Ember was momentarily blinded by the sudden brightness inside the chamber, and as soon as her sight returned, she found someone standing by the window, causing her heart to nearly jump out of her throat .
'That scared me!'
She put her hands over her chest, trying to calm down her heart.
'So he's been awake the whole time? He must have sensed my presence already. But why is he standing in the dark? Why does he look as if…as if…?'
The view of the man's broad back, clad in black sleeping robe, looked a little lonely.
'It must be my imagination.'
Just as she hesitated on what to say, the tall man in black robes turned around to face her, causing all her thoughts to scatter. Those familiar red eyes carried no emotions as they looked at her; instead, they looked unusually calm like still water.
Ember froze in her place as she was seeing him like this for the first time in a while. She could not point out what was different about it but she could feel a certain difference in him.
'Is it because of what I did today? I returned in an unconscious state.'
She braced herself and walked towards him while Draven watched her approach him with slow, reluctant steps. He could still smell another male's scent on her, mixed with her sweet one, but he tried his best to ignore it and his expression remained unchanging even as she stood next to him.
Strands of Ember's long hair slowly drifted across her face as the evening breeze slipped through the open window, but neither of them moved nor said anything. Draven merely stared at her, and she stared back without a word.
At this point, her heart had somewhat calmed down. However, though she was now facing her mate, her expression showed conflict, not knowing what exactly to say or how to start the conversation.
"You should have been sleeping at this moment."
Draven broke the uncomfortable silence between them, his dignified voice causing her body to shiver.
Ember felt like she could finally breathe upon hearing him speak. She couldn't decide if she did the right thing by coming to him and disturbing him.
A shy smile appeared on her face as she spoke a little softly, "I didn't find you next to me so…I thought to check on you..."
Draven didn't say anything even as she eventually lowered her head and fiddled with her hands.
Seeing him simply quietly looking at her, Ember started to feel a little nervous. Reya said he looked angry when he found out she returned unconscious. He must still be upset with her, right? Otherwise, he would not have chosen to stay alone in his chamber instead of sleeping on the same bed as her. Should she apologize for not following Morpheus' warning? She was clearly in the wrong.
"I am fine," he spoke up, breaking her line of thoughts. "Do you want to say something?"
Ember gulped and slowly nodded while taking a peek at his face.
"What is it?"
"I know it's more proper to wait for tomorrow to talk but I don't want to delay my apology. I'm sorry! Sorry for being irresponsible today, for leaving without saying a word and for returning home in an unconscious situation." She gulped again and as she continued to speak, her voice turned softer and softer. "It must have angered you, right? I was wrong. You must have been worried when I disappeared and angry at me when—"
"I was never angry at you," he interrupted her.
She tried to see through his eyes if he really meant those words, but those red rubies didn't give out anything.
"You were not angry?" she probed, her eyes closely observing his reaction.
"I was," he replied, "but not at you."
"Then?"
"You don't need to know."
"But…"
"Do you have anything else to say? If not, you should go back to sleep."
Ember could not guess if he was really not angry in the first place or if he had forgiven her. She could not even tell whether his calmness was real or not. She could not leave just like this.
"I have something to tell you."
Those words escaped her mouth before she could stop herself. It felt as if all the blood rushed to her brain. For a moment, she wanted to step back, her cowardly self urging her to return to her room now that Draven confirmed he was not angry with her, but her feet refused to move.
The Draven she had seen in that dream, the Draven who loves her back…
She wanted him to become reality.
She didn't like the way Draven gazed at her now—those red eyes that were beautiful to look at but held not a single emotion in them, as if he was looking at her but not seeing her. She wanted him to look at her the way he looked at her in that hallucination induced by those white flowers.
A gaze overflowing with expectations and warmth, filled with longing and sincere affection.
"Earlier, I made a mistake."
Draven's gaze darkened. He didn't wish to hear something which he already knew.
Was she going to tell him what she did with Morpheus? She didn't need to be so honest about it. Some things were better kept hidden. Was she really so brazen to say it to his face?
He didn't want to hear it—he simply wanted to disappear at this very moment. Or rather…to escape. Yes, the almighty Black Dragon had considered escaping rather than hearing his mate admit the truth, to feign ignorance and act as if her intimacy with another man never happened in the first place.
Yet as he watched her nervously fiddle with her own fingers with her head lowered, trying her best to gather her courage, he found himself unable to use his powers to leave.
After a while, her green eyes met his red ones.
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