Nika has set her living room for the Prince's visit. She has placed the chairs in a comfortable position around the coffee table, which currently has some paperwork on it. She leafs through the information she has written out about Damon's project once more to make sure she did not miss anything. Then, she goes into the kitchen and puts some coffee on. Even though she knows Asa will not drink it, she would like some. It was rather late and she had been hoping to be in bed an hour ago. Her Regnant took precedence over sleep, however, so she waited patiently for his arrival.

Asa paused before knocking. Nika's change in attitude was still something for him to get used to, and this would be the first project of significance. Not only that, but she was... different. She knew an Asa that no one else knew, or remembered, and had an uncanny knack for reading him. For some, that was merely inconvenient; for a Sotoha... that was... very disconcerting.

With a small smile at himself for inane thoughts about his first thrall, he knocked.

Nika answers the door with a solemn face. "Good evening Master Clarke, please come in."

She steps aside and watches him enter her apartment. Her heart begins to ache the second she sees him again and this makes her irritated. She had been with the man for so many years, one would think she had gotten over this silly school-girl crush by now. But, she had also long since come to the conclusion that it was not a silly crush. She loved Asa Clarke and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. That had been one of the reason she had been such a wild girl in the past, trying to drown herself in sensation so she could forget.

Focusing her mind back on the task at hand, she closes the door and follows him into the living room.

"Please have a seat. It is good to see you well. I would offer you some refreshment but you would refuse it anyway. How has life been treating you?" As she talks she walks into her kitchen and begins to fix herself a cup of coffee.

Asa smiled, and entered. It was always a small surprise, to be reminded of how beautiful Nika was, and how of a personality she had. Although he wasn't a prideful man, it would be impossible to deny he had impeccable taste.

"Maybe later," he answered her question, letting his eyes move from hers, lower, to her neck.

He sat in one of the chairs, crossing his legs comfortably. "Things have been good," he answered sincerely. "Busy, but coming together nicely. I'll probably have some more paperwork for you to work your magic on," he added. Asa understood the delicacies of their situation, and society, well enough to know that seeing another woman's name --Myah Torsione's-- added to his legal maze would not be welcome news.

"How have you been, Nika?" he asked her, with sincere curiosity, moving the conversation to more familiar terms. He got more than enough 'Master Clarke' from Olivette.

Unless she's... training herself? For the Embrace?

Nika had to consider the question as she stirred her coffee. Should she tell him exactly how she was? Or just give the general "I'm fine" answer. She opted for the general answer, but attached a smile to it.

"I am good. I have been doing a bit of research on Damon Cross lately and I actually had a date with him the other night. He's really a gentleman. Surprised the hell out of me. Anyway," she walks over to the chairs and sits, then picks up the papers she had laid out and hands them to Asa, "here is what I have gotten so far. It is not much at the moment, but I am sure I will be getting more. I have a camping date with him this weekend."

Her eyes sparkle a bit as she talks about Cross, but she keeps them lowered in an effort to hide it.

Asa paused in his perusal of the file as she started finding things other to do than look at him while she spoke about Cross. He felt a surge of anger and jealousy, white hot, run though him. For all that he was, and had now, through the Millarrs, Nika was his. To even consider some... Kine... had caught her eye was almost insulting.

He struggled for a few moments, warring with the Blood his Sire had cursed him with, as the Lord within demanded he remind his thrall of his dominion. With an act of will, he silenced the Beast, and the Man looked at the woman before him. They had shared much, and he couldn't begin to imagine a life in which Ishani neglected him as he had Nika. She was strong -- and even now, this turn of events had only come to pass as she made efforts to please him.

"Mr. Cross is a lucky man," he finally said, softly. "Please be careful, Nika. He may become a threat to the Masquerade," he added. Even completely bound to him, having to destroy something she came to care about would do further damage to their relationship.

"A fund raiser sounds like it might be fun," Asa said, trying to move past the macabre undertones of his warning.

Nika's jaw hit the floor, her coffee mug nearly following. Did he just give her permission to-? Did he even care?

"I'm sorry?" She asks absently as she grabs a napkin off the table and begins to wipe coffee off her skirt. "Oh yes, the fund raiser! Right, of course. But I wouldn't dare to assume......I wouldn't do anything without your permission, Master Clarke." She stammers, trying not to flinch from the heat of the coffee on her legs.

Again, the hot knife of jealousy and anger, as his implied threat to Cross upset her.

Maybe this has run it's course? Ishani doesn't like my ghouls... I doubt she'd accept my Embracing one -- especially the one that was part of my life longer than her.

Asa almost frowned as he realized the catch-22 he had constructed for himself. Anger his beloved -- and justifiably so -- or spurn a woman who had provided for, and served him faithfully, for most of her life. A service that began with the implicit agreement that it would earn her the Embrace, as her pedigree expected.

"This is your project," he answered, "Of course you have my permission, and a donation," he added with an almost laugh. "It's good to see you making progress with your new interests."

If this turned into a disaster, it would be a convenient place to put more distance into their relationship. If it were successful... an even more convoluted puzzle.

Asa wondered about the intricacies of finding a Sire for Nika, even as her attempts to clean her skirt drew his eyes to her legs. He shifted in his seat uncomfortably as the brown eyes in his mind flashed angrily.

Nika looks up, a bit confused. "My interests, sir?" She shakes her hair back from her face, giving up on the skirt for the moment and crosses her legs. She takes on a very business like expression and tries very hard not to let him see how much it stung that he did not realize she was doing this for him.

"Master Clarke, I took on this project so that you could gain influence with the local political movers and shakers. My interests lie in a much different direction, I assure you. Talking to Mr. Cross and seeing him this weekend is nothing but an attempt to get on his good side so I can gain influence with him, so you can gain influence with him. He is a very bright shining star rising quickly among the mortal bureaucracy."

She lowers her eyes for a moment and then brings them back up, uncertain. "The only reason I find the man attractive is because he happens to be rather good looking and rather charming. Like you, Master Clarke."

"When I said 'your new interests', I actually meant interests other than the partying... and I do appreciate what you're doing," Asa said, trying to fill the awkward moment.

He stood and moved near her, and stroked her hair. "The only reason I find your attraction to him distasteful is because you're important to me."

A random thought went through is mind, and he wondered how infuriated Elle would have been to know that they had only been friends because she reminding him of his ghoul.

Nika didn't know what to say. Knowing that he did care sent a thrill through her but it was quickly followed by a stab of guilt that she was going to be spending the weekend with Cross.

"The feeling is mutual." She says softly before clearing her throat and moving on. "What is that paperwork about that you mentioned earlier?"

"I have a new partner joining Miss Naetesh and I," Asa said carefully, as he pulled out a pen and his phone. He paused to write on one of his business cards. "Miss Torsione also has an assistant, Kalos," he said, handing her the card. "I'm sure that he'll assist in the merging of assets."

At some point he should talk to Twist, about relocating the theatre, within the protective demesne that Ishani would eventually establish.

"Will you need Olivette to clerk for you while you work your magic?" he asked.

Nika takes the card, nodding as he speaks. When he mentions Olivette her demeanor changes completely. "I do not need Olivette for anything." She says flatly.

She puts the card on the coffee table and picks the coffee up again returning to her business attitude. "I am sure that I will be able to arrange everything you need Master Clarke. Do you plan on merging Miss Torsione's assets with your own?"

"Fully," Asa nodded to the question. "She is to have complete access and control, like Miss Naetesh."

As Asa answered, he considered Nika's tone when speaking of Olivette. Though he hadn't considered the ramifications before, he thought now of all the ghouls. Should they be cross-bonded as well, to all the Millarrs? And... if they assumed secondary regnants, would the jealousy among them multiply in proportion to the additional regnants?

He stepped behind her chair and leaned over to run a finger lightly over her lips. "You've done very well, Nika," Asa said softly.

Nika relaxes into the chair, sighing at his touch.

"Thank you, Master Clarke." She whispers. "Is there anything else you need me to do? I am always available for you."

Asa smiled behind her at her words, and felt a twinge of regret that he couldn't allow himself to have her... elaborate.

He brought his other arm around, and his hand held a sharp pen knife. He paused, stirring, waking his cold, dead Blood to warm it and send it flowing through his body. Asa slid the razor edge across the finger he had run over her lips.

"I know," he replied to her words, putting away his knife as his Blood began to form a bright ruby on the tip of his finger.

Nika slides her lips over the finger and begins to suck hungrily. There was so much more she wants, needs from him, but this was what she was going to get. She takes it with grace and acceptance. Maybe someday.....

After a few minutes of bringing the blood into her mouth and swallowing like an alcoholic falling off the wagon. She pulls away finally and smiles. "Thank you, Master Clarke."

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