22nd Ymiden 718, sometime in the night
The guilt of it had eaten away at her far more keenly than the secret she had kept, the Eídisi suffering in silence while she gave him space. She'd wanted to give him the chance to consider things and to pass judgement on her without her to interfere in his decision. If he wanted to throw her no-good self out and to break off their engagement then she had no right to defend herself or to appeal any choice he might make.
Or so she'd thought.
However, after trials to stew in her own thoughts and feelings, the young woman being careful to avoid places where she was likely to encounter either man - no mean feat when she lived with one - she had decided that she could take it no longer. She had spent little time in the Prime Atheneum, making use of the Talius slaves to fetch her things, attending classes and coming straight back home to confined herself in her room. She had eschewed daylight, company, everything for his sake. She had managed to eat, of course, although her appetite was noticeably dulled and her sleep patterns were dreadfully disturbed, resulting in shoddy concentration in her classes. It was not like her.
So as she tossed and turned, awaking in darkness from another brief and fitful sleep, Maebella decided that she must throw herself on his mercy, beg and plead for forgiveness, ask that he acknowledge her and love her, even if she did not deserve it. What was more, she could not wait.
Thus, leaving her bed to brave the decidedly cooler environment of the house at this break, she padded as quietly and as quickly as she dared in her silken nightdress out of the room that was hers alone. She left the door ajar, finding Virikai's door by a mixture of touch and memory, helped after a bit as her eyes adjusted enough to the dimness to make out shapes. She manipulated the handle with slow, cautious care so that it wouldn't make any noise, not releasing her hold until she had reached around the grab the handle on the other side after she'd inched the portal open. Slipping silently through the gap, bare feet whispering on the floor, she shut the door as quietly as she could before she turned to his bed.
When she'd decided this on the spur of the moment, there were a number of things that she hadn't thought through. Just because she was awake didn't mean that Kai would be, making throwing herself on his mercy difficult. At the same time, she would have been able to creep right up to his slumbering form, snuggle against him before she woke him and faced her fate. However, she didn't have that luxury. There was light behind the curtains of the four-poster and as she stood still, she could hear the sound of pages being turned; he was awake and reading.
She stood at the door, biting her lip as she simply considered turning and going but she had a feeling that he'd heard her entry so she couldn't get out of this now. Besides, if she bolted now, she would have achieved nothing. So Maebella crept forward, keeping her steps as light as possible as she approached the bed, hesitating for a brief moment at the curtains before she took a deep breath and parted them slightly.
There was her fiancé sitting up with a book, a candle near to hand that made light dance across the pages before him and off his bare blue skin. Her mouth suddenly felt dry, the young woman feeling that when she spoke, her voice would be a croak. As it turned out, it was a tiny whisper, the scholar deeply sorry to be intruding on him and almost hoping to go unnoticed.
"Kai? I'm sorry to disturb you when you're busy but I was hoping to talk to you," she whispered, a hopeful longing in her features. "Please, Kai? Please?"
The young woman couldn't stand to be left out in the cold, the fireless state of the household getting to her, especially as sleep still clung to her, her temperature cooler than normal. Thus, she wasn't really waiting for an answer. While she cautiously lifted the edge of the coverlet so she could slip in, as soon as she entered the bubble of heat, she found herself drawn to him almost desperately as she shivered. It was a big bed and yet she scooted close to him, careful to keep her feet away from him, certain that the flesh was unpleasantly cooled. If he was unhappy with the action, she'd deal with it but right now, her shivering form was simply glad of the heat. And she was pleased to be close to him again. By Yvithia, she had missed him.
Credit to Rose Greenwood