#calenna

She watched him, her husband. The gentle rise and fall of his chest. His arm outstretched where she had been resting her head, with fingers twitching slightly in her absence. His mouth was partially open, but his expression was relaxed. At peace. If she killed him now, he would not feel pain. It would be a kind death, for what it was worth. She would make sure of that. After the surprising kindnesses he had shown her in the months passed, it was the least he deserved. There had been so many clumsy efforts at connection. Dinners and gifts. Outings into the city, and trips to the country where he had grown up. Even if it was to be expected of a married couple, he had opened his world to her willingly and had even defended her against the world when it had not been kind. A single, rare flower of honor amidst this septic garden.

She would cull him cleanly, and without pain. All she needed was to push down with her blade. She would… 

“Tal…?”Groggy amber eyes blinked solemnly up at her, dazed and unfocused with sleep. Her husband. “You unable to sleep?” Slurred speech and swaying sight, he reached for her, his other hand rising to brush a strand of hair from her face. He had not noticed the knife that sat inches above his bobbing throat. 

Every conviction in her began to slump and wilt. 

She had been caught, she told herself, carefully rocking forward so that she might slip the knife beneath her pillow without him noticing. It couldn’t have been helped. If only he had stayed asleep- but, no. He was awake now and the risk of him yelling for help too great. 

That was what she would say. 

Talenna released her grip on the knife and shifted her weight to let it rest on her now empty hand– as if she had been propped above him like so the entire time.”Just an unpleasant dream,” she whispered, bowing yet even more towards him so that he could hear her better. “I did not mean to wake you. I thought-” She thought she could kill him. “I thought I might be able to steal a bit of your warmth. I do not sleep as well in this wet cold.”

Calder watched her for a few seconds. Still sleepy. Still vulnerable. A low noise rose from his throat, and he nodded. “...Mmn, alright.” His hand fell heavy against her back, pulling her body snug over his own. His other came up to rest against her shoulder, holding her there, less like a vice and more like a hug. He had not even thought to question, the damned idiot….

“Let me know if you need anything else.” The whisper was a rumble in her ear, somehow so loud in the soundless night. 

“I will,” she whispered back. 

Already, she could feel him drifting off into peaceful sleep once more. Hardly, he had been stirred. His hands twitched around her, tightening a little. “Sleep well… I’ll see… you…”

‘I’ll see you in the morning’. 

His nightly promise to her. And her unwitting oath to him.

He will see her in the morning.