---
He opened his mouth, then closed it again, afraid that if he tried to answer he would say something maudlin and Luna would never let him live it down.
Luna, perhaps sensing that the emotional temperature of the room was getting dangerously high for someone with his blood loss, clapped her hands once.
"All right," she said briskly. "Miracle spit aside, we have a checklist. Motor coordination. Cognitive alignment. Aura stability. Preference for cooked versus raw meat. Kai, you will sit before you fall over, or I will recruit Miryam to lick you unconscious body and then strap you to the bed while you recover. We girls will suck you dry while you recover."
"I am not sure that is how healing works," Kai said.
"I am the first wife," she said. "I make the rules."
Akayoroi smiled slightly and moved to lean against the far wall, content for now to watch the strange little cluster of people who were somehow her Lord's inner circle.
