Nox's POV:
It has been thirty minutes and Sage has yet to have returned. I try not to worry, or think that she would kill me if I let her spend so much time with her uncle alone, but unfortunately I got stuck talking with one of the lords whom my father works with. He just could not stop talking, and it was hard for me to put it a word to tell him I needed to leave.
"I really think you would like her, though." he says.
I look at him in confusion, realizing I missed what he just said. I hesitate. "Like who?"
He frowns for a moment. "My daughter, Sophie. Weren't you listening, Nox?"
He was trying to pair me with his daughter? Oh, NO, I really need to go find Sage. "Lord Erald, I'm sorry for not paying attention. I have a lot on my mind, but I promise to think about all that you have said. If you'll excuse me, I really have to take care of some things." I try to be polite and to the point, and to not mention that I have no idea what he had spoken about, and take my leave quickly towards where I saw the maid leading Sage before, hoping to find her quickly and beg for my life when I eventually free her from her uncle's clutches. I pace lightly in the hallway, walking and searching for any signs to let me know in which room Sage might be in.
I walk quite a bit until I realize I have probably passed the room she is in, yet I didn't hear anything. Perhaps they were just taking a pause of silence. I turned around and went back the way I came, yet then again I heard nothing. I was really getting worried, even though I knew there was nothing to be worried about. I decided to risk it, and called out loud, "Sage!"
Nothing.
I know that it was possible she didn't hear me, it's quite a long hallway, and she could have been talking to her uncle, feeling like it's rude to answer my interrupting call. I suddenly hear light footsteps from the hall coming from within the house, and I hoped it would be Sage, but it isn't.
"What are you doing here?" Ash, Sage's cousin, asks slowly.
"I was looking for Sage. Do you know where she is?" I answer.
He looks at me closely. Ash is not one to trust people, but I don't hold anything against him because he was never particularly bad to Sage. Eventually he shakes his head to say no. "I have not." he says. "I was looking for her myself. Father is getting impatient with her disappearing from her own party."
"Isn't she with him?" I ask, immidialy knowing something bad happened if the uncle she was supposed to be talking to was now looking for her.
"No, why would she?" Ash asks.
"No reason," I quickly say. "If I see her I will be sure to send her back."
Ash looks at me, discontent shining in his eyes. "Very well." he says firmly and then walks back to the direction of the ball room.
When he gets out of site, I hurry to search the entire hallway, opening every door in my path. But again, nothing. I suppose she could be on a different floor, but I doubt that she is, for some reason. I try to get in her position and think where she could be.
If a maid were leading Sage to a place where she would be assuming to have a talk with her uncle, I'm sure she wouldn't go into some rendon room that she had never been in. No, Sage was smart, she wouldn't go into a room if she felt something wrong, so it had to be a potential place for her to talk with her uncle. One of his studies, perhaps? I know there is one in this hallway, so I immediately walk towards it and go inside. When I close the door behind me, I look around but she isn't there. I shout out one, "Sage?!", to make sure, and after a moment of silence, I hear back a call - to my great surprise and relief.
"Nox!" She is within the room, yet I don't see her anywhere.
"Where are you?!" I shout.
"In the closet!" she calls.
"What closet?!"
"The small door in the left side of the room. Near the fireplace!"
I look to the fireplace and to its right there is indeed a small door. "Is it locked?" I ask.
"I don't know!"
I pause. "What do you mean you don't know?" By then I am already at the door.
"I can't reach it, so I wouldn't know!" she calls.
With that my heart pounds with fear. What does she mean she can't reach the door? Is she hurt? Why is she even inside a closet? I reach out and grab the door handle. It's old, and clearly out of use, so opening the door is a little hard and I have to push, but I eventually succeed.
Before I look up, I can hear her ask in a small voice, "How did you know where I was?"
Then I look up, and my entire world turns over. It's dark in the room, enough to understand she was in complete darkness while being here, and her hands are tied to something. She looks alright besides clearly being scared and... The relief in her eyes almost knocks me over. "Sage!" I rush to her side, untying her wrists without even waiting for her to ask me to. "What happened?" I ask, utterly worried. She wouldn't look at me, wouldn't meet my eyes, and that scares me again because I know she does that only when she lies or is embarrassed, or afraid. But of what? What happened?
"Nothing." she says, sighing in relief when I remove the last of the ropes from her wrists. I can make out the scratches on them even in the darkness, and immediately pull her outside to the light, only to receive a cry of pain coming from her. I turn around.
"What is it?" I ask and look her over, looking for anything to indicate the cause of her pain.
She is not standing straight, and at first I think there's something wrong with her legs, but then I see her wrapping one of her arms around her ribs lightly, as if they hurt enough already without her touching them. "I'm fine." she says, still without looking at me. "Let go."
I leave her arm and survey the damage to one of her wrists since her other one is currently wrapped around her.
It doesn't look good, and I am getting really worried. What happened?
"Tell me what happened." I say.
"Nothing special," she says in an indifferent voice, and heads for the door, straightening a bit, but wincing in the process. her hands tremble and I immediately hold them, looking at the eyes that would look anywhere but into mine right now.
"Why won't you tell me?" I ask quietly.
She frowns at our joint hands and pulls them away from me, clearly stretching to do so. "How mad do you think my uncle would be if I were to go back upstairs?"
I don't care. She's hurt, and I wouldn't have let her go back to her party for anything. If I have to, I'll confront her uncle myself. "Go. I'll meet you there in ten minutes." I say and don't leave her time to argue as I rush out the room and leave the door open for her.
Sage's POV:
It takes me a moment to really move after Nox leaves the room, and even as I do, everything is so sore and it's difficult to walk all three levels to my room.
I'm not surprised to find that Nox is already there when I finally arrive.
From the look on his face, I know he can tell why it took me so long to get there, and he immediately closes and locks the door before helping me to the bed, careful not to touch my wrists or my ribs.
When I finally sit down, I feel so relieved and safe that I almost start crying for some reason. My ribs hurt from where Lanaden was holding me, and my wrists hurt as well, but I was so scared back in that closet that I just couldn't even think that there might be a possibility that Nox would find me. "Thank you..." I trail. "For getting me out of there." I didn't say the obvious thing, that my uncle wouldn't have until he really needed to bother finding me, and maybe then it would have been too late. That's all I could think about in the darkness of the closet.
"Of course, Sage." He says it as if he wouldn't have it any other way, and maybe I'm just too emotionally strained and maybe it's because I felt so scared back there, but... I start sobbing. Loud, not pretty sobs that make my entire body shake.
"R-robert wouldn't h-have done th-that." I say.
He seems to understand the rest of my thoughts because he hurries to my side and wraps his arm around me comfortably, stroking my now loose hair. I bury my face into his chest and unleash my feelings and tears.
I know he hates it when I cry, it always makes him look so pained, like he is the one being hurt, but he always comforts me when I need him to. And write now, that's all I need. He hugs me tightly and rocks me slightly while murmuring comforting sounds. "Shhh, Sage. It will be okay. Everything would be fine." he whispers when I'm near calming down.
When I finally calm down enough to stop crying, I pull myself out of his hug and wince as I do so. I feel a hand fall on my shoulder and I dare look up at him for a moment. He looks worried, like he was really afraid something happened to me. I almost start crying again at the thought, but I manage to reign myself. "Sorry..." I murmur. "I know you hate it when I cry..."
I can hear the soft smile in his voice. "I only hate it because you are hurting, and I hate it when you're hurting, or sad." I look at him again and he moves his hand to stroke my cheek gently. Soft, gentle strokes that seem to distract him more than they should. "Are you alright?" he inquired finally. "Are you hurt? What happened?"
I know he deserves to know, so I take a slow, deep breath that hurts me more than anything else, and say, "L-Lanaden paid me a visit."
Nox's eyes widen, and with them my gaze falls back to my crossed legs. They're sore, too. Both his hands go to my face, holding it and making me look at him. "He hurt you?" There is so much rage in his voice that I can't recall ever hearing from him.
"I'm not - "
"Oh, Gods above, what did he do?" he asks, sounding even more worried when I don't tell him, knowing when I'm about to lie.
I still hesitate. "He... My ribs are sore, probably bruised, not more than that, and, well, my wrists... But - but that's it." Except threatening me.
Nox moves to the door without missing a beat, and I hear him tell a maid to call for a healer. When he comes back, he takes my hands in his own and looks regretfully at them, as if blaming himself for my wounds.
We sit there in silence for a while, and even though I know Nox is worried, he has never touched me so much. I don't mention it, but the thought still crosses my mind.
Eventually, Nox opens his mouth to talk, and strangely, I find myself staring when he does. "I can't believe I almost lost you today." he whispers. "Again." He is referring to the night of my parent's death, when he also saved me. "Lanaden will never be a threat to you again, I promise. Not if it has anything to do with me."
"You can't control Lanaden." I whisper.
"No," he agrees. "But I can protect you."
I look at him, confused. "Why would you do that?"
He smiles his familiar soft smile now, but it looks a little malicious now, and there is something intense about it this time. His voice is raw when he finally says, "Because you're mine."