Princess of Dragons

Chapter 55

Lodin walked back to his room quickly. He was getting tired and he wanted to get to sleep as fast as at all possible.

It had been another long night - as it had been the last many, many nights. He could hardly even remember the feeling of going to bed early. And just like those many, many late nights, an early morning would follow.

He gave the guards at the door a look and they nodded in return. So, Ciara had gone to sleep already. Not that that was the slightest bit strange, considering the hour.

He quickly slipped into the black room as soundlessly as he was able and closed it behind him just as silently. This was a routine he had long since become used to. He could easily find his way around the room without his sight at this point.

He went straight to the wardrobe, shrugged out of his clothes and into a night-robe instead. Then he moved towards the sofa, which he had taken to sleeping on ever since it was agreed he shared his chambers with Ciara. It just hadn't felt right to slip into bed next to her in the dead of night.

Besides, sleeping on the couch meant less of a chance of him waking her and certainly also the reverse. She seemed like the type who would toss and turn in her sleep.

When he got to his current bed, his eyes had grown accustomed enough to the dark around him that he could see at least some things. Contours, mostly. And so, he could also see that the sofa wasn't as empty as it used to be.

It really couldn't be a lot of different people, but the flash of white contrasting the dark still surprised him.

He frowned. Why was she sleeping here? Surely, she hadn't been sitting here ever since he left earlier. She wouldn't have been sitting here for so many hours and then just fallen asleep, would she?

He knew it was a ridiculous thought - she was way too active to sit down for so many hours on end. She would've gone out to play with the dragon. Kaisog.

Was this an act of defiance or solidarity?

She was such a willful, brazen girl. Young as she was, she seemed both childish and mature at the same time. Fearless, to be sure. It amazed him every single time how she so easily approached any dragon as though they were the closest of friends. It was a sight to behold every time.

And she got so very stubborn every time something was about those creatures, even if she was so mellow about everything else.

And then when he'd heard of a raging dragon in the town square - the first time he experienced such a thing - and he came to see her calmly sewing up its wing with it lying flat on its belly. She'd been completely unwilling to come back, demanding to be allowed to finish. And then she even went and invited it to the castle the following days without consulting him at all.

She would never budge on that point, no matter how much she was pushed. That fact was further accentuated with their little talk earlier. Originally he'd really only invited her because it felt like the right thing to do, seeing as he had promised it when she'd asked back then. Besides, he knew the maids would be making up rumors as quickly as lightning would strike the ground.

However, he had genuinely found it enjoyable. And he'd also been curious to know just a little more about that kingdom of hers. Even after having been there, it had seemed like a world from a fairytale.

He was brought out of his thoughts when she moaned in her sleep and turned around with her front to him instead.

Her cascading, silvery hair fell over her face, moving with each breath she took. It seemed annoying, judging by the way her nose wrinkled.

He crouched down beside her and tentatively brushed it away from her face again, the wrinkle disappearing immediately.

He marveled at how silky it felt, falling through his fingers as though it was the finest of sand. Everyone here had some version of curly or wavy hair and while that could also be quite soft, it had nothing on this straight hair.