The Queen of Darkness

Chapter Three

When I am awoken, I am more than grateful that Darian is still asleep and not off at some deathly boring meeting. A knock sounds at the door and I almost jump out of my skin at the noise. Immediately sitting up in bed, I pull the covers up over my chest as Serene walks through the door.

"Oh, sorry... I'll come back," Serene averts her gaze after seeing Darian in my bed but I quickly wave my hand haphazardly. I haven't seen her in what feels like forever. She is not leaving now because of Darian of all people.

"No... it's fine. Where have you been?" I question, wanting to hear what she has been up to recently that has been stealing all of her attention. Manin is good to talk to but he still walks around me on eggshells, preserving his job I see.

Serene places down the tray of food in front of me in a hushed manner, trying not to wake Darian. "Nothing important," she dismisses the subject. "How are you? How is your cold ?" her voice is drowning in satire.

"My cold is... the usual," I inform her and she rolls her eyes. Obviously, she doesn't believe that it is really a cold and that there is something I'm hiding from her but I am as lost as she is. "Speaking of which, Darian said he's going to call a healer. I think I may be rejecting the darkness in some way..." I trail off not sure how she is going to respond.

"Well, I hope you are in good health, Nova," due to our closeness, Serene has finally agreed to call me by my first name. "You're really the only person to talk to around here," her dark skin looks as radiant as ever and her smile brighter than usual so I doubt that that's the case.

"I could say the same about you," she really has been the only person I could truly talk to recently. And the fact that she hasn't really been around has made it so that there has been no one to talk to.

"I have some errands to run but it has been really nice talking to you. I hope everything goes well with the healer and that it's only a stomach bug of sorts," with that she gives me a big smile before slipping out of the door with as minimal noise as possible.

Pulling the tray towards me, I take off the lid to see mountains of fruits and pancakes almost as if she knew that there would be the both of us.

Darian stirs in his sleep and I look over at him. Groaning, he turns over and sleeps on his stomach - his muscles flexing as he does so. His tattoos are splayed beautifully across his back and arms and I have to resist the urge to reach out and trace the lines of them.

I was about to turn back to the tray of food but Darian began reaching out for something. "Nova?" his voice was laced with sleep as he felt around the empty bed. I lay down beside him and run my hand through his hair.

I ignore my mind's protest, my mind's urge to run far away and never look back. To ignore the urge to put as much space between us as possible.

"I'm here," I whisper and his eyes flutter open. "Serene brought us breakfast if you're hungry," I suggest and it takes him a while to register what I have said before he rolls himself on top of me so that he is nestled between my thighs.

My breath gets caught in my throat - from both shock and sheer panic.

"I think we have more pressing issues such as calling a healer and not spending our time eating fruits," Darian says, finally waking up. He presses a kiss on the tip of my nose before rolling off of me and getting out of bed.

"You're leaving already?" I question as Darian begins to dress. He takes a piece of fruit and plops it into his mouth before speaking the words which I knew would eventually leave his mouth.

"I have a meeting to attend to," we both say in unison and he furrows his brows at me in confusion. I glare at him before waving my hand in dismissal. Go to your boring meetings, I couldn't care less.