Page 21 of Adoringly, Edward
“Vivi!” he hissed as he glanced back and forth across the yard. His tower wasn’t within the vantage point of the rest of the estate, and no one else lingered outside. “What are you doing? What hour is it?”
She held a hand to her heart and visibly took a deep breath. “I thought you were dead up there!” she squeaked. “I was so worried.”
He frowned. “Why in heaven’s name would you think me dead?”
“You’ve been in there for several days.”
The blood rushed out of his face, and his body took on a chill unrelated to the cold night. The sudden hunger and thirst running rampant through him gave away the fact that he likely hadn’t eaten anything substantial in a long while.
“Why is your bedroom door locked from the outside?” she asked in a watery tone, snapping his attention back to her. “Are you in trouble, Edward?”
He blinked several times to try to make sense of the situation through his still-foggy mind. Was this due to his condition? True, it had become worse in the past year alone. But never this bad.
“I’m coming up,” she declared as she grabbed stone after stone, somehow finding a foothold in the towering structure.
“Stop!” he gasped. “You will injure yourself.”
Thankfully, she lowered herself back to the ground, only to stare up at him with hands resting over her hips. “Edward!” she hissed in the darkness. “Let down a rope!”
“Are you daft?” he hissed right back. “You’re not climbing the wall. Besides, you can’t possibly be strong enough.”
She planted her fists on her hips. “I’m plenty strong enough. I wasn’t built daintily like the rest of the females at court, my father always says.” Shaking her head, she gave him a pointed stare. “I can either do this with a rope or without. The choice is yours.”
“I don’t have a rope.”
Her teasing smile quirked to the side. “Let down your hair?”
He rolled his eyes and scoffed. “It’s notthatlong. Besides, you quite liked the length all those weeks ago.”
His ears burned with fluster after mentioning the one thing he swore he would put behind him. But it was difficult when that night together was seared into his brain in the most pleasant way.
“Mmhmm,” she confirmed in a sing-song voice. But then she moved as if to climb the wall again.
“Wait!”
He rushed back into his room, his gaze darting about as he tried to find something to use for her to climb. When he found no such rope like he thought he wouldn’t, he quickly stripped the sheets from his bed and tied two of them together, testing the knot before throwing it over the window sill and down as far as it would reach. It dangled near the top of her head, but she still managed to grab a hold of it.
Using all the strength he possessed, he held onto the other end and prayed to the Mother Goddess that it wouldn’t rip. He even braced one of his legs against the wall to prevent his own weight from slipping.
“What am I doing?” he chastised himself. Allowing a woman to climb a wall into his bedroom in the dead of night? She could injure herself for one. For two, it was vastly inappropriate.
Just when he felt the urge to glance over the side of the sill, Vivienne’s head crested the top of the ledge. He rushed forward to help by grabbing her securely around the waist and heaving her over.
He misjudged his strength, or perhaps her weight, as he stumbled backward with her in his arms until they crashed to the ground, sprawled out in a tangle of limbs. He hadn’t the strength to do anything other than lie with his arms on either side of him, staring at the ceiling as the world spun.
His condition trulywasgetting worse. What was he to do? The doctor had said there was no cure for this save for a risky operation.
“Edward?” Vivienne gasped, scrambling into a sitting position with her legs straddling his waist as she cradled his face in her hands.
“I’m well, just dazed,” he grunted as he pushed himself to sitting, only to find himself far too close to her for comfort, the two of them nearly nose to nose. This was…dangerous. This could not happen again. He would accept her friendship but nothing more. Not this time.
No matter how much he longed for something more.
He stood, facing his back to her as he retrieved the lantern and set it on the center of the floor to illuminate more of their surroundings.
“Care to answer my questions?” she asked, hands on her hips again.
He tried to hide his grin at her idea of a confrontation. It was so like Vivienne to make it as extreme as possible. “I don’t have all the answers. But I assume since you went through all the effort… You’re here to play?”
