Nox's POV:
When I wake up, it takes me a moment to realize where I am.
Holy Gods. I am in Sage's bed. The events from last night come back to me as I feel petrified about opening my eyes, fearing to see her uncle or a maid watching us. Or worse - HER.
Then I realized something. Sage made me sleep in her bed, even though... I curse inwardly. I can't believe I cooperated with her about this when it is perfectly clear that her uncle would punish her for doing this if he found out. Not that anything happened, but he wouldn't believe her - he never does. With that thought in mind, I don't even overthink it, and scramble out of her bed. Luckily, there isn't someone in the room as I feared there might. I look behind me at the bed and see Sage, her face facing me, looking serene and peaceful as I haven't seen in years. I suddenly find myself missing her, even though she's right there in front of me... But she also isn't. Not this Sage, the careless and always laughing Sage. My heart rips open when I realize I want to bring her back, and I feel terrified to realize I am the one who I want to be bringing her back. It hurts me to think about that, but I need to do something about her condition nonetheless, so I walk to her bedroom door and open it soundlessly, knowing that who I need to talk to would be behind it.
Relox. He stayed here all night even though Sage seemed to be against the idea. I just wanted her to be safe. I know she thinks I can be overbearing, but I don't care, I can't lose her. I close the door before turning around and saying quietly, careful not to be heard elsewhere in case someone else is already awake, "Well? Was everything alright?"
"Yes, my lord. There was no sign of her brother all night. He was seen close by, by the Captain himself, but he quickly got on a ship and sailed away."
I nod seriously. "Good." I turn to look at him. "Thank you for staying here, by the way." I give him a small smile.
He returns the gesture. "Always, my lord." He takes a deep breath. "May I ask, Sir, why did you stay there all night? Didn't it bother her..."
"She... persisted that if I'm staying I have to sleep there... I guess she didn't want me to actually be there as her 'guard'. She almost killed me when I said you would stay here."
Relox runs a hand through his jet balck hair, his blue eyes looking a bit tired. He smiled a little. "Really, and I thought she liked me..." He gave a breathy laugh. "It is alright, Sir. Lady Sage has never liked it when I was there for guarding purposes and not just friendly ones. She feels very uncomfortable when people guard her. She just kept talking to me regularly, I guess it's because she has such a bad past with guards, she tries to ignore the fact that I am one."
"What bad past with guards?" I ask in confusion.
Relox fliches inwardly as if he didn't mean to say what he just did. "Ahh..." he trails. "She... She is going to kill me." he mutters. He looks up at me again. "Sage, she... Her uncle's guards used to - maybe still do - be really cruel to her. Verbally, and... in some other ways, too. She told me never to tell you, and I only found out because I caught her trying to handle herself all alone out of a bad situation with a few of them." He looks ashamed. "I am sorry, my lord, I should not have hidden this from you. She... She begged and begged, and it was a year ago, so I just assumed it has passed, because she stopped mentioning it, but you know her - "
"Relox." I cut him with a furious glare. "I can't believe you thought that not telling me is for her own good." Things I never understood about her make sense suddenly. I can't believe I hadn't noticed something this horrible happened to her. And more than ONCE?! She and I were going to have a little talk. "I lecture her about staying safe while she's secretly letting people abuse her?"
"She isn't letting them, I can tell you that. It's just that sometimes, she is not always in control of what those people do, but I can assure you nothing... of the more horrifying sort had happened. She is still... It never went there…" he sighs. "Are you going to make me say it?" he asks miserably.
I am so furious I can talk to him, let alone look at him. "Go back home, Relox. I will meet you there in three hours. Tell my father to be prepared, will you? Sage is going to fill us in on all that had happened last night."
The devastated face of Relox's face is enough to indicate that he feels awful for not telling me the truth to begin with. But I don't care right now, and I let it show. He sighs in defeat. "Yes, my lord." he says and slowly makes his way to do as I told him.
Sage's POV:
I wake up to a loud noise, and it startles me enough that I immediately sit up in bed. Then I see it's Nox slamming the door so hard it rattles. He looks furious.
Well, what else is new? "Oh," I say casually. "It's just you." I slump on my bed again, covering my eyes with my blanket. "Why are you making so much noise so early?"
"I can't believe you." he says furiously enough that I glance at him. "You were suffering more than just your uncle's abuse all those years, and I find that from RELOX? What is the Gods' name that makes you think that hiding this information would be in any way a good idea?"
I sigh, immediately knowing what he's talking about. "He TOLD you?! Oh, Gods. Why did it even come up?"
"He cared to explain why you hate the idea of being guarded so much, unlike yourself." he snaps. "I am still waiting for an answer."
"So early in the morning? I still don't have the strength to deal with your overbearingness."
"We're due in my house in an hour, so you better wake up, because my father is busy, and we can't be late."
"We could just not meet with him, then it wouldn't be a burden for him." I mutter while hearing Nox calling for a maid. He orders her to prepare me. "I can dress myself!" I call in outrage and get out of bed. Then I glance at Lucy, the maid he asked to help me. "No offence, Lucy. Sorry."
She gives me a small knowing smile. "It's alright, my lady. Would you like me to prepare breakfast for you instead?"
"I will be eating my breakfast today at Nox's house, so no thank you. You can go now." I dismiss her with an apologetic smile. She bows to both of us and leaves. Then I turn back to Nox. "You don't give orders concerning me." I hiss at him. "It's MY life, and I don't care to share my control over them, thank you very much." I want to lash at him more, but we are short on time. Pitty.
"How much time does it take you to get dressed?"
"Not long."
He approached me. "Then let's have a little talk, shall we?"
I frown at him. "No."
"I don't care what you're saying right now. Beside the fact that you were insane by doing what you did, you LIED to me."
I can see he's hurt, so I give up. "FINE." I hiss. "I will get dressed, then we'll talk, alright?"
He suddenly looks at me with a soft look I can't understand. "You look beautiful in the morning, did you know that?"
I groan. "Thank you, but what?"
He just smiles maliciously. "I'm waiting outside. Call me when you're done." With that he takes his leave. I groan again in frustration, then go dress. He's gone mad.