Interlude [h.s]

sixty-eight

Alouette trusts Harry, but only by half. While she knows he offered her the only thing he could, she's all too aware that any of his belongings would be enough to alert the Palace if it fell in the wrong hands. She has no intention of bringing his entire personal guard to Dacran by accident, and so she picks out a city about two hours and half away from it—close enough to be reached in one day, distant enough to make sure she won't bring any guards back home with her.

Now, there's only the matter of leaving Harry alone for five to six hours. She doesn't like it. It's enough time for him to alert the Palace, escape and set the apartment on fire. But she does remember how he helped her escape from Jayden in Pans, and she does know he did it to make their deal fall through, but he didn't have to. He could've ignored their deal and brought her back to the Palace with him, and nobody would've trusted a word she'd say. But he hadn't done that, which makes her think that, deep down, he must've wanted to stay. Alouette hopes that, whatever it is that made him choose to be by her side for a while longer, it'll be enough to keep him from escaping now.

She twirls the ring between her fingers. She doesn't have an option. Her mother's apartment is the perfect place to hide, because the Revolution doesn't know about it, and neither does the Palace. But they can't stay without water and electricity, and she also needs money to pay for food and necessities. Her options are limited.

Harry has just fallen asleep when she slides out of the bed at six in the morning and gets dressed quietly. She gives him a wary look—she can only hope that, after having stayed up the whole night, he'll be asleep for some hours and will have less time to make trouble.

She leaves the apartment and gets to the car managing not to make odd encounters. The only thing she doesn't like about Dacran is that it's so close to the Revolution—the first thing she likes about it is that it's a very big city, and it takes nearly two hours to drive through it when there isn't much traffic—and she's on the opposite side of the Revolution, at the moment.

It takes some hours to drive to the city Alouette planned on visiting, and by the time she reaches it it's nine in the morning, and she wonders if Harry has woken up. She tries not to think of all the things he could be doing, and spots a jewellery store that seems right for her. It's small enough for her not to catch too much attention, but big enough for her to have hope they'll be able to buy Harry's tragically overpriced ring.

In the end she's correct, and it doesn't take her long to sell it for about nine thousand. She parts with the piece of jewellery with a little longing, but with her pockets full.

The drive back to Dacran takes a little less, and she gets back to the city at twelve. She stops to buy food and some necessities, and then drives to the apartment.

She enters the building and goes one floor down, selecting the number of her apartment on the machine and paying for her electricity, water and gas. Then, she takes the bags and goes up. She keeps her ears open as she goes up the stairs, but she doesn't spot any odd sounds, or anything that might tell her something is wrong.

Alouette steps into the apartment and closes the door. The lights don't turn on, not yet, but they will soon. "I'm back," she says, frowning when she receives no reply. She puts everything down near the couch and goes into the hallway. "Harry?"

The bathroom is empty, and so is the kitchen. The door to her parents' bedroom is still closed, so she walks towards the guest room.

"Har—" She immediately goes silent when she recognises his figure on the bed. She silently enters the room and kneels next to him, smiling to herself when she realises he's sleeping.

He's on his back, his head tilted towards her, his lips slightly parted. He's in almost the same position she left him at this morning—he must've been tired. It does make sense, Alouette thinks. She doesn't know what he did when they were in Pans, but she's quite certain he hasn't slept more than three, maybe four hours each night since they left—sometimes even less. And with her out of the way, the door locked and a mattress under him, he felt safe enough to sleep. Sleep properly, for once.