The maid cast a final glance over the room's arrangements, where the faint glow of magical sapphires shimmered against the walls.
The tall windows of the room were tightly shut, their heavy drapes brushing the floor, completely isolating the silence of the night outside from the divine radiance within. With a silent bow, the maid stepped back and carefully drew the heavy, intricately carved doors shut.
The deep thud of the closing doors echoed through the vast chamber before fading into stillness. She did not depart immediately; instead, she stood motionless like a shadow in the pale blue light of the corridor, a short distance from the entrance.
Inside the chamber, Len kicked off his heavy royal boots and moved toward the massive bed, his bare feet sinking into the plush carpet. The silken sheets spread across the bed glistened like silver under the radiance of the magical chandelier. Len hopped onto the center of the bed and sat cross-legged
.
He turned his head toward Eric, who remained standing in the middle of the room, observing the sealed and secure surroundings with his crimson eyes.
A gentle smile touched Len's lips. He patted the silken surface of the bed with his small hand, causing light ripples to form on the fabric.
"Come here, you get up here too," Len said, gesturing with a deep sense of belonging.
Eric glanced at the heavy drapes of the shut windows for a heartbeat, and then his feet began to move toward the bed without a sound.
There was an alert, predator-like grace in his every movement. As he drew closer, the silence of the room grew deeper and more intimate, leaving the noise of the outside world far behind those heavy doors and closed windows.
Eric reached the edge of the bed and brought his heavy steps to a halt. He lowered himself onto his knees and, supporting his weight with both hands on the velvet sheets, began to move forward. His crawl was slow and measured, as if he were testing the softness of this unfamiliar surface.
Upon reaching the pillow, he released his exhaustion with a long breath and rested his head in its plush embrace. His body sank into the depths of the bed, and he settled there.
Len watched Eric's movements with keen interest. Without a moment's delay, he followed suit, crawling on his hands and knees toward the other side of the bed. His agility was akin to that of a small kitten. He moved until he reached the second pillow and rested his head gently upon it.
Now, they lay directly facing one another.
In the pale blue magical light of the room, the distance between them had completely vanished.
Eric's deep crimson eyes and Len's shimmering golden eyes were locked onto each other. The warmth of the silken bed and the silence of the room created an unspoken bond between them, where they felt each other's presence without any movement at all.
Amidst the velvet softness of the bed, Len tilted his head slightly further on the pillow to get a better view of Eric's face. The blue magical light of the room was creating a strange depth within Eric's eyes.
"Why are you looking at me like this?" Eric questioned in his heavy, flat voice, his gaze still holding that same mysterious steadiness.
A deep and genuine smile bloomed on Len's lips. "Your eyes are so beautiful," he said, keeping his voice soft. "They shimmer so much... like two crimson diamonds carved in the dark."
No grand change appeared on Eric's face at this sudden praise, but his eyelashes fluttered for a brief heartbeat. He stared silently into Len's golden eyes, which were brimming with both innocence and brilliance at that moment.
"Why don't you look at your own eyes in a mirror?" Eric said quietly, his tone slightly softer than before. "Your eyes are shining no less than any precious gem."
Len crinkled his eyes even more upon hearing this, as if he were trying to process Eric's words. "Really?" he asked with an endearing chirp, the golden radiance of his eyes blending with the room's magical glow to create a stunning aura.
Eric lowered his eyelids over his crimson eyes, letting their intense brilliance slowly fade into darkness. He settled himself a little deeper into the embrace of the bed.
"Now, sleep peacefully," Eric whispered. His voice now sounded like a soft lullaby, carrying no command but a strange, newfound tranquility.
Len watched Eric's calm and still face for a few moments. He lingered on the sight of Eric's closed eyes and the mysterious ease spread across his features. The effect of Eric's words was such that Len's own heavy eyelids began to droop under the weight of sleep.
"Fine," Len replied in a very low voice, barely more than a deep breath.
He, too, slowly closed his golden eyes. As both their eyes shut, the magical blue light of the room draped over their faces like a soft shroud.
Now, there was only the faint, rhythmic sound of their breathing, blending into the stillness of the chamber. Behind the sealed windows and heavy drapes, the entire world seemed to have come to a standstill just for them.
Within the chamber, the silence had now fully deepened. Len and Eric's breathing had slowed into a rhythmic melody, signaling their surrender to the embrace of deep sleep.
The magical blue light grew dim over their peaceful faces, as if it, too, were resting alongside them. The silken folds of the bed remained still, and both were lost in some unknown world of dreams, far away from their exhaustion and worries
.
However, in another wing of the palace, the atmosphere was entirely different.
Astria lay upon her massive bed. Her head was sunk deep into the velvet pillow, yet sleep was miles away from her.
The dim light burning in the room clearly revealed the stark lines of her face. Her eyes were not closed; they stared unblinkingly at the carvings on the ceiling, as if she were reading some secret of the future within the lines of the stone.
There was a strange steadiness in her gaze—a wakefulness that senses danger even in the midst of peace.
The darkness of the night was deepening, but those lifelessly bright eyes of Astria were immersed in some profound thought or perhaps the premonition of an approaching storm.
The entire palace slept, but behind those wakeful eyes, some conspiracy or deep-seated anxiety was still very much alive.
Astria's lifeless eyes shifted from the ceiling toward the grand window that had been left slightly ajar. The silence of the deep night outside was filtering through that narrow gap.
The heavy silken drapes of the window swayed slowly with the gentle gusts of wind, looking like an invisible shadow attempting to slip into the room.
The cold, frosty air entering through the opening brushed against Astria's face, causing strands of her stray hair to flutter against her forehead. Yet, her eyelids remained unblinking.