The Love That Bonds Us

Chapter 15 : She's On His Mind

AGNARR

I lay awake that night, staring up at my ceiling with wide eyes.

These days I rarely ever fell asleep at night. Instead, I'd find myself nodding off during the day. But then my head would smack against a surface and that would be me awake for the next six hours.

And usually it was because of work, like I'd told Iduna that afternoon. I would spend most nights worrying about deadlines and the fact I wasn't cut out for this. It wasn't getting any easier, and what made it even worse was all the suggestions my advisors and Royal Guards kept making. I had no intention of ever taking their advice on board, but I was getting to a point where I would probably start saying yes just to get them to stop talking.

But tonight was different - it was Iduna keeping me awake. Everything from her smile and her laugh to her outgoing-ness and her mysteriousness was filling my head and certainly not helping me to fall asleep.

Atleast I could say I was used to being awake at night. I'd long since given up on trying fruitlessly to fall asleep.

With a heavy sigh, I pulled one hand from behind my head and reached passed the flickering candle on my bedside table to pick up a book. Not even bothering to read the title, I lifted myself up and propped a pillow behind my back for support, letting the book fall open across my legs.

Just as my eyes had traced the first line of the book, the sound of a clock chiming marked midnight and I groaned, sinking against the pillows. My hands rose to rub my face and my head fell back against the headboard.

It still surprised me when midnight came around. You'd think by this point I'd have gotten used to it.

Without any other idea of what to do - because I was getting quite bored of reading a book every night to try and feed my exhaustion - I swung my legs out of my bed and stood up to shuffle across the wooden floor with nothing but the small candle for light. I found some slippers and a bedrobe before fumbling through the darkness until I found a door.

It was a cold night and I wrapped my free arm around my body as I walked along the corridor outside my room. Moonlight streamed in through the tall windows and my eyes drifted to see a star scattered sky and a moon beaming down at me.

It amazed me how happy the sky seemed to be even though I was still awake which, in my mind, wasn't anything to be happy about.

Perhaps the night only got lonely because so many people were asleep and there wasn't anyone to admire it.

Oh, the thoughts I have during sleep deprivation.

A hand rubbed my face again and my feet continued forwards though I had no idea where they were taking me. I ended up outside my personal study of all places, which was especially strange because I would have thought that work was the last thing I needed to do, but I pushed open the door anyway and slumped in the chair.

My finger miserably traced the wood grain of the desk as I stared out the window. The grass had turned navy and the only flowers I could see were the white ones which stood out like haunting spirits among the creeping darkness.

Then something suddenly fluttered past the window and I jumped violently, landing in a heap on the floor.

Shaking my head, I decided it could only have been a bird or some kind of nocturnal animal, and pulled myself to my feet using the table as support.

"Oh dear." I murmured under my breath, pressing a hand against my forehead, "I must be loosing it. First a lonely night. Now a monster bird."

"I don't think you are loosing it Your Majesty." a voice said.