E
Ezra Brooks
Guest
Chapter Two: Dawn
[fieldbox=Aedan McKenna; Lord of the Evening Star , #CD853F, solid, 0, georgia]Sleep was bliss and harmony shattered by the soft song of mountain sparrows. The window to their bedroom left open mattered little beneath the large fur blankets that Aedan had pulled over them both just moments before drifting off to sleep. The room was cold, open to the morning mountain air, while beneath the blankets, the combination of their bodies, laid so close together, has made for a comfortable warmth that made the decision to get out of bed that much more difficult. The sunlight streams in through the open window, and from his position, lying with his head on the pillow, his body curled up like an outer shell belonging to Mary, he could see the sky was a brilliant azure, painted with streaks of color telling of dawn's infancy.
His attention turned from the sky, to the woman who laid beside him, his mind wondering back to the night before. She was his wife now, his family. He knew so little about her life, what her favorite things were, what she hated, what she loved, and yet he felt he knew so much about her. She had a strength about her that Aedan found admirable. One had to have, to be able to travel across the world as she did, to a land she's never ventured to before, and to marry a man she's never met. To have stood before him in the manner that she did, and so bluntly promise to be his within the same breath that she gave her introductions. That would be a moment that he would not soon forget, one that colored forever his impression of his wife, and the strength to be found within her small, petite frame.
She will be a good match, Aedan's mind confirmed the emotions that he was feeling, as though they needed thought and form to justify them, and he found himself wondering about her, eager to start this new day, without pretense of marriage, without a thousand eyes prying into their every action. A day where it would be just him and her, to talk, to get to know one another. Questions began to run through his mind already, things that he'd like to know, but that time hadn't afforded him the luxury to ask. Today would be the proper situation. A day of exploration, one that made him slightly excited, slightly nervous, as his mind turned from the questions that he may ask, to those that she may.
I must vow to myself, to keep myself open. We will get nowhere if I start shutting myself to her. I will answer whatever it is she asks, as truthfully as I may, no matter the difficulty. But the Light make it she didn't ask those questions that cut him too deep. There are things in a man's life that he didn't wish to dwell on, things that dwell in the past that he wishes he could leave there, or rip from himself as though they had never happened. Sins he never committed.
Surely she'd never know to ask.
"Good morning," Aedan spoke, movement along his arm, upon which her head rests, drew his attention to her in time to catch her eyes fluttering open. The viscount pressed his lips against the back of her head, drawing in breath as he did so, inviting that part of her into himself again, while he welcomed her into this new day. So this was what waking up with another was like. To be there the moment that someone joins the day, to be first to tell them of the morning, to share their first moments while sleep and dream fade. Aedan had forgotten how comfortable it was to sleep with another body warm in the night, with the steady sound of someone's breathing. It is the dawn of a new life between them. Fitting that he should be there to welcome her into it.
The cold was a trap, tying him to the bed as well as any binding could have. His face and arms told him of the morning's chill, and the inviting warmth of the blankets made him more than think twice about moving. The small sparrows danced upon the window sills, leaping in a hundred little steps as they merrily played amongst cold stone. Never before had the Viscount ever laid and watched the birds. Never before had he lingered in the bed in the morning, but rising immediately to the tasks of the day. The cold was an excuse Aedan prepared for his refusal to move from her side, if she should ask, if he should have need to explain himself.
"How did you sleep?"[/fieldbox]