XII

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

"Lillian, wake up."

Even though the tone of the words were nothing short of gentle and concerned, her body lurched from the realm of sleep as if hurled from a deep and endless cavernous rift.

Every part of her was trembling, her heartbeat a distinct and continuous thunder, and sweat dampened her hair, making the linen shirt she wore cling to her skin.

Wildly, she glanced about her chambers, coiling her body backwards until her shoulders bumped against the wall behind her and she curled her knees against her chest, panting. Her body and mind were in a state of distress, of intrinsic panic, yet confusion numbed her thoughts and altered her perception- she could not conceive the cause of her panic, merely that it had been induced during her slumber.

When her gaze collided with his, she stiffened, her breath hitching and holding within her lungs. Aëghan crouched low beside her bed, one hand placed gently on the white linen that separated them. Even in the shadows it was easy for Lillian to discern the worry displayed outwardly on his countenance.

Though he was within the confines of her private chambers, she sensed no threat from him, and she compelled her body to relax, expelling the breath she held with a tremulous release. A bolt of lightning illuminated the room in a flare of blue light, followed by a loud rumble of thunder. Every part of her body reacted to the sound as if the lightning had struck her, as if the thunder had physically surrounded her until she could hear nothing else.

It took several long moments for her to still her vehement, impulsive reaction, and Aëghan merely waited, his unwaveringly dark gaze glistening through the shadows as he scrutinised her.

At least, Lillian conceded, she had the cause of her distress evident. Storms would always haunt her and provoke memories she would much rather forget.

Aëghan's presence on the other hand...

She swallowed several times, dispelling the thickness that had swelled her tongue. "What are you doing in my room?" Her voice was a hoarse rasp, a dull ache at the back of her throat indicative of the night terrors that had possibly caused her to shout out in her sleep.

His eyes switched over her face, moving along her features as if he were attempting to determine something, then further down they trailed until he paused where she was hugging her knees to her chest. Lillian self-consciously tugged the shirt she was wearing over her limbs, his open regard unsettling her. "I..." he began, his voice trailing off, and deep grooves settled in the angles of his cheeks as he frowned over his next words. "Your fear."

Her fear? A chill coursed over her body, the fire in the hearth having long since died, and her sweat-dampened skin drawing the coldness like a tether. What, however, her 'fear' had done to compel him from his bed and into her chambers was somewhat confuddling. She scowled at him softly, ignoring the unkempt, tousled appeal of the man who had clearly just arisen, his shirt creased and loose, his hair a woebegone mess atop his head.

But if it was her fear that had arisen him, then perhaps her shouts had been loud enough to be heard across the passage where his room was located. Even though she had been unnerved to be positioned so close to the Dravolese, once Enorae had shown her to her chambers and assisted her with a bath, Lillian had not seen or heard from Aëghan again that day. Not even to partake of a meal that had been served in a dining chamber in the lower floor of the ruins.

So seeing him now, here in her chambers, in the middle of a storm-riddled night, disconcerted her considering she had thought that perhaps Aëghan meant to keep to himself and away from her for the duration of her stay.

It was a prospect that filled her with some relief and some... loss. The latter she would not think much of.

"I apologise if I disturbed you," she told him quickly. "I am fine now. The storm- nevermind. It is not important."

He didn't respond for a long time, and Lillian dropped her gaze. His hand remained stretched between them, his long fingers stark against the whiteness of the sheet, as if reaching for her. Another bolt of lightning cracked the sky, flickers of luminescence making her shoulders hunch instinctively. "The storm bothers you," he said quietly.

She considered briefly lying, of not admitting the source of something that made her feel impossibly weak and vulnerable, but what use would that be? It was clear he was aware of her predicament and though Aëghan came off as unpredictable and insouciant, Lillian felt there was a shrewd and calculative intelligence to him.

So she nodded silently as a deep rumble of thunder echoed in the distance and made her flinch.

"Something happened to you," he remarked, his voice low and mild, "didn't it? In this weather."

Again, she nodded. She didn't see any reason to withhold the truth from him, so long as he didn't press her for details- details that were difficult to talk about, details that she did not wish for any person to know of.

"I am sorry."

"There is nothing you need apologise for," she told him quickly. "It was not your doing."

His expression softened into one of neutrality, the harsh lines that pulled his brows together and line his swarthy cheeks disappearing. The roguishly handsome face was swathed in shadows yet his beauty as man was poignant and aching nonetheless. Lillian tried to ignore the effect he had on her, but she could hardly deny how attractive she found him any longer.

She'd only be lying to herself, anyway, because not a single living soul would ever know that she harboured burgeoning infatuations for a Dravolese male who was currently in her chambers.

Alone.

"Would you like me to stay with you until the weather abates?"

His words would have startled her were they not followed by thunder that seemed to tear the very sky asunder with its ferocity. The air was charged with the storm, aiding her discomfort, and even though Lillian to strived to outwardly project that she was unaffected by it, she could not help how she jumped and positively cowered with each strike of lightning, with each murmuring of thunder.

When the sounds had abated, leaving only the rain as it thrashed against the stone foundations of the ruins, the wind as it howled through the trees surrounding them, Aëghan added, "I'll stay right here until you are comfortable."

She considered it, she truly did, but her propriety compelled her to reject his proposal, even if there was an appeal at having him close to her during her turmoil. Just his presence in the last few minutes had severely limited her reactions to the storm and she felt calmer for it, calmer than she would normally.

"It is not proper."

At that, his lips tilted in a crooked smile that made her heart jerk awkwardly within her chest. "You are not in Ravensfield anymore, my lady. The moment you made the decision to stay with me here left no more room for your so-called propriety."

Well, she couldn't very well deny that snippet of truth. Whatever Millie would contrive to keep gossip and speculation at bay due to Lillian's disappearance- again- would surely cause some toll on her sister's composure, but Lillian knew she would understand. Millie was compassionate to a fault- it would go without saying that she would allot her sister the time she needed as a reprieve, until she felt ready to return to Ravensfield and resume her duties. Millie would do her part to assure society that Lillian still remained a proper and respectable heiress.

But Lillian could not return until she felt ready.

And that meant sorting out the paralytic assault of her nerves whenever a male came near her, whenever she recalled something from her time in the Otherworld that was particularly difficult.

If Aëghan's presence helped soothe her torment, then who was she to deny it? It was harmless, and he did not seem inclined to make any untoward approaches towards her, especially in her vulnerable condition, and if he did she would put an end to it.

Surely.

"Fine." She assented with a tiny incline of her chin.

He relaxed further at her words and seemed to settle onto the floor beside her bed. He did not remove his hand from the mattress, instead pressed his back against the wall behind him and adopted a casual repose that spoke of unconcern. "See?" A slight grin curled his lips. "You are perfectly safe with me."

Lillian shifted, uncurling her legs and tucking them under the covers, pulling the heavy furs and blankets to her chin. "Am I?"

With the back of his head tilted against the wall, he turned to give her a wry look. From this position, Lillian's height was an advantage as she peered down at him braced upon her floor, even if his size clearly dominated her own. He was easily one of the larger males she had come across.

"Despite what you may think," he said, a teasing lilt to his voice, "the women that are enticed into my bed come to it willingly."

"That is not what I was implying," she said sourly. Really, there was no reason for the sly tentacles of jealousy to appear and entrap her. Nameless and faceless women were no concern of hers, and it was no secret that the Dravolese male beside her was prone to a more licentious nature than that of his human counterparts.

All fae were.

"And they leave it very satisfied," he added unwelcomingly.

Lillian glared at his shadowed countenance. "If you are intent on discussing this topic I would rather take my chances with the thunder," she snapped.

"You needn't be jealous. I am sure when you come to my bed, the experience will be most... euphoric."

When. Lord, the male was an arrogant fool to think in such certainties. Another surge of lightning and thunder made her jump, after which she quickly resumed her venomous glower. "Should such a thing occur then you may very well have me institutionalised for I will have surely lost my mind."

His teeth were stark against the gloom, flashed in a smile that very nearly took her breath away. "Your mind will remain safely found," he murmured. "It is only your inhibitions that need be lost."

She shook her head, her body clearly a traitorous thing as a hot yearning stirred her abdomen and made her thighs clench tightly together. Thankful that he at least couldn't detect these reactions she was having to him- to the low insinuation inflecting his voice, his closeness- Lillian thought it best that this topic be put to bed.

In a manner of speaking.

"Did I wake you? Earlier, in my sleep?"

His expression sobered, though his eyes glistened with starlight yet. "In a sense, yes."

"What does that mean?"

"It means," he began slowly, thoughtfully, and turned his head so that he was no longer looking at her. Instead his gaze turned inward as he stared at the shadows that consumed her chambers, illuminated softly by the light that flooded her room whenever a bolt of lightning cracked the tumultuous sky above. "It means I was able to hear you, yes. I could also sense your terror, so profound it affected me. If... if I hadn't woken you, I would not have been able to endure it."

"Oh."

He turned to look at her again, his fingers shifting along the sheet slightly. "Oh?"

"Is it... just my fear that you are able to sense?"

"Only those emotions that are strong... or unsettling."

"Oh." Lillian gnawed thoughtfully at her bottom lip for a moment, her body relaxing further into the mattress. Warm and immensely comfortable, she could easily submit to a sense of calmness. Aëghan's furnishings were tasteful and the bed was immensely soothing with a soft mattress and covers that glided like silk over her skin. Rich furs were spread out for warmth, a canopy of light silks draped over her head along the mahogany posts of the bed frame. "I apologise if these disturb you. Sometimes I am unable to control these emotions," she told him at length, and quietly.

Around them, the storm raged on. Every so often the lightning would make her flinch, and the thunder made her skin prick with trepidation, but Aëghan's presence was beginning to help alleviate most of her fear. It made the storm bearable.

Even if he could be the most vexing, confusing male to ever exist.

"I know," he said to her. His fingers tapped rhythmically between them, drawing her attention. "You are forgiven, however."

She made a scoffing sound and turned on her side, her head resting on the edge of a plush pillow, and tucked the blankets under her chin. "Could you not somehow enchant it so that you didn't feel them?" she queried. "Like what you did for me... with the mark?"

The reminder of the mark only served to make her uneasy. She loathed the thing and its appearance. Somewhere another being harboured the same mark as she, binding him to her, and when that sordid bit of information came to light... Lillian did not like to dwell long on the furore it would cause, at the prospect that she would be forced to choose someone unfit for Ravensfield simply because it was preordained by a fae God.

"Truthfully, I hadn't considered it." A wicked gleam entered his eyes then and her body responded in kind, her breath hitching silently. "I do so like being attuned to every nuance of your feelings, my lady. Even the ones you do not wish me to feel."

The nearest pillow was lobbed at his face. Aëghan caught it effortlessly and promptly tucked it behind his head. "You needn't worry," he murmured slyly. "I will not divulge your sordid little secrets to anybody."

"If you were a gentleman, you would not be pointing them out in the first place!"

"If I was a gentleman, I most certainly would not remark upon the delicious way your lips part whenever you think about why your body reacts the way it does to me."

Heat, blazing and ferocious, burned her cheeks. "Stop it," she whispered fiercely. "You are mistaken."

His gaze was firm yet unreadable despite the wickedness of his words. "Perhaps I am, then your denial is warranted. I reiterate, Lillian, that no matter what is true, you are completely and unequivocally safe so long as you are here. So long as you want to be."

Lightning pitched the chamber into brightness, her heart thudding with fright, and the crash of thunder was so loud this time that the windows shook against their frames. Almost unconsciously, Lillian's hand snaked out and clutched Aëghan's fingers. Only when the sound faded into the distance did she become aware of what she had done, that she was squeezing his hand as if it were her anchor to everything real and stable, and embarrassment suffused her.

Hastily, she released his fingers and retracted her hand, but he caught her, lacing their fingers together. "If it helps you, then there is no harm in it," he pointed out calmly. "If you want to, of course."

She considered their hands entwined, the warm feel of his flesh pressed against hers. How such an innocuous act like holding hands could seem so intimate, so intensely poignant, every wanton inch of her almost set alight for it.

Yet even as desire coated her limbs, she could hardly refute the sense of comfort seeping through her at the slight contact. If his presence was enough to allay her fears, then this... this was purely cathartic to her troubled mind.

"I want to," she whispered. A distant echo of thunder mumbled from a distance, as if in agreement.

"As do I." He sighed then, a sound full of resignation, and she wondered for it.

Silence descended over them, gradual and natural, until the sounds of rain, muted thunder, and her measured breaths were the only things to meet her ears. It was easy then, with his hand cradling her own, with the easing of her own fears through their connection and his presence alone, for Lillian to drop into the rhythmic lull of sleep.

When she woke, the grey light of dawn edged through the panes of the windows opposite her bed and Aëghan was gone.

----

A/N

Things are winding down at work now so should have more time to update this story at least for the upcoming week- good thing too because Lillian and Aëghan are about to spending a loooot of time together :) 

I am not sure what the subsequent few weeks will have in store in terms of updating as some travel plans are tentatively in the works (YAASSS) and a sly little secret which I will divulge a bit later. 

A huge thanks to all the support for this story! Both MCs are deeply complex and I am hoping their chemistry soon jumps off the page (ahem, phone screen). At times, the ideas for this series are so huge and complicated I feel like I have bitten off more than I can chew, and some desperate reining in has to take place. 

Some more of Lillian's background and what she has experienced will come to light in the next few chapters- strategically, these are not revealed until pivotal moments. Don't worry, I'm not deliberately ignoring these... they are just taking awhile to come out! 

As usual, any and all support is welcome and adored! 

Ya'll rock my world! 

Ash xxx