AllFreeNovel
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We reach the top of the stairs without him dropping me, and we head straight into his room.The door was left ajar, so we easily burst through.
A mahogany bed takes up most of the space. Its four posters look like oversized candlesticks, and regal swirls are carved into every inch of the wood. White silk hangs from the frame and ripples with the delicate breeze blowing in through the open window.
A crystalline lamp stands on the counter beside the bed, and it looks like a standing chandelier. Zig-zagged wooden panels of assorted shades form the floor, and a crimson square rug featuring a paisley pattern lies in front of the canopy bed. It’s set at a diagonal and appears diamond-like as we enter.
This has always been his room, even before Heston was exiled. It’s a lot smaller than the master bedroom across the corridor, but Arluin can’t bear to enter it, let alone sleep in there.
He sets me down on the bed and heads over to his wardrobe to hang his adept robes. The wardrobe is also crafted from mahogany, and the decoration carved into its panels matches the swirls running across the bed. I normally leave my robes hanging over the armchair in my room, but Arluin is much fussier than me about having wrinkles in his clothes.
I tilt my head over the edge of the bed and watch from upside down as he loosens the metallic buttons of his high collar. If he notices me staring, he doesn’t look bothered. He finishes unbuttoning his collar and pulls the cerulean fabric over his head, revealing the hard planes of his torso. If he weren’t so far away, I would run my hands over his chest. Maybe I will when he comes closer. Though with how much I drank tonight, he’ll probably insist we go straight to sleep.
As he opens the wardrobe to hang his robes, I turn my attention to the grandfather clock standing in the corner. Thanks to the aether imbued in its springs, it perpetually ticks. According to its hands, it’s currently quarter to twelve.
My birthday is almost over.
“Arluin,” I lament. For dramatic effect, I let my arm flop over the side of the bed. “You need to give me my present before midnight, or else it won’t be special anymore.”
He shuts the wardrobe and turns around, his breeches still on. I watch him cross the room, and the bed dips as he perches on the edge beside me.
“Very well,” he says.
“Really?” I exclaim, having expected him to refuse. I scramble up, but most of my weight is hanging over the bed, and gravity pulls me down. I’m unable to haul myself back up.
With a soft laugh, Arluin grips my waist and helps return me to a sitting position. Our faces are so close they’re almost touching, and his warm breath caresses my skin. I would kiss him, if not for the fact I’m dying to know what my present is.
He reaches for my face, and his thumb sweeps across my cheek. “Reyna, I...” His shoulders are taut with tension, and hesitance clouds his expression.
The last time I remember him being this nervous was four years ago, when he confessed he no longer saw me as a friend. When he first kissed me.
I rise onto my knees so we’re at the same height, wrap my arms around his tense shoulders, and kiss the top of his head. “What’s the matter, Arly?” His dark curls muffle my voice. They’re as soft as they look.
It occurs to me now that he might be using my drunkenness as an excuse. Whatever the gift is, he’s worried about how I will react to it.
He hesitates. Then he draws in a shaky breath and holds out his hand. “Conparios.”
A jewelry box emerges from violet light. It’s covered by midnight blue velvet and decorated with small flowers. His hands tremble slightly as he opens it.
Inside lies a silver, heart-shaped locket. Delicate roses are etched across its gleaming surface.
My breath catches in the back of my throat.
“Do you like it?” he asks with a frown.
“Of course I like it. Did you think I wouldn’t?”
“It wasn’t that,” he says, lifting the necklace from where it lies. He muttersevanest, and the empty box disappears in a cloud of aether.
“Then why were you so nervous to give it to me?”
He lays the locket flat on his palm and glances up at me. “A memory crystal lies inside. I wanted to make a promise to you and have it forever recorded so you know my sincerity.”
I sit back on my heels. “What promise?”
Arluin doesn’t answer. He waves his hand over the locket, and it springs open to reveal a glittering crystal.“Incipret.”At his command, the memory crystal fills with a purple glow as it starts to record.
“Reyna,” he begins, “I am a man who has nothing, who is nothing. I know I don’t deserve you, but you mean everything to me. In this world, I have nothing else left.”
I rest my hand on his cheek. “Arluin, please don’t speak about yourself like this. You mean everything to me, as well.”
