The Drow Queen of Glaley [Very NSFW]

[Shiori]

Shiori swallows back the anger that threatens her. "Of course I am loyal, to my husband and my city."

[NPCs]

"And to the Tiger family, yes?" he asked pointedly.

[Shiori]

"Of course." No hesitation, but her earlier omission already speaks volumes. 

[NPCs]

"Splendid," he replied. In a show of mastery, his tone and body language gave no reason for Shiori to think he's been anything less than pleasantly sincere and yet she is left with the distinct understanding he caught her omission. Just before she started to respond, he continued, "as your duty to the family will persist after our beloved lord joins our honored ancestors."

[Shiori]

"Yes, yes, of course. Though it will be unusual to raise my child at the Widow's Pavilion, it has been done before."

[NPCs]

"Oh no, my... lady," Dniss murmured with mild dismay. "You're far too young to be tossed into a dusty corner. No, the wisdom of Tigers is beyond such wastefulness."

[Shiori]

She stills. "Oh?"

[NPCs]

"Mmmh. Lord Genjii has decided, in fact, that you will start receiving training starting next week to ensure you don't shame yourself, your Clan and... your second husband."

[Shiori]

"Third. My third marriage." She seems... absent, frozen. 

[NPCs]

Dniss sniffed dismissively, his long, slender hands casting away the correction before he clasped them across his flat stomach again. "The Clan feels no need to recognize any pretentions of marriage to foreigners that serve no point." A thin smile appears, pleased and expectant. "Ours will be your second marriage."

[Shiori]

Ours. 

Ours.

Shoiri stares at Dniss in barely-disguised horror. 

[NPCs]

Dniss pretended to miss her expression, still smiling. "Service deserves reward, as they say. And I've served long and successfully, so being formally recognized as main family, even if second hand, is only my due."

[Shiori]

"Surely you grasp above your station," snaps Shoiri, rattled. "My husband will live years yet."

[NPCs]

"If the Ancestors will it, may he live another century," he intoned, raising a hand upwards. "But should that sad day come, I have been promised a rewarding future. My duties will barely change, truth be told, save for the name the orders are issued under. Your duties, however, will increase."

[Shiori]

"Your place is not to lecture me on my duties. Should the day come that we are wed, I will happily submit to you, but not before then."