The Shadows | Astarion

~ 12 ~

Aelia's eyes opened from her meditation, and saw that sunlight glimmered through a few gaps at the top of the drapes.

She then looked down and saw her hand was still in Astarion's, his grip tight, even though he was in a deep meditation.

Glancing up, his face was soft and lax, looking at peace.

She then slipped her hand from out of his, and saw his face tighten for a second before it relaxed again.

Slipping out of bed, she padded around to where the drapes were and she moved them to cover as much sunlight as possible. There were only a few spots of it now in the room.

Silently, she got into her deep red dress and as always, tied the dagger around her thigh.

She looked back at Astarion once more before leaving the room, shutting the door quietly behind her.

Aiming for the door opposite, she knocked on it and Gale mumbled from within. She walked in and saw that they had actually got two beds, unlike her and Astarion.

Both of them had just woken up, and Aelia sat down on Shadowheart's bed.

"Enjoy sharing a room with Astarion?" She teased, and Aelia narrowed her eyes at her.

"I did, in fact, we even had to share a bed." She said, and Shadowheart's eyes widened before she had a sly smirk on her face, "Not like that!" Aelia added.

"Interesting, did you... get up to anything?" Shadowheart was poking at Aelia, and she playfully smacked her away.

"No!" She blushed slightly, and Shadowheart grinned.

"Please, voices down. I haven't been awake long enough to hear your gossip." Gale groaned, shoving his head under the pillow.

Aelia laughed, "I can go downstairs and see what food they have to offer?"

Shadowheart nodded whilst Gale's voice was muffled under the pillow, but she took that as a yes.

As Aelia left the room and headed downstairs, she realised that she was feeling brave.

She went towards the bar and waited for the female to come up to her, so Aelia stood against the bar and observed around her.

Her eyes stopped when she saw a group of males sat in the corner, already drinking in the middle of the day. A few of them were sneering at her.

She turned away and asked the female behind the bar for three bowls of whatever they served for lunch, and she waited.

Glancing over at the males again, she saw them talking and then looking over at her.

She breathed in deep, but thanked and paid the woman as she gave Aelia the food. Carefully, she walked back to the door where the stairs led, and saw from the corner of her eye that one of the males got up.

She paced to the stairs and then quickly put the bowls down, before hiding behind the door.

As she predicted, the man who got up had opened it with a smirk on his face.

Fury ran through her.

As he walked up the stairs, she silently followed behind him. He was stupid enough not to notice the food left on the stairs.

As soon as he reached the top of the stairs and walked down the first corridor, she readied her dagger.

Then cleared her throat.

The man turned around, and cried out when she'd shoved him against the wall, holding the dagger against his throat.

She smirked at him, "Not such a good idea following me now, was it?"

The man stilled, and didn't say anything for fear that the dagger would end up in his throat.

"You will go back downstairs without saying a word, or you'll find your pretty little neck covered in blood." She hissed, and he trembled but nodded silently.

"Good." She then made a step back as if to let him go, but then slit the dagger on his throat, not enough to kill him, but it would leave a scar.

Some blood sprayed over her, but she covered her hand over her mouth with a feigned look of shock, "Oh, my apologies, I must've slipped."

The man groaned as he held his throat, he then practically bolted down the stairs, and Aelia frowned at the blood covering the dress Astarion had mended.

She trembled slightly, but went downstairs to retrieve the leftover bowls and then took them to Shadowheart and Gale's room.

"You were gone for quite a while, what happened?" Shadowheart asked, then spied the blood over her dress.

"Just a little problem, it's solved now." She said, and sat down with her own bowl, eating the food quickly.

"Whatever happened, I'm sure whoever it was deserved it." Gale said, and Aelia nodded.

"They did." Is all she said, and nothing else was said on the matter. They talked until the door opened, revealing Astarion.

His eyes were soft as they reached Aelia, but hardened when he scented and saw the blood on her.

He walked towards her and looked her over, then realised that it wasn't her blood he could scent, but someone else's.

"What happened?" He asked, sounding concerned.

"Nothing terrible, just a male who thought following me was a good idea." Aelia answered, watching and his face slid into a cool anger.

"Why was he following you?" Gale asked, and everyone turned to him, eyebrows raised, "Oh."

"Our little healer has a bloodthirsty heart, I hope you made him hurt." Astarion said, his voice darkened slightly.

"Watching him walk away was rather amusing." She said, and he smiled.

His nostrils flared as he sat down near her, his red eyes flicked to the blood on her dress and then he looked away.

Aelia didn't know what he was doing, and didn't think anything of it.

The group talked about where they were headed next, and Aelia couldn't help but wonder what was going on in Astarion's mind, his shoulders slightly tensed with anger.