Nightingale Academy

Amaranth picked me up and more or less flew me back to my dorm room. He lied me down on my bed, pulled the covers over my body and pushed the sides underneath me so I was wrapped into a cocoon. He glanced up at Azure who was pretending not to watch us as she read her novella for class. They silently exchanged a few glances and Azure left the room with an exasperated sigh. Amaranth turned back to face me in my tightly wound cocoon and lightly pressed his hand against my cheek.

“You're going to try your best to fall asleep, okay?” he said with a soft smile.

I nodded and continued staring up at him. The blood in my mouth left a rusty taste and I wanted to brush my teeth, but I didn't want to leave the bed Amaranth so carefully tucked me into or separate myself from him.

He sighed, his cool breath tickling my nose. He smelt of musk and ivy but his breath was too sweet to match his natural scent. He was inching closer to my face every passing second and my own head started to pull towards his in a tortuously slow motion. His breath tickled my nose and I had to control my spinning head by evening out my breathing. I gave up when it didn't work and stopped breathing altogether. The tips of our noses were now touching and my eyes were frighteningly wide compared to his lowered eye lids. I felt my dry lips chap against his cool breath and my heart ceased to beat as it tried to jump out of my throat.

I was already near ecstasy just by being so close to him. What would happen once his lips touched mine? I blushed at the images that came to mind and pushed the dirty thoughts to the back of my mind.

I can't do this, I thought to myself. My heart sunk down to the pit of my stomach and my lungs start to function along with my heart just as prepared myself to pull away. I ignored the new images of Amaranth's expression after I pull away, fearing not his hurt, but my own. He could either be hurt himself or he could be emotionless and instead hurt me. Afterward he could stop talking to me again or treat me spitefully. I didn't know and I wasn't ready to find out so I pulled away and at the same time he did to as if he was burned by fire.

He didn't just pull away from me, he pulled his whole body away from the bed and turned around and away from me with a rigid back. I had hurt him, I must have, but now seeing his back to me, I felt like I was hurt the most. I rejected him and in result he probably hates me for it. He was going to leave now and ignore me like he had before.

A silhouette that I failed to notice seconds before moved in front of him and crossed the room. It dawned on me that he had not turned away from me in rejection but because Azure had opened the door and interrupted us. He may or may not have realised that I pulled away from him, but he sat on the edge of my bed and faced me with a smile, waiting for his sister to gather her clothes.

“Sorry for interrupting,” she smirked at us as she pulled her toiletries out of her drawer and pushed an extra towel into her duffel-bag. “I'll be out of your hair soon. I'm going to stay the night at Haven's since Wynona is planning on sneaking into Hayden's later tonight.” She giggled and zipped her bag. She bid us a good night and winked at me before closing the door.

I blushed and placed a hand over my quivering lip, trying my best to stop myself from either maniacally laughing or hysterically crying. Amaranth's fingers slipped under my palm and gently pulled my hand away from my face. “Don't cover that pretty face of yours.”

My blush deepened and I bit my bottom lip to keep it still.

“You're going to draw blood with that force of yours,” he continued teasing.

I refused to loosen and instead stared down at my pink comforter with intense determination.

“We'll have to give Tily another visit. She'll be awfully perturbed and think that I did it to you.”

I blushed again and ripped my eyes off the covers to glare at him. I sunk into the bed and pulled the pink comforter over my face. His chiming and smooth laugh was muffled by the covers and I felt his body shift on the bed. He was laying beside me now and was trying to slip his hands under the covers and remove them from my face.

“Let's not frustrate me now, Lily. I hope you've stopped biting you lip. I'll have to bring you to Tily and it was already hard to explain how you got that bite mark on your arm. She found it hard to believe you did it to yourself.” He tugged at the covers again and I gave in. He wasn't putting much force into it, but I didn't want to his control to accidentally slip and have him rip the comforter. He pushed the covers under my chin and smiled down at me sweetly. “Would you mind if I stayed with you tonight?” he asked, gently running a finger across my jaw.

I shook my head. How could I refuse if he asked me so sweetly? I looked down, trying to suppress the grin that was starting to bloom from my raw lips. He tucked me into a cocoon again and got off the bed, moving towards Azure's bed. A squeak formed out of my mouth and he turned around to look at me questioningly. I blushed and fiddled with my fingers under the covers, staring down and away from him. A blush crept over my cheeks again as I quietly answered his questioning gaze. “Will you sleep with me tonight?” It sounded terribly suggestive and I said it so quietly, it could have sounded sultry to anyone else if they had been even able to hear me say it with such a mouse-like voice.

Amaranth had heard just fine and crossed back to my side. He gently pulled the covers up and slid into the twin-sized bed. He made himself comfortable on his side and faced me, placing his arm lightly over my waist and wrapped it around me protectively. Pulling me closer to his chest, he asked me to sleep soundly and like the time in the greenhouse, I listened to his breath and placed my face close to his chest, searching for his heartbeat. I discovered a very faint pounding and smiled. Obeying his orders, I fell into a sound and comfortable sleep within minutes.