court of lies | robert's rebellion

the brotherhood

"i will die, you will die, we will die and the universe will carry on without a care, all that we have is that shout into the wind -how we live, how we go and how we stand before we fall"

281 AC, King's Landing

When he woke up in the chill morning, he didn't know what he was expecting to see. Just that not a naked body laying there with him, her back turned to his chest but they were not cuddling. As he looked at her with a frown, a strong wind entered the room through the open window and he shivered, he was naked as well. And then with realization, he threw himself back to the bed, one arm rose to cover his eyes.

The flashbacks of yesterday came to him in a blur; their mission to save Elia, the way he killed the so-called Smiling Knight, and the shock on the faces of his friends when he knighted Jaime. And of course, what happened between him and her; though those memories were far from being blurry and unpleasant like the others. He was aware of what he was doing every step along the way and he did them so wantingly, needingly, and despite his moment of shock, he bore no regrets.

"Arthur?", as he kept laying there like this, shivering but too exhausted to get up and close the window, she woke up as well.

He felt the way the bed moved and the sheets twisted as she tried to cover herself -probably stone cold just like he was, and turn to him. He lowered his arm and lazily moved to look at her as well, now both were facing each other, laying side by side.

"Good morning.", was the only thing that came to his mind. "Are you cold?", which was a useless question since she basically buried herself beneath the furs. "Want me to close off the window?", again was an unnecessary question since he was going to close it either way because he himself was freezing.

She probably did realize it with too, a frown, she was looking like she still was half sleeping and as if his voice was not reaching her completely -or it did reach her but her brain couldn't exactly comprehend it. While Arthur cursed himself to create a frown on her rather calm face literally a minute after she woke up, she moved with dedication -though not so efficiently as there was some laziness on her as well, and tried to get close to him as she tried to move the furry blanket further down to his neck to cover his chest.

"You are freezing.", she managed to sigh when she finally covered them both and now was snuggling to the area between his neck and shoulder, seeming content. Her leg moved to tangle with his and she wrapped a hand around his torso to basically glue herself to him. "We shouldn't have opened the window."

They weren't going to but after all was said and done, the air was just too hot for them to bear and it felt like their rising fevers were urging them to start all over again. So she came up with the bright idea to open the window to breathe. Though it didn't help at all and they indeed started all over again this time with more hushed sounds. Not that someone would hear them but Arthur's room was on the first floor and there was no need to risk it.

"No we shouldn't.", he breathed into her hair though he felt like his muscles were frozen to move. He hoped that she did not realize he still didn't hold her back. He would not have it for her to feel as if there was something wrong because there was not. He was aware that every wrong move he did, every hesitancy he showed was going to ring the alarm bells in her head, made her suspect a regret, which there was not. So he forced himself, forced was a wrong choice of words as he craved at that moment to touch her, to wrap an arm around her as well to pull her to him even more. She hummed with satisfaction and suddenly the air started to become too hot again. "Are you well?", he asked, despite his body wanting to give in, close his eyes and fell to a peaceful sleep, he felt the need to check on her first.