#friends......

another kiss prompt (no longer accepting!)

     Even without the dukedom and its responsibilities looming over his shoulder, exhaustion was still a constant companion nipping at Andrei's heels. His nights were hardly restful; it often took hours for his thoughts to slow to a point where he could sleep, and even then, his dreams were plagued with the faces of his family, those he had felled and those who have felled him. People who would see him dead, who considered him a disgrace...

     He avoided sleep when he could, but his limits were, as with too many things, very human. It overcame him, this time, sitting at a bench near the fishing pond, the gentle sound of water much too soothing on his tired mind. Perhaps if he simply closed his eyes for a few minutes, his energy would return... He inhaled, exhaled... A breath away from dozing off, Andrei heard soft steps nearby, felt lips brushing against his forehead.

     He flinched minutely, eyes cracking open. Oh. Truly too tired to respond any more than that, his eyes slipped shut again, feeling, if not fully at ease, then at least unthreatened.

     Why was it that Lady Deirdre always seemed to find him at his most vulnerable, yet continue to offer kindness instead of scorn? Andrei didn't know what to make of it, except to reiterate his earliest thoughts that she did not behave like one of the noble court.

     ...He couldn't deny, though, that it eased his stress, to not need to constantly police his every action for fear of being disadvantaged at a later juncture. Was this what she'd promised, with her offer of friendship? And what exactly was it that had her deem him worthy of such a consideration?