Arwin was unsure as to how much time had passed. It was impossible to get a good feel for the night’s passing in Lillia’s room. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours, or he could have been there for days. He wasn’t quite sleeping but he was far from awake. It was a state of suspended animation that was just a step away from meditation and a step ahead of sitting around and staring at the ceiling as he waited for the sun to rise. The warmth of Lilla’s body pressed against his side and back. She hadn’t made a single noise beyond gentle breath since he’d arrived. The only thing that accompanied him in the darkness other than her presence were his own thoughts. Those, however, felt like they would never end. The last time Arwin had been in Lillia’s room, she’d been awake beside him. Knowing that she was present had been enough to keep his mind from drifting too far. But now Lillia slept. Even though she was beside him, there was nothing to keep him focused on the present. Visions flew unbidden past his eyes and played out in the darkness beyond sight. They meshed together into a chaotic tapestry. The canvas of broken battlefields, painted red with the brush of the dead and dying – the Brothers Six, reduced to one – the last fight with Lillia, where the men and women that had fought by his side died nameless and faceless. Over and over, the visions came. Memories that had been buried since his late teens and scenes from just days ago came as one. They flitted and danced past his mind before he could properly grasp them. There seemed to be no sense to their order or purpose to their arrival, but they always seemed to end with Lillia. Arwin shoved them back and tried to turn his mind to other directions. But still, she lingered on in his thoughts. It was ironic. The Adventurer’s Guild would have likely achieved their goals if he and Lillia hadn’t both managed to arrive at Milten. Without Reya, Arwin suspected he would have died. Lillia would have been unlikely to find anyone to get food from her tavern and would have met a similar fate. And, even if they’d both survived the initial days, neither of them ever would have had proof of the Guild’s actions. “I’m getting there,” Arwin said. “Are you still feeling up to enter the dungeon today? We all need to be at our best if we’re going to be fighting.” Lillia remained silent. Any answer given quickly to a question such as that was liable to be impulsive, and she was too experienced to make a mistake like that. Several seconds passed before she moved to sit up. She leaned against him as she rose, keeping her side pressed against his for Keep reading on NovelHub - where stories come alive! “I’ll be fine,” Lillia said. “Somehow, I think I actually got a pretty decent night of rest. I don’t feel nearly as tired as I think I should. I figure you’re to thank for that.” Her voice trailed away for a second. Before Arwin could say anything, she spoke again. “Just so you know, that’s more than a little embarrassing to admit.” “Even if you were doing your best tomato impression, it’s not like I’d be able to see. I wouldn’t have known if you didn’t tell me.” “I know. I just wanted to make sure you knew that I had to suffer to say that.” Arwin let out a snort of laughter before he could stop himself. “In that case, I guess I have to thank you for your sacrifice.” “Exactly.” Arwin felt her nod. “As you should.” They didn’t speak again for a few seconds, but it wasn’t for a lack of want. There were a lot of things that Arwin wanted to say. None of them seemed able to manifest themselves beyond a flitting thought that died before it could reach his lips. “I don’t want to lose anyone else.” Lillia swallowed and her shoulders stiffened as she forced the next sentence through her lips, spitting the words out before they could find anywhere to hide. “I’m scared. I was so resigned to trading everything for living. I didn’t have anything else left to give, so I had nothing to fear. Then things changed. There’s so much I care about now, and I don’t want to lose any more of it.” Arwin wished he had something to say that was more than just mere words. He wished he’d been gifted with a silver tongue or blessed by a stroke of inspiration that would let him comfort Lillia. There wasn’t a single thing that he could say that would properly encapsulate his own feelings. No combination of words, no matter how well spoken, felt like it could ever even come close to even scratching the surface. His arm drifted up of its own accord and wrapped around Lillia’s shoulders. She leaned against his chest and he pulled her into an embrace. “I know,” Arwin said. There was nothing else to be said. The dark swallowed the world until all that remained were the two of them. He let his head lower until it rested against Lillia’s. Her heartbeat was just faint enough for him to pick up against his skin and her hair tickled his nose. A sense of strange comfort enveloped Arwin. His brow crinkled as he tried to place the emotion. It was akin to walking down the road to peace if it were paved with bricks made of desire. A dull sense of loss gnawed at his stomach, even as his face warmed.