Chapter 174: Late Morning
The morning sunlight filtered inside the room through the open window and greeted Annalise who finally stirred in her sleep as the brightness was disturbing her.
She tried to turn around and face away from the brightness only to find herself burning her face in a very familiar embrace. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she scooted closer to the man and tried to return to the dreamless world of sleep.
"It’s already morning, you should wake up," Valerius whispered softly next to her ear before placing a feathery kiss on the tip of her ear which immediately made her shiver as sparks ran down her entire body thanks to that mere touch.
The man chuckled as he pulled her closer in his arms and buried his face in her hair, inhaling her scent that did magic to his soul.
"What time is it?" Annalise asked as she wished for at least a couple of more hours of sleep. Staying up for hours during the night to listen to the history of the wards and the castle turned out not to be so good of an idea as she was feeling really sleepy at the moment and her eyes even hurt when she tried to open them.
"Unfortunately, it’s already pretty late in the morning. Our guests are going to have breakfast in less than half an hour, you should really wake up." Valerius indeed sounded apologetic but there was also that tone he carried which clearly meant she barely had any other option than waking up. Besides, as the host of the castle, she needed to be present during breakfast.
Another sigh left her lips but this one was filled with the emotions of unwillingness and unhappiness unlike the one from before. She finally popped open her eyes and it took her a couple of very long seconds to adjust to the brightness that was filling her bed-chamber.
A chuckle almost broke out through the confinements of her lips as she recalled how she slept in the basement with Kenric and Damien, before ending up in the secret sphere beneath the castle with Valerius, and now she was back in her own bed-chamber.
"What’s so funny?" Valerius asked when he noticed her amused expression, his ice-blue eyes were observing her as he lay there beside her with his upper body on full display.
Annalise hurriedly shook her head with a soft smile as she pulled away from the man and climbed down from the bed while snatching her outer robe from the bedside table and draping it over her shoulders. "I should get ready for breakfast. Will you join?" Though she pointed the question at him, it was pretty clear that she was asking about the other two lords too.
Valerius also climbed down from the bed and walked toward her. Once he was standing right in front of her with only a little space separating their bodies, he spoke - "From now on, we will be joining you for every meal, all three of us."