adxnauseam:
Truthfully, Lindou didn’t know what their parents would make of Silane’s decision, but hoped that whatever happened, Silane would be happy. “That’s… a terrible thing to say.” For a moment, Lindou was at a loss of words for anything else to say. Lindou didn’t want to imagine Silane spending her future with someone that had no sense of respect for her, so she was almost happy she told him how she felt. “I’m glad you won’t be seeing him anymore.” With Silane’s explanation, Lindou dismissed any further suspicion she had of the coat and decided to carry on with her walk for the evening.
Even though Marius was happy to spend extra time with Dariel when he wasn’t working, he wasn’t particularly engaged because he was worried about Silane. Since they’d planned to meet up, he could already picture her sitting in their meeting spot, wondering why he wasn’t there. “I’m just a little tired,” He lied, before excusing himself from the room. Although he felt guilty about leaving Dariel, he felt worse about leaving Silane at their meeting spot alone. Eventually, he found the girl in the hall, carrying his coat. “I’m so sorry. I couldn’t leave the usual time I do.”
While Marius and Silane talked, Lindou was coming around the corner, returning to her own room for the evening. Instantly, she caught sight of Silane talking to a boy, but she couldn’t tell who he was. As soon as she saw the coat he was wearing, she began to realize what was happening. With no other idea of what to do, she turned around and headed in the direction of Dariel’s room, hoping he was still awake at this hour. After she knocked and the door was opened she walked in, hoping she hadn’t woken him up. “I’m sorry for visiting so late but… I think Silane may be… sneaking around with someone in the castle, and I don’t know who it is.”
Before Silane could even respond to what Marius had said, the sound of someone else’s footsteps nearby stopped her. “Someone’s coming. Go that way.” With that, the two hurried in the opposite direction and around the corner, and Silane could only hope that whoever it was hadn’t recognised either of them.
After Marius had left, Dariel still wasn’t quite tired enough to sleep. To pass time, he decided to settle with a book and enjoy the remainder of the wine alone. But, he was soon interrupted by Lindou at his door, and at this hour it meant there had to be a problem. As Dariel listened to what she had to say, it was difficult at first to think of how to reply. If it was the truth and others were to find out, it could cause a lot of trouble, but there was also the possibility that it would turn out to be nothing. “Perhaps it’s not as bad as it seems?” he said. “It could be one of the princes staying here. Or, it could just be a friend.” However, Dariel was aware that his response was most likely not the one Lindou was looking for, and he didn’t want to completely dismiss her concerns either. With so little information, he couldn’t come up with a better answer to her questions, so he decided to start from the beginning. “What exactly did you see?”
Once Lindou explained it all to him, Dariel remained silent for a few minutes and began to pace around the room until a possible thought eventually came to him. “Well, it must be someone who lives here, if they’re meeting at this time of night.” He stopped, realising that idea quickly led to another and he started to piece things together. “Past midnight doesn’t seem like the best time to meet someone. Unless, it’s the only time you can see them.” Dariel turned to glance towards Lindou, wondering if she was thinking anything along the same lines as him. “I don’t want to accuse her of anything, but if she is seeing someone... I wonder if it could be a person she knows she shouldn’t be seen with. A servant, maybe.”