Bratty thief stole my heart

Chapter 19: Pro and contra bratty thief

Eren's Pov:

I woke up to the sound of birds singing outside the window. I could feel warm rays of sunshine falling onto my face and tickeling my nose. The room smelled of lavender and darkwood and a stence of bleach, but it wasn't bothering me, it fitted the atmosphere of the room in a nice way, as if it belonged to this place.

I felt far too comfortable to open my eyes let alone get up. Whatever I was laying on was like a cloud of pure cotton and the soft covers were engulfing me like Levi's arms last night.

Wait a second.

I shot up straight realizing where I was and what had brought me here. Memories of me clinging to the king while he held me close flooded into my mind and made me blush. I remembered the state he had seen me in last night and all the things I told Levi that I had never dreamed of telling him. What had driven me to talk with him about my parent's story and entrusting him with a secret not even Mikasa or Armin knew about?

I groaned in embarassement and hid my face in one of the pillows. It had the same scent of cleaning products on it like the whole room, but mixed with a hint eau de cologne. My eyes widened as I recognized the scent that always lingered around the king. Yeah, right, he had been sleeping next to me after I had begged him not to leave me. Why the hell did I do that?! Surely not because I loved the way he held and comforted me when I was crying into his arms. I mean, I had been really agitated after my nightmare Levi had woken me up from, so it was only natural to not want him to go. I just didn't wanted to be alone in my very upset state. And the raven's presence just made me so much calmer.

Thinking of this I noticed that his presence was lacking right now. I scanned the huge bedroom, but the king was nowhere to be seen. Instead I got to see how spacious and luxurious furnished it was in here. The big king-sized bed I was laying upon had a baldachin made velvet, same as the heavy curtains on each sides of the windows. An enormous wardrobe made of ebony with beautiful ivory scrimshaws on the front doors stood against the wall on the left side of the bed.

(Ebony and Ivory, Dante anyone?)

Bookshelves filled with all sorts of thick leather bound books covered every available space on the other walls and gave the room a bit more of a look like a library than a bedroom. Seeing the huge amount of books in here made me wonder how many the king had in his actual library. I couldn't wait for Levi to show it to me.

Deciding that I really couldn't wait I flipped the covers aside and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I pushed myself up and made a step. As soon as I put my full weight on my foot my leg gave in and with a loud thud I fell to the floor.

"Shit!", I cursed, trying to get up, but my weak legs were failing me again and I landed back on the parquet floor.

I groaned in pain, but got quiet when I heard footsteps outside room. I barely had time to look up when the door already was flung open, revealing a short, black haired man with a worried expression on his still breath taking face.

When Levi saw me laying there on the floor in front of him, his storm silver eyes widened for a brief second, a small gasp escaping his pale lips. He rushed over to me, crouching down by my side.

"Are you alright Eren? Did you hurt yourself?"

"I...um, no, I'm okay", I stuttered, embarassed to be found by the king like this.

"You tried to walk on your own, didn't you? Stupid brat, I told you not to overestimate your strengh! Your body still needs to recover from being poisoned."

He slung my arm around his shoulders and stood up, dragging me with him in the process. It surprised me every time how strong he was, he always carried me around like I was weighing less than a feather. The raven put his arm around my waist for support as he helped me back to the bed.