, but you will be judged on it nonetheless.

... It's also best to learn now how to be decisive. Knowing the consequences of your actions, and learning how to live with them, come Hell or high water."

Just after she had finished speaking, she heard a rustle close by, pricking her ears to the sound as she held her arm out in front of Nunnally, gesturing for her to stop and stay quiet.

There. Just a stone's throw distance ahead of them, digging itself out from beneath a bush was a snow-white fox. She might very well have missed it, had it not disturbed the snow sitting on the leaves and branches. It looked as if it had just woken up, shaking out its fur and looking towards the sun rising in the east.

They couldn't have asked for a more perfect opportunity.

With a curl of her fingers, she beckoned Nunnally to follow her lead as she knelt down into a crouch, using the trunk of a tree and a bank of heavy snowfall for cover. She raised her rifle, lining it up against her shoulder like it was an extension of her arm, pressing her cheek into it as she held the creature in her sights--

--But she intentionally kept her finger off the trigger. This was a test. A test, to see if the princess could act, and act accordingly. Otherwise, she would just be cleaning up another mess, much to her chagrin.