The Symphony of Shadow

23: 'Fineline'

G W Y N

She'd lain idly in Azriel's arms for at least an hour, perhaps even two. Time always passed quickly with him, but his body, his scent, was of so much comfort to her that she struggled to stay away, to even think of doing anything else.

But, and it was a strong but, she didn't want to open herself up to him. And yes, given their current situation – tangled in one another's arms in the bed they had shared, innocently it may have been (or so she told herself) – it was clear that she hadn't played the role of being mad at him very effectively. But that was her being drawn to him, as always - despite the fact that he had played with her feelings, up until he discovered their mating bond.

Unknowingly. A voice inside of her head reminded her. He hadn't meant to hurt her; he had problems of his own to deal with.

And so, whilst a devil and angel quarreled on either shoulder, Gwyn had let herself carefully stroke her thumb along his arm. They hadn't spoken too often since then awoken, but the silence was comfortable after a long sleep which had been much needed by both of them.

She needed him to sleep, she had discovered, and had strongly suspected Azriel was the same.

She mumbled into his neck. "What time is it?"

She heard him shift to glance at the clock. "Two."

"PM?"

"Unless the sun decided to come out at two in the morning, I'm fairly certain it is in fact two in the afternoon."

"We stayed in bed until 2pm?"

"We did."

"I don't think I've ever done that before."

"Neither have I," he said. He let out a soft laugh. "Not even when hungover."

Gwyn smiled at the though of the shadowsinger with a hangover, then nudged up her head so she could see him properly. "You're comfy," she smiled.

"You've mentioned," he replied.

A few seconds of silence passed between them. Naturally, Gwyn took this as a sign to blurt out one of the random nothings she had on her mind. "Will you stay with me tomorrow night?"

"I'm not exactly going to abandon you in the middle of Illyria, Berdara."

"No. I mean this. Stay with me, whilst we sleep."

His eyes widened slightly, he swallowed. "Anything."

She smiled weakly. "I have a lot of sleeping to catch up on," she admitted, "and apparently you're a real-life sleeping pill."

Azriel gave her a soft, somewhat confused smile, his beautiful lips begging to be kissed. She wanted to kiss him; she couldn't kiss him... Not after she'd insisted they forget all talk of mates and be purely platonic. And what said platonic like cuddling in bed?

A knock sounded at the door; the two of them glanced away from each other to see Heron peeping into the room. Azriel rolled his eyes as a surge of panic went through Gwyn at the thought that they had been caught.

The two of them sat up, but not quick enough that Heron couldn't catch sight of the position they had just been in. A smirk appeared upon the child's face, cunning and sly.

"I knew it," he grinned, "you are in love!"

"Heron, get-"

Azriel's words were interrupted as the boy ran towards them, leaping upon the bed and pressing the two of them into a crushing hug. He turned to Azriel. "Did you kiss her yet?"