#wyman

Wyman sat up a little straighter and stopped pretending they only just woke up. "I've been watching since you got out of bed, waiting until I could catch you red handed, and you still try and lie to me!"

"Shh!" Emily hushed, gesturing at the other figure in her bed. "You'll wake Alexi." 

Wyman scowled. "She'd sleep through a lightning storm, don't try and deflect." 

Emily sighed and took a step back towards Wyman. "I'm sorry," she said. 

"So you were sneaking out?"

"I am. And lying about it just comes naturally, I didn't mean anything by it." 

Wyman scoffed, and despite the fact that it was true Emily didn't push the matter. Instead she reached out to try and take their hand, but they snatched it away before her fingers could make contact.

"You can't keep running out at all hours, Emily," Wyman warned. There was a hit of chastisement in their tone that made Emily bristle.

"Why not? I'm the Empress, I can do what I like."

Wyman sat forward a little and grabbed her wrists. "That's exactly the point: you are Empress. You're just not acting like it."

"Oh, spare me!" Emily grumbled, forgetting for a moment to keep her voice down. She stood up, tugging her hands out of Wyman's grip as she moved. 

"You spend more time gallivanting across the rooftops than you do at court," Wyman pointed out.

"So? My advisors practically run everything for me."

"That might have worked when you were a teenager, but you can't keep abdicating the responsibility."

"'Abdicate responsibility'?" she repeated, waggling her fingers mockingly. "What's got into you, Wyman? You never - " realisation dawned and she folded her arms. "Oh I see. Who put you up to this? Marchand? My father?"

Wyman's eyes darted across the bedsheets to Alexi's sleeping form before they could stop themself, and Emily scowled.

"When she wakes up I'll kill her," she grumbled.

"Okay, so she mentioned she had concerns," Wyman admitted grudgingly. "I think she thought you might listen to me."

Emily shook her head slowly. "I don't listen to people who tell me what to do with my free time, Wyman." It was petulant, she knew, but she was too angry to stop. "Don't become one of those people, and don't pretend you care about me turning up to court."

Wyman collapsed back against their pillows and ground out a frustrated sigh from between clenched teeth. "You're right, I don't care about what happens at court. But I care about Alexi, and I care about you. What you're doing is upsetting her, and it's putting you in danger. Can you at least just… cut down?" Wyman lifted their head a little so they could see Emily, but she looked away from their eyes. 

"You don't understand," she said softly. 

"No, you're right, I don't," Wyman said.

"Everyone expects so much of me, and this… it's the only way I can be free of that," Emily said. All her life, she had been surrounded by advisors and policy experts and parliament and nobles, and they all wanted something from her that conflicted with something someone else wanted from her, and there was never any time to think any of it through before she was being rushed for a decision.

"Emily, you live in a tower with servants attending to your every whim," Wyman said sharply. "Don't try and tell me life is just too hard for poor little Empress Emily Drexel Lela Kaldwin the first." It was a sore spot for them: Emily knew they had grown up poor in one of the fishing villages in the north of Gristol before they made a name for themself as a playwright. Not many people were privy to that information, but Wyman liked to throw it in her face whenever she got too comfortable with her charmed life. 

Emily rolled her eyes, but conceded. "I know. But I'm still trapped in here. Sometimes I just… need some air."

"Sometimes," Wyman said emphatically. "But it's been every night lately. Even I've noticed how poorly you focus during the day now, and people are starting to get suspicious."

Emily laughed sarcastically. "Of what? That you and Alexi are wearing me out every night?"

"Don't joke," Wyman insisted. "This is serious. There are rumours that you're not fit for rule, and if I've heard them that means people aren't worried about it getting back to you."

Emily paused for the first time. "What people?"

"There's a group in parliament that - "

"More Regenters," Emily waved a hand dismissively. "Nobody cares what they think."

"Damn it all Emily!" 

Both of them paused as Alexi shifted and mumbled in her sleep, but she didn't wake up and Emily blew out a breath of relief. 

"I am trying to help you," Wyman hissed, remembering not to shout this time.

"I don't want help," Emily shot back. "This is my life, and I'll manage my responsibilites the way I see fit."

Wyman's jaw tensed so hard Emily could see the muscles working under their skin. "If that's what you want," they said. "But if you go out that door tonight then you'll have to find somewhere else to sleep when you come back."

"Wyman, come on - "

"No, Emily, I mean it." Their face was set, and seeing the determination in their eyes just made Emily more annoyed.

"That's my bed you're lying in," she pointed out. 

Wyman gave her a tight, angry smile. "There's another in your secret room there. You'll pass it on your way out the door."

Emily could just say sorry, shed the tears she was holding back at upsetting her partner, promise to do better, and go back to sleep in two sets of loving arms. At least, she wished she could. But her blood was up now, indignant that her closest confidante could join the campaign to keep her trammeled and proper, and the only thing that could cool her down was the bite of the cold night air. So instead, she turned and jammed her signet ring into the secret lock so hard she thought she might break her finger.