Late at night, Brandilyn's eyes snap open. She stares up at the ceiling, unable to fall back asleep due to the many thoughts passing through her mind. Rather than lie there restlessly, she places a soft kiss on the forehead of Aeglorond, and slips from the bed. She watches him sleep, her bright green eyes lingering on him for a long moment before she steps away and picks up her journal. So much had happened; she did not know where to start. The old floor creaks as her small feet hurry along the cold boards to the warm fire. She looks back, hoping she has not woken him. A smile tugs at her lips as she hears the deep breaths of the sleeping man.
The room is dark and the slow burn of the fire is just enough to keep it warm. She pulls her chair up close to the flames and her small fingers grip the journal tightly. Her thoughts dance wildly in her mind, like the flames of the fire dancing in her eyes.
Two months. Has it really only been two months? Her thoughts race back to the day she returned. The letters she left for Kristophor and Amanda, and how they both took her back from her self-imposed exile. She thinks about how she thought things would be different this time. She shakes her head at this, knowing it was foolish of her to think he had changed or that he would be able to give his heart to her the way she wanted. Instead she still feels like he keeps her at a distance. It does not matter; he thinks that protects her. It does not. It leaves her alone.
Her brows wrinkle in the middle of her forehead as she thinks on his words to her. Kris had come back to the Inn and told her what he saw between her and Aeg and what he thought. That night was already dreary and dark much like the man, and his words stung like the cold raindrops that pummeled her body. They still sting every time she thinks about them. He was wrong. She did love him, but he was right when he said she wants to be loved. He was always cold and distant, never comforting and warm. The thoughts makes her shiver and pull a small woven blanket over her.
She picks up a quill to write with, her thoughts still flickering as fast as the flames. She starts to put the ink on the page but her eyes linger on the word patience, from her last entry. Her green eyes lift up back towards the flames as she thinks about the things that happened after that night. She thought they were finally going to be together, as partners. Brandi shakes her head. Another foolish thought. The moment there is a job, or danger, she is again a liability to him-- not an asset. Her patience has run out and she is done chasing after him.
Red curls cascade over her shoulders as she tries to shake the thoughts of her past that start to flood her mind. Those fleeting thoughts are replaced with the thoughts of the job that drove a deeper distance between them. But it also brought new friends like Arlis and Gustine, Doc, Clay and Ramsay and Aeglorond.
Her quill touches the paper and without thought she writes: Aeglorond. Turning her head to look back at him her quill lifts from the paper. Not only are her thoughts racing as she looks at him, but her heart is, too.
She thinks back as her fingers pull through her long hair and her curls tussle and break apart. She huffs, this thought more ironic. The night she met Aeg was the last night Kris kissed her or spent a moment alone with her. Instead, Aeglorond was there, making sure she was all right after the attack from Brikan. Aeg was there working with her on a plan to get Gustine back, and he was there to take her to the Mayor's office to sign the papers for Tess.
Full pink lips pull up into a smile as she keeps looking at the sleeping Aeglorond. She can hear each of his deep breaths and she watches as the covers lift and fall. Her eyes dart back and the quill touches the paper again as she writes: He makes me feel happy, he makes me feel loved. He wants to be with me, he wants me by his side. He loves me. Her writing stops and she looks up to see Aeglorond roll over in his sleep. His arm reaches over looking to pull her in close, and she was there. Once tucked back into his embrace her eyes shut and she is able to sleep. The journal and quill left by the fire.
