The following morning, Zaeryn woke long before sunrise.
Only a faint blue-grey light had begun slipping through the narrow opening between Marceline's curtains, leaving most of the room concealed beneath the darkness. The privacy screen had deactivated sometime during the night, although the rest of the house remained so quiet that he could hear nothing beyond the gentle circulation of air through the room.
Marceline remained asleep beside him, resting upon her stomach with one arm extended across the space he occupied. Her dark hair had spread across the pillow and partly concealed her face.
Zaeryn considered remaining there.
After everything that had happened the previous day, another hour of sleep felt considerably more appealing than leaving the warmth of Marceline's body and bed to prepare for an Imperial evaluation that he had never requested. Unfortunately, a muted vibration from his wrist terminal reminded him that the decision had already been made.
