But Valleria rolled onto her side to face my direction and stretched her hand out to me. Her fingers bumped into the crook of my elbow, sliding gingerly lower into my palm.
"Hold me," She whimpered sleepily and I obediently squeezed her hand tighter.
I was glad. So glad she came to me.
I smiled contentedly as she began to breathe calmly again and her fingers relaxed. I finally stopped beating myself up for dragging her into this.
I'll do anything to make her happy.
I fell asleep and when the soft light woke me up in the morning, she was no longer lying next to me. I absentmindedly pulled on my pants and with shirt in my hand, left the room. But in a flash I stepped back and quickly pulled it over my head.
Lady Valleria hadn't left yet.
She stood in the middle of the room with a maid helping her finish lacing her dress as she held her hair curled at the back of her head so that some strand wouldn't get tangled in the laces.
"Valleria," I addressed her and stepped closer.
"Max," She turned to me with an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry for coming here unannounced yesterday. I wanted to ask if you could find someone to show me around. I waited, but you didn't go for so long and I fell asleep," She laughed shortly, as she let go of her hair.
Oh, yeah. Announcement. I'll have to let her know before I can go see her...
"I have some spare time," an obvious lie, "I'll show you around. What would you like to see first?" I asked, reaching for something to eat quickly.
"Stables! And the ramparts, too. The markets and the church..." She came up with it rather quickly. Stables? I couldn't help but wonder if she's plotting her escape.
"That'll be enough for the day," I laughed, "I have other duties than tending to a noble guest. Pick one. I'll show you another one tomorrow."
The blood rose to her cheeks.
"Church it is, then." She said plaintively, dropping her arms around her hips. I watched her for a moment and then nodded with a smile.
If she truly wanted to run away from me, who am I to stop her? It would be better to give her every opportunity to escape, only that way I could be sure about her sincerity.
She said she had already managed to eat a little something, so we headed straight off. Her guard, the one with the blond hair, bowed to her at the door.
"My Lady," He greeted her with a hand on his heart, completely ignoring the fact that she had spent a night in a man's chambers.
"Good morning, Stephen." She nodded to him and started down the hallway with me at her side.
At the stairs I offered her my arm, she looked at me gratefully and to my pleasure, accepted. My stomach tingled at her touch and I stole a few glances, catching her as she held the skirt of her dress with her right hand and carefully walked down the stairs.
She didn't let go of me at the bottom of the stairs though, not even when we stepped out onto the courtyard.