Eiravyne's body finally gave in to the sheer weight of exhaustion.
Still curled against the side of the bed, her chin resting on her bruised, icy knees, Eiravyne's eyes fluttered shut.
She woke up in the dead of night.
The air in the room was sharp and freezing. The sky outside the window had turned a deep, ink-black void, indicating the hours long past midnight.
Eiravyne sat up slowly, her muscles stiff and aching from sleeping on the hard wood.
She needed to see him. She needed to look at his face .
She didn't change out of her thin white nightgown.
Barefoot and silent, she glided to her door and pulled it open.
Two guards stood posted in the hallway, their armor gleaming dully under the low torches.
Before they could raise a hand or utter a word of protest, Eiravyne raised her eyes, her fingers twitching softly to touch them.
"Stay," she whispered, a subtle thread of compel magic weaving seamlessly into her voice. "Forget I was here."
