When Zane and Cole ended the call to follow through with their lead at Laughy's, Lloyd turned to me.
"Rest," he ordered as he cradled my face with a concerned frown. "Now."
I huffed, eyes drifting to the side in annoyance. I didn't want to sleep, I couldn't sleep. Not with what I'd learnt. Not with what the Princess had threatened. Just the thought of blissfully forgoing all suspicions about her and crawling into bed to sleep like a baby while she was still milling around my family had my stomach twisting in knots.
Lloyd saw the conflicted expression that had settled on my face. His frown deepened. He pressed his forehead against mine until his red eyes were all that I could see, warm and courageous and trusting, so trusting. Too trusting for his own good.
I risked a peek across the room at Harumi and found her staring out the porthole window, face stern. Her cold glare sent shivers running down my spine. How was I the only one seeing this? Was everyone else just blind?
"You promised," Lloyd said with a pout, and I broke. My eyes reluctantly met with his again. "You'll really be easing my nerves if I know that my sunshine is all rested and healthy."
"Says you," I murmured. I slowly raised a hand to rub the back of his, sliding my fingertips of the scarred bumps of his knuckles, lining the hills and dips of his skin. Lloyd pressed his nose against mine.
"I told you that I'll be resting soon, too," he reminded gently. He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear before brushing that finger down the line of my jaw. "We just need to get Cole and Zane back, first. Now, please sleep?"
"I'd rather be sleeping with you," I mumbled in a last, pitiful attempt to get him to either recede or at least join me. "Can't I stay up until you go to bed?"
"But if I let you do that," Lloyd began in a whispering, gentle voice, "then you might rip off the princess' head for some ungodly reason. Then what will we do?"
"Snuggle," I decided. He laughed at my quick reply, all soothing and charming and rolling like smooth honey.
"Snuggling sounds tempting," Lloyd agreed with a grin and a kiss to my forehead. "But not right now."
I dropped my head back with a groan. "You're killing me, Lloyd."
"You look exhausted, kitten," he murmured as he guided my head back to his. His thumb brushed under my eye. "You've got bags. Your eyes are bloodshot. You've been put through so much stress in such a short amount of time." Lloyd pressed his lips to the tip of my nose. "Please rest, even if you just close your eyes."
My eyes dropped to his shirt with a sigh. I couldn't really deny him when he asked so sweetly, so full of worry and with a simple want for me to be okay. I dropped my cheek into his palm with a grumpy huff.
"Fine," I mumbled. My eyes jumped to his relieved gaze. "But can I check on Garm first?"
At the mention of his dad, Lloyd's attention flicked over to the old man. I followed his gaze and found the Sensei fiddling with a lever knob from the destroyed console while pretending to listen to Jay blabber while he fixed it. Attention solely stolen, I zeroed in on the old man's face. He was clearly still in the throes of the revelation of his genes, deep in thought while he rolled the knob in his hands. He looked so tired.
Lloyd deflated beside me, brows pitched in stressful worry. His thumb brushed a circle on my cheek.
"I'm sure he'll appreciate it," Lloyd murmured. His red eyes dropped to me. "Okay. But you go to bed straight after, alright?"
