Ladies, Lords, & Liars

Chapter Sixteen: Unprepared

Aeric started awake.

   The room was pitch black and uncomfortably warm. The fire had died down to hardly more than a few embers after a night of burning.

   Why had he woken up? Had someone knocked? And if someone had, why would anyone knock so late in the night?

   There must have been some other noise to wake him, he reasoned. But he couldn't figure out what. And no matter how hard he listened, the only noises he heard were ones too faint to make him wake up so suddenly: the distant ticking of the clock, the quiet sounds of nocturnal animals, the gentle whispering of a breeze.

    The room remained silent for so long that he almost drifted off again trying to listen for whatever had woken him up.

   He rose to his feet and stretched. He might as well walk around and investigate before he retired to his bed to hopefully get some more sleep.

   It seemed that he tripped over just about everything in the room on his search, but by the time he'd circled back to the chair by the fire, the only thing he'd found to be out of place was the book he'd dropped on the floor when he'd dozed off. He picked it up and smoothed out the bent pages, setting it down on the chair.

   Aeric cracked open the balcony door before he went to the bedroom in order to cool the place down a bit. He wouldn't be able to sleep properly if it remained as warm as it was.

   He yawned and rubbed his eyes, letting the cool breeze from outside flow over his face before he turned and stumbled his way through the darkness to the bedroom door. It wasn't very difficult after that to climb in bed and settle down.

   It was only a few short minutes before he was asleep again.

**

   A beam of sunlight slanted in through the tiniest crack in the curtains, perfectly angled to hit his eyes.

   He ignored it for as long as he was able to before he angrily threw back the covers and sat up. He shot a glare at the curtains even though he knew very well that they didn't and couldn't care about what he thought.

   Aeric got out of bed and located the breakfast that had been left for him. When, he had no idea. But it was still warm, so it must have been recent. He ate it slowly, staring at the charred log left in the fireplace from the night before.

   He realized only after he finished the last bite of his food that if he'd been served breakfast in his room, that could only mean he wasn't expected to go downstairs to eat. Could it be possible that they'd given him another day to himself?

   It wouldn't surprise him very much, knowing the queen. And knowing how strange everything seemed to be in the palace. Well, maybe not strange, per se. Just not how he expected...

   The morning passed slowly. No one knocked on the door, but he still continued to expect it to happen.

   He didn't want to pick up another book just to have to put it down again a second later when someone arrived. So he sat there and watched the second hand of the clock on the mantle slowly tick around the clock's face.

   It felt like years had passed, but it wasn't even noon yet. He got up with a sigh and walked out onto the balcony. The sky was overcast, but the air was warm. The balcony railing was covered in a thin sheen of dew.

   He walked further out into the open air, only to nearly fall head-over-heels when he tripped on an object lying in his path. He fought to save himself from falling, but he only half succeeded. He crashed into the wall rather than the floor. The grainy blue stone bit into his face and hands.