His gaze was hooded with the dark haze of sleep, pinning her down as he looked at her. Aesther did not dare move.
"What are you doing?"
His voice was slightly rough from the daze of sleep, deep and stirring as it pricked her heart like needles of ice.
'But above all, his face!'
Aesther swallowed back the heaviness gnawing inside. She was conflicted between laughing out loud and dropping to her knees to beg for forgiveness.
A luna was not allowed to do that for anyone but her husband, the Alpha. But she only wanted to escape this potential danger by all means necessary.
She chuckled nervously and raised the brush while properly leaning over the desk.
"You're so clumsy Ezrahl," her voice was soft and innocent as if she had definitely not done something wicked, "Why sleep with a brush? Now your face is stained."
Ezrahl's brow creased as he brushed his hand across his face. The fingers returned without a suspiciously large amount of ink. But thankfully most of it had dried so he didn't realize that something was wrong right away.
Aesther didn't give him enough time to look into the mirror and hastily moved away from the desk. She took out her handkerchief and dipped it in a glass of water all the while continuing a conversation to keep his mind distracted.
"Don't worry, the stain is very little. And it's very common to get those when you sleep like that!"
Ezrahl leaned against the chair, blinking his sleepy eyes as he wondered how he got his face stained when Aesther was there. It was not the first time he fell asleep like that. Then…
She leaned over the desk.
Now that she was caught in such a situation, she couldn't definitely let him see himself and so she offered to help him clean the stain but Ezrahl instantly froze under her touch and when he looked at her with that gaze, she found herself unable to move as well.
'He doesn't suspect anything, right?'
"It…might leave a mark," she managed, forcing her hand to dab against his face, "Let me quickly clean it."
Ezrahly curtly said, "No need."
She forced a smile and insisted, "Don't be shy. This isn't something you can clean on your own―"
"Don't―"
He tried to say something but the words were lost as she ignored his hostility and leaned even closer to properly do her job.
Aesther's gaze was over the wet cloth. She felt him tense a little and feared he would be angry but perhaps he was just…too tired.
He did nothing.
Ezrahl averted his gaze, the scowl on his face still remained but he didn't resist, and slowly she could feel him ease against the chair.
On the contrary, Aesther grew nervous with each passing moment, she had to wipe his whole face but that would be very suspicious.
A brush couldn't stain all of his face on its own and so she pretended to be clumsy, often whispering under her breath how she accidentally caused the stain to spread.
She was prepared if Ezrahl wanted to snap out again.
It would be hard to imagine anger as cold as what she saw in the library to fade so soon.
Her heart was on edge, breath slow and controlled as she carefully worked. From a distance so close, Aesther slowly found herself returning back to the memories of the past.
She found her gaze lingering a little too long over every line, every crease of his face. It was all too familiar, the way his long lashes would slightly quiver when he was tired. It was the only way he showed this emotion of his.
Ezrahl was a man of few words and carried even fewer emotions.
Unreadable and mysterious, it was hard to understand him.
Aesther was nervous when her gaze travelled down to the moustache. She licked her lips and prayed he is too sleepy to notice anything odd.
But when she stole a glance towards his eyes, they were peacefully closed.
She blinked in disbelief, feeling an urge to curse but unable to utter any word.
Ezrahl was breathing softly and the tiredness of days must have finally caught up to him. He had been knighted recently and Aesther knew that those duties demanded a lot of work and even more intense training.
Even for a prodigy, it won't be easy to get used to them so soon.
Since the gods showed mercy on her poor soul, Aesther now finished her job as soon as possible.
Her fingers carried remnants of the ink as she pocketed her handkerchief and moved away from the desk.
It was already very late by the time Aesther got back to her room. She took a nap and just as the sleep was beginning to settle, it was time for the morning routines to start.
Right before sunrise, all disciples of her stature were required to do their morning training. When Aesther noticed the elementary training which was drastically mild to what she was required to do as a warrior, her lips lifted into a smile.
But when she remembered the state of her current physique, that smile turned grimace.
The result of the training was unsurprisingly exhausting.
Her stomach was growling after she bathed the sweat off and made her way to the dining hall. She chose a quiet corner and started her meal all alone.
At every other table, a group of three-four disciples were seated.
It was a tradition for all of the disciples to be formed into a three-person team, along with a guardian who acts as their mentor and friend. Hazel has her own team, and so did Inez and Nigel.
However, Aesther was not given that privilege.
After she was admission into the castle, the elders had some troubles.
There was an abundance of omega in the city, and after them, the betas were the most populous. But Alphas were rare and luna even more.
This caused all the lesser teams to be mainly formed of omegas with their guardian typically being a beta.
Within alpha squads, all the five young alphas of the current generation were placed with one omega and one beta each. Their guardians were one of the best fighters in the city.
But Aesther fit under none of those typical team roles and hence she was given none.
Hazel slid into the chair in front of her, and said in a mocking voice, "Impressive, Rose. You came back on your own two legs."
Aesther indifferently replied, "He was gentle."
"Oh come on, you don't have to lie." Hazel laughed, "There is no way you won't get a harsh punishment after that!"
A few disciples have earned public punishment for breaking those laws and Hazel assumed Aesther would get something milder since she was a luna but the mild in that warrior city wasn't exactly mild.
She sighed and glanced at Hazel with a dreamy look, "I was scared since it was my first time with him, but after I requested Ezrahl to not be too rough, he was…" she lowered her voice, "not very harsh."
"Ah…?" Hazel blinked dumbly sensing a strange undertone but not quite getting her implication.
A low cough made Aesther pause. That voice was familiar. She turned back to see Ahzure clearing his throat with his ears tinted in pink, Noah grinned obliviously while…oh damn.
Ezrahl was there.
His eyes carried no emotion as he held her gaze for the briefest of seconds and then looked away. Nothing unusual about that.
But Aesther had a sudden urge to bury herself in the earth.
'Maybe Ezrahl doesn't get it…but Ahzure…'
His imagination was clearly mature enough.
Aesther forced a smile, coughing on her stew.
However, her concerns were soon shifted as she realised Noah was there. He was supposed to have left by now, then what happened?
She slightly narrowed her eyes at Ezrahl.