Chapter 74: Am I too late!? [1]
A hand reached for the balcony window frame.
Inside the room, Seris’s eyes opened. She sat up instantly, crimson eyes narrowing sharp, and a scythe materialized in her hand before she’d even fully processed what she was seeing. She stepped forward, pulled the weapon back in one clean motion, and cut.
A dark crescent wave tore toward the window.
At that exact second, the glass swung open from the outside.
Alden’s head appeared. "Are you awake, Seri—"
His eyes caught the blade. Already inches from his neck.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
He dropped straight to the floor on pure reflex.
SWISH.
The scythe wave passed over his head and sliced clean through a thick branch on the tree outside. The limb dropped with a heavy thud, and Alden lay completely flat on the hardwood, not moving.
Seris stared down at him. "...Huh? Alden?"
"YES, ALDEN!" He pointed at the fallen branch out the window. "I came here to talk to you, not to get decapitated!"
Seris looked at her scythe, then back at him on the floor. "You appeared outside my window in the middle of the night."
"Because it’s your birthday!"
"That doesn’t make it any less suspicious."
"YOU’RE THE ONE WHO ALMOST TOOK MY HEAD OFF—"
Footsteps. Quick ones, coming down the corridor.
"Who’s there?!"
"I heard a scream! Lady Seris’s room!"
Alden’s face dropped. "...Oh, no."
Seris snapped her eyes to the door and then back to him. The footsteps were loud and getting closer fast. "Hide."
"Where?!"
"NOW."
"I can’t just—"
BANG.
The door flew open. Finn rushed in with Nina right behind him, both of them scanning the room with the full commitment of people who had decided something was wrong.
The balcony windows were shut. The room was quiet. No one was there except Seris on her bed.
Finn straightened and bowed. "My apologies, Lady Seris. I heard a scream from your room."
A faint warmth had appeared on Seris’s cheeks. She pulled her blanket slightly higher. "A scream? I was merely startled."
"...Startled, My Lady?"
"Yes."
Finn looked around the room carefully. "Is someone else in here?"
"No," Seris said, just a fraction faster than usual.
Finn’s brow furrowed. He clearly wasn’t satisfied. Nina, meanwhile, was staring at the bed with her eyes slowly going wider.
"My Lady..."
Seris turned to her. "What?"
Nina pointed at the large, distinctly human-shaped lump under the blanket directly beside Seris. "You’ve... become rather large."
Seris’s eyebrow moved. "...What did you just say?"
"Did you gain weight overnight?!"
"How dare you." The temperature of Seris’s voice dropped several degrees.
Nina immediately retreated behind Finn, who was now looking at the lump under the sheets with the expression of a man making uncomfortable calculations.
"Now that she mentions it," Finn said, taking a careful step forward, "My Lady, what—"
"Stop." Seris’s voice went ice cold. "They are pillows. I have not been sleeping well and I am using them for support."
Finn tilted his head. "Pillows, My Lady?"
"Yes."
"You’re having trouble sleeping?"
"Yes."
"Is something troubling you?"
"No."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes."
Finn nodded slowly, his eyes continuously drifting back to the blanket. The shape beneath it was too distinct to ignore.
Beneath the blanket, Alden was in a situation he had never once considered when he’d decided to fly to someone’s balcony for their birthday. His face was burning so hot he was mildly concerned about it. His cheek was pressed awkwardly against Seris’s side, and both of his arms had somehow ended up wrapped around her waist in the scramble to get under the blanket before the door opened. He was completely still and absolutely terrified.
’How did this happen? How did visiting someone for their birthday turn into this.’
He ran the imaginary conversation in his head.
Finn pulling back the blanket. "Alden, why are you in Lady Seris’s bed? "
Excellent question.
"Why are your arms around her waist?"
Even better question.
"Why are you here at midnight?"
I have absolutely no fucking answer.
’I should have just stayed in the forest.’
Above him, Seris sat with perfect posture and a composed expression, which would have been more convincing if the color on her cheeks wasn’t doing what it was doing. She could feel every breath Alden was carefully taking, and the warmth of his arms around her was a very specific and distracting problem that she was choosing not to think about.
Then Alden’s finger shifted slightly against the side of her waist.
Seris flinched. Under the blanket, her foot found his shin and delivered a precise, quiet kick.
"Don’t move, idiot," she breathed.
"Ow..."
The sound was barely anything. Barely a breath.
But Finn’s head turned instantly. "Did I hear something?"
Alden’s eyes went wide under the sheets.
Seris pivoted immediately, fixing Finn with a stare that had ended several arguments without a single word of discussion. "What exactly are you implying, Finn?"
Finn stiffened. "I’m only looking out for your safety, My Lady."
"I have told you twice that nothing is wrong." Her voice went quiet in the specific way that wasn’t softness. "You entered my room without knocking. You are still standing here. And now you are questioning me in my own bedroom after midnight." She let that sit for a second. "If you and Nina are not outside that door in the next five seconds, I will have you both removed from your positions before morning."
The color left Finn’s face immediately. Nina made a small, frightened sound.
"Y-Yes, My Lady! Deepest apologies!" Finn bowed three times on his way to the door, dragging Nina with him.
The door clicked shut.
Silence.
Alden waited several agonizing seconds before letting out the longest breath of his life. "That was way too cl—"
Seris reached under the blanket, grabbed him, yanked him back down, and slapped her hand firmly over his mouth.
"Shh!"
She pressed a single finger to her lips and glared at him with the focused intensity of someone who had just survived something and was not going to let it unravel now. "You fool. Do you want to call them back?"
Alden shook his head quickly.
She held the look for another second, then slowly lifted her hand away.
"Then stay quiet."