Why's it always so hard to fall asleep before a battle?

After the briefing, Gideon had taken Len’s advice and gone straight to bed. Hours had passed since then. He was definitely tired enough for sleep, but it simply refused to arrive. His mind raced, bouncing wildly between the upcoming assault and the argument he’d had with Edea.

Fuck it.

He sat up, scowling, then got to his feet and walked over to the armoire, quickly throwing on some extra clothing. The floor was freezing, so he decided to put his boots on.

Fully dressed, he stepped out into the hallway. The villa was dark and filled with an eerie silence. The lanterns hanging from the walls had been blown out hours ago, presumably by one of the servants. The only source of light was the full moon hanging in the sky above the atrium.

Gideon walked up to one of the windows to take a look at the stars, and as he did he saw two dark figures sitting together in the atrium. He squinted at them, and realization came to him as he studied the shapes of their silhouettes.

What are they doing?

Edea and Len seemed to be whispering to each other, though it was difficult to be sure in the darkness. Their chairs were turned in towards one another, so closely that it looked like their knees were almost touching.

Gideon stood in the window and observed them for a while, curious for lack of anything better to do. After a few minutes of spying, he watched as Edea suddenly reached her hand out to Len, who accepted it with both of his hands instantly.

It was definitely not a handshake. Len was holding her hand. There was simply no way to mistake the intimacy implied by the gesture.

Are they…huh. Wow. Didn’t expect that.

Quietly, Gideon stepped back from the window.

I guess I just assumed she wasn’t capable of that kind of thing. What a fucking hypocrite.

He ambled carelessly down the hallway, placing his hands in his pockets to keep them warm. As he rounded the corner by Edea’s room, he noticed a dim glow peeking through the crack in the door.

It can’t be Edea, so is that Surelin? I don’t even know what room she’s in.

Hesitantly, he approached the door. After listening for any noise inside, he rapped his knuckles against the door softly.

“Surelin?” he asked.

He heard a soft ruffling inside the room, then a feminine voice.

“Gideon? Come in.”

The door opened with a loud squeak that made him wince. He stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him.

Surelin was half underneath the covers of Edea’s bed, sitting back against a small mountain of pillows. She wore a white sleepshirt, with green trims along the collar. Her hair was untied and spread out against the pillows beneath her head. The covers were pulled up to her midsection, and a closed book rested in her lap. Only two of the candles in the chandelier had been lit, leaving much of the room in shadow.

“Is this your room now?” Gideon asked as he stepped further inside.

“No. Well, kind of. I slept with grandmother last night, so I suppose I’m sharing it with her.”

“Oh.”

“What are you still doing up?”

He shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep. You?”

She shook her head wearily. “I’m the same. I decided to try reading to get my mind off things. You can sit down, if you like.”

Where? Next to you?

He decided to play it safe, and walked over to sit down at the table.

“I noticed you didn’t talk to me about coming along to save Edwin,” he said.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

A frown tugged at the corners of her mouth. “That’s because I knew you’d try to convince me not to.”

“Well, looking past the obvious danger involved, putting you at risk in order to rescue Edwin seems…counterproductive. What good is it going to do anyone if we save him, but lose you in the process?”

She studied his face for a while, thinking.

“Do you have any siblings?” she eventually asked.

The question took him by surprise. “No.”

“Edwin is the only one I have. And with mother and father gone, grandmother and I are all he has left. Gideon, he’s been a slave for over half a year. He probably doesn’t even know we’re alive. I am not going to sit back and watch as he’s rescued by someone else. I’m going to be there to save him.”

“Hm.”

“I don’t expect you to understand.”

“Oh, I get it. I was just thinking that’s pretty bold talk for a girl who’s sitting up with worry.”

She sighed quietly. “...I suppose you’re right. Well then, how do you do it so easily?”

“Huh? Do what?”

“Handle the…fear. I can’t stop thinking about it. This is, um…we’re really going to have to fight. Aren’t we?”

He nodded slowly. “...Yeah. This one’s gonna get bloody."

Surelin looked away from him and brought her hands into her lap. She began to rub the fingers on her left hand anxiously.

“Everyone deals with it in different ways, but you shouldn’t dwell on it too much,” he said. “When it happens, instinct will kick in. That training you did wasn’t for nothing.”

A peal of nervous laughter escaped from her. “I feel like I’m holding on to my courage by the tips of my fingers.”

He gave her a casual shrug.

The reality is there’s no correct advice for this I can give you. Once you’ve chosen to face death, you have to find your own way to handle it.

“Kali! You seem so indifferent," she said. "Doesn’t anything scare you?”

“I’m awake right now too, aren't I?”

“That’s true,” she said with a rueful smile.

A thoughtful silence fell between them. Gideon scanned the room, trying to think of something to distract her with. The tea service on the table next to him gave him an idea.

“Wanna hear a joke?” he asked abruptly.

“No, not really.”

“What kind of tea is hard to swallow?”

A frown spread across her face, but she seemed to be waiting for the punchline.

“Reality.”

He began to laugh boisterously, and Surelin threw one of her pillows at him.

“Shut up! Don’t laugh at your own joke!”

“Sorry,” he laughed.

She smiled. “That was terrible! At least make it a good joke.”

Is this a good moment? he wondered as his laughter trailed off. Whatever, I’m going for it.

“Hey, I got you something today,” he said.

“What?”

Gideon reached into his pocket and pulled out a small felt jewelry case.

“It’s nothing expensive,” he said as he walked it over to her. “I heard that you liked emeralds, so…”

Surelin sat up straight and crossed her legs under the covers before accepting the case. She placed it gingerly onto the bed in front of her, staring at it with a troubled expression.

“It’s not a ring,” he said jokingly.

Her fingers closed around it carefully, and she hesitated for a moment before opening it. Inside were three emerald hairpins. The bands were silver, and looped around the emeralds which adorned the ends of the pins. The emeralds themselves had each been cut into the shape of a blossoming flower.

Overall, the hairpins were simple but attractive. Surelin ran her fingers over them slowly, and something about the way she did it gave Gideon a bad feeling.

“So…what do you think?” he asked.

She blinked hard before abruptly closing the case.

“Thank you for the gift,” Surelin said quietly. “But this is wasted on me.”

Gideon’s eyebrows lifted with surprise as she turned her head away.

“Good night, Gideon.”

Shock washed over him like a wave as he turned to walk out of the room. He’d known a flat out rejection was theoretically possible, but he hadn’t actually expected it. The belated realization of his own cocksuredness spawned an intense feeling of shame, and caused his face to burn.

His mind raced as he walked slowly back to his room.

Okay. So…okay. That was a mistake. Yeah. Big fucking mistake. Shit.

He entered his room and sat down on the armchair, barely aware of what his body was doing as he thought over the sequence of events, trying to figure out what he’d done wrong.

I told her a joke she didn’t want to hear, laughed at it, then gave her a gift. What the fuck is wrong with me? Of course she didn’t like it. I’m such a fucking moron.

Eventually, once he’d calmed down enough to stop overthinking, he realized that there had been a strange ambiguity to what she’d said. She’d rebuffed him, but the way she’d done it had been odd.

This is wasted on me? That’s strange. What exactly did she mean by that?

Exhaustion began to pull at his eyelids. He quickly untied his boots and walked over to his bed, dropping himself onto it heavily. One final thought crossed his mind before sleep took him.

I shouldn't have done it. Sorry, Surelin. You didn’t need that right now.