Chapter 34: Last night with Lyriel 2
The moonlight cast a faint, silver sheen across the room as Lyriel turned from the door, her fingers deftly sliding the lock into place with a soft, deliberate click.
The sound echoed faintly in the stillness, a quiet promise of privacy that hung between them.
She stood there for a moment, framed by the carved wooden frame, her unfastened emerald robe swaying gently with the subtle draft that slipped through the half-open window.
Her lips curved into a smile, slow, warm, and tinged with something unspoken, as her golden eyes fixed on Alex, who lay propped on one elbow amidst the rumpled silk sheets.
"I’ve been anticipating this all day," she said, her voice low and melodic, each word rolling off her tongue like a note in a song.
She remained standing, her bare feet silent against the polished floor, her posture relaxed yet commanding. "Being with you again..., it’s been pulling at me. I couldn’t focus on anything else. The tasks, the duties, they blurred into nothing, slipping through my hands like sand."
Her golden hair, loose and glowing in the moonlight, framed her face in soft waves, catching the light in a way that made it seem alive, shimmering with every slight movement of her head.
Alex blinked, the last tendrils of sleep still clinging to him like a fading mist.
His mind had been heavy with sleep, adrift in the quiet depths of rest, but her presence, her voice, her silhouette, began to tug him awake.