"I feel something more from this…" Arlette said.

Caius had now sent the empty dial into his storage ring before standing to his feet. The dial was a magic item itself capable of trapping and storing Divine energy—one that was especially easy to lose and turn into nothing—for millennia. Caius was sure he'd find a use for it still.

He started to pick up his clothes off the ground to get dressed. Arlette was right earlier about breakfast having ended. And even if it hadn't ended back then, it surely must have ended now which meant he was late for class.

Anatomy and Physiology class wasn't a very magically intense class so it didn't have all the splendor of Caius's favorites which got a lot more room to shine but it was still important.

"What?" Caius asked though he could already guess what Arlette was about to say.

"I feel… you," she said slowly, "Only it doesn't feel entirely like you. It feels different… Otherworldly."

As she was speaking, Arlette's brows furrowed with confusion but it was even more than that. She was doing well in hiding it but she felt quite distressed that she might not know Caius even half as well as she thought she did.

She never actually fooled herself into thinking she knew all that went on in his head. He still had secrets from her and that was fine because she had secrets of her own. Details of her past she had not regaled him with and was not entirely sure she was ready to share so ordinarily, she was fine with a bit of mystery between them.

But what she was feeling wasn't little. It felt huge. World-rendingly huge. Like the very existence before her defied the rules and normal perception she had of the world. It was both exciting and worrying. She was leaning towards worry more at the moment.

"Yes, I needed to add a little of myself into the Manuscript so I can access the Divine seed through you," Caius said.

That confused Arlette and, just as Caius had hoped, it distracted her from his otherworldly nature as she asked,

"What do you mean?"

He had the manuscript in his head. In fact, he had given her only a piece of the piece of Divine energy within the Arcane Circle he had imprinted into his head.

"Well, I can't meditate on the Arcane Circle," Caius said, "I'm a Vampire, remember?"

Arlette closed her eyes then. She knew that. It just hadn't clicked as it now did with him saying it out loud.

"Right," she said.

"Yeah," Caius said as he buckled up his pants and then tapped a finger to his forehead as he continued,

"I may have Divine energy in my head but it can't take root. I haven't created room for it. I can't create room for it.

But I theorize that if I take it in the same way I take in Evolutionary charge, I could plant the seed. So to speak."

"Hmm," Arlette said in understanding, "Think it will work?"

"Yes," Caius answered fairly confident.

A minute passed as Caius took his time notching the buttons of his shirt before putting on his jacket. Arlette watched him throughout, sitting naked on the sofa with her legs folded beneath her.

She seemed quite entranced by watching Caius but snapped out of it when he stepped closer, pulling off the ring filled with Allegra's legacy off his finger to hold it out to her.

"Here," he said.

"I thought you'd want to keep it," Arlette said with a shrug, "You asked that it be brought to you and no one was to touch it before you did."

"But you did," Caius pointed out with a smirk.

"Oops," Arlette said but she didn't sound at all remorseful.

And why should she? Caius was so quickly now at the Fourth Circle because of her initiative in using the Manuscript before today.

"I just wanted it brought to me first so I got to find what I want with little to no prior tempering," Caius said, "Now that it's done, invest the wealth of the legacy into 'Ophiuchus'.

Take out the manuscripts though. Anything that has anything to do with specializations. You know, Alchemy, Enchantments, Forging… All that.

We should keep those close and look through them ourselves."

"Of course," Arlette answered and held out her hand. She had the back of her hand facing up and held out the ring finger in an obvious way to show how she wanted to receive the ring.

Caius slipped the ring onto her finger and then laughed a little.

"What is it?" Arlette asked.

"Nothing," Caius said dismissively.

It wasn't an attempt to be secretive. Just that it was a 'joke' only someone of his old world would understand because it hinged on how slipping a ring on a lady's finger signifies a proposal. Caius wasn't down to one knee while he did it but still… he just thought it was funny.

A slight shame there was no one here to share it with.

'Where's Samantha when you need her?' He thought.

The Author had been absent for a good while now. And even though she said she was always watching and Caius only needed to call to her and she'd appear, he had said her name many times in his head and sometimes out loud over the last couple of weeks, and nothing. He just hoped whatever was keeping her away wasn't going to come snapping at his ass soon.

"So is that why you know all that you know?" Arlette asked suddenly. It sounded like she was continuing a conversation thread but Caius had no idea which one.

Hence his response,

"What?"

"That otherworldly nature I sense from you, is that why you know the things you know. You know, I've noticed the detail with which you describe things. Allegra's manuscript for one.

I've been doing a little investigating and not many know who she is. There's nothing public about her Vampire Lover or the lengths she went to keep him…"

"I'd assume it's not common knowledge," Caius said.

"Exactly," Arlette agreed and then eyed Caius curiously, "And yet, you know."

"I do," Caius admitted.

"How?" Arlette asked and before Caius even had the chance to answer, she continued,

"The 'Ophiuchus' Mercenaries gave a full report on their expedition to find her legacy. A lot of what you said was revealed to them as they journeyed through. Sometimes with uncannily exact details. And if the legacy had never been visited, it's a wonder how you know," Arlette said and stood to her feet now.

Oh, she cut such a sexy figure. And it was a testament to how 'serious' the conversation was that Caius didn't let his eyes wander and stared into her eyes only.

"What are you asking?" He asked her gently.

Arlette opened her mouth but then closed it. It was as though she had lost her train of thought and didn't know where she had been heading with all this. She collected herself soon enough though.

"Do you perhaps have an ability that lets you peer into the secrets of the world?" She asked, "An ability that lets you know things before they happen, maybe?"

"Maybe," Caius said.

There's only so much he could reveal. Sure, he didn't have to go as far as telling her this was all once just a novel to him to at least tell her something but he wasn't sure exactly what was safe to share.

Arlette looked intrigued now.

"So what happens to me?" She asked and in a more vulnerable tone, she added, "To us?"

Caius smiled lightly as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.

"It doesn't work like that," he said, "Think of it more as hints of what is to come. Hints that I can then use to steer away from bad outcomes. Hints I can then use to make things maybe a little better."

Arlette was far from satisfied with that answer. He had given far too many details about Allegra's manuscript, including the clue to finding it, so saying it was only hints didn't cut it.

"I have to get to class," Caius said then.

"We'll continue this later," Arlette said firmly.

Caius gave it a second of thought and then nodded.

"Of course."

"Almost forgot," Arlette said then and held up a hand to show a ring different from the one that contained Allegra's legacy. That was still on her finger.

"The things you asked me to get for you. I tripled the ingredients just in case."

"You're incredible," Caius said as he took the ring and stored it away to look through at a different time. He trusted Arlette to have gotten it all right.

"Flattery won't make me forget," Arlette said seriously, "We will continue that conversation later."

"We will," Caius said and planted his lips on hers for one last kiss before he really had to leave.

And for all her bravado, in that moment, Arlette's brain really couldn't remember the conversation she and Caius had just left for a later day. She just swooned while getting washed away in a wave of desire that had her spent-but-recovering body hungry for more.

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