By the time Caedrion awoke, he had little memory of what had occurred in the library.
He remembered meeting his aunt, and then... nothing. Nothing at all.
Still, his body wasn’t the least bit stiff or sore. In fact, his pillow felt more comfortable than it ever had before.
He couldn’t help but roll over, and tug tightly at its fabric casing.
And when he did, he knew immediately he had made a mistake.
Knowing what was towering above him, Caedrion slowly opened his eyes in horror at the realization that he had been sleeping on his fiancée’s lap.
She was glaring down at him as he nuzzled into a place he shouldn’t be.
"Well, aren’t you a bold one, little brother? Didn’t I tell you, you would have to wait until our wedding...."
Caedrion thought about his position for two seconds before realizing he was utterly screwed no matter how he reacted, and in that moment his brain charted the only logical course of action.
Shamelessly, like a scoundrel, he ignored the woman’s fury entirely and dug his head further into the warmth her lap pillow provided him with the most lecherous of smiles on his face.
Aelindria, usually the haughty and seductive vixen, immediately flushed red in embarrassment, not knowing how to respond to the audacity she was falling victim to.
Even making a meek squeal as she tried to pull away. "No, stop it! You can’t! I said stop!"
She eventually kicked the man away from her, him nearly falling off his own bed. As he just barely managed to hold on.
Wiping the drool off his lips, and tasting it, Caedrion couldn’t help but provoke the woman further after seeing what a bashful state she had ended up in.
"I shall savor the memory."
Aelindria only blushed further as she forced her gaze away from the young man, casting a few glances his way intermittently.
All the while he climbed back into his proper bed in an attempt to get some proper sleep.
Not showing the slightest concern for the state she was in as he did so.
She, of course, had no idea how to react to such a brazen trespass against her own authority, and was quick to vent her fury with a scream.
"You’re just going to sleep after all that!?!"
Caedrion, huffing after his fiancée wouldn’t let him ignore her, could only respond without the slightest care in his tone.
"Yup.... You are the one who interrupted my sleep after all. So unless you want to strip out of that stuffy uniform and join me, get lost...."
Aelindria rose to her feet and prepared to leave the room until she stopped in the doorway.
Looking back at the sleeping lecher’s face with a mixture of fury and shame on her pristine face.
However, just as she was about to leave she realized she had suddenly found herself in a precarious position.
For years, she had held the upper hand in the power dynamics of their relationship.
But with this one bold move, Caedrion had completely reversed that in his favor.
He had also thrown down the gauntlet with a challenge.... Either she joins him or flees. Forever giving him power over her...
Her gloved hand clenched as her eyes shut, trying her best to restrain herself.
She took a deep breath, calming her nerves, before casting a glance back to Caedrion who was once more drifting off into sleep.
Was all she hissed beneath her breath before doing the unthinkable, silently stripping down to her undergarments, she walked over to the opposite edge of the bed and stopped.
She shielded herself with her hands even though her undergarments left little truly revealed.
She looked back at the door, perhaps reflecting on why she had so impulsively made such a stupid choice.
But after taking another deep breath, she dived forward, getting under the covers, and wrapping herself around Caedrion from behind, as the big spoon.
The heat of her body and her breath instantly woke the man from whatever half-slumbered state he had found himself in.
"Did you really think I’d let you toy with my body in such a way without taking a pound of flesh in return?"
Caedrion’s eyes shot open wide.... He truly had miscalculated, judging by the young maiden’s reactions that she would easily flee the moment she escaped from him.
But now the cards were in her hands, as she began to reach her hands lower and lower down his body.
Ultimately, he stopped them before they could go too far.
Reminding the woman that their wedding was just around the corner, he smiled with a confident façade.
"If you want to consummate our upcoming marriage a week in advance, that’s fine by me. But wasn’t it you who said I now have to wait until our wedding day? You’re not going to break your vow just because I got you a bit flustered now are you?"
Aelindria’s hands froze exactly where they were, on Caedrion’s chiseled abs.
Her pupils seemed to do the same as she suddenly realized the bastard had almost made her break her own word.
She realized she had fallen prey to his game twice in one setting, and instantly felt ashamed.
As a result, she couldn’t help but bite his shoulder from behind.
Not hard enough to break the skin, but still with sufficient force to prove her feelings and to claim her territory.
Still, Aelindria couldn’t help but notice something about his scent as she hugged him tightly.
It stirred something primal and unfamiliar within her.
Caedrion could only chuckle as Aelindria continued to grow ever more embarrassed, but refused to let go, regardless.
Little their gambit had ended in a draw, and the two of them drifted off to sleep just like that.
They would only awaken some time later, when a servant called through the corridor for the both of them, letting them know dinner was nearing.
And just like that, a new panic began as they both realized they were not supposed to be seen in such a state.
And certainly not before their wedding night.
A detail that now felt dangerously close to irrelevant.
Luckily for the two of them, the sanctity of their vows remained, if only by a thread.