Iftia: Lyx Palace, Elianna's Bedchamber

• Rowan •

I didn't expect this.

Rowan stood at the door staring at Elianna who just came out of the bath wrapped in a towel. Long strands of her brown hair were wet and stuck against her pale skin while droplets of water glided down smoothly and dripped on the carpeted floor beneath her. She simply stood rooted to the ground with hands clutching tightly on the towel, unmoving. He tried to look away but his eyes caught the flower mark on her chest and curiosity piqued. Why does she have a mark of resurrection?

"What are you staring at?!" 

Her voice jarred him out of his paralysed state as he realised that Elianna had followed his gaze and found out that he was staring at her chest. Her face flushed in bright red as she glared at him, seemingly unsure whether to be mad at him. Rowan quickly directed his eyes to stare at hers as he smirked. 

"Not bad," He teased.

Elianna was probably too fazed to argue back and she held onto the towel that was covering herself with all her might before stomping into the dressing room and shut the door with a loud slam. Her panic caused him to laugh, but he was sure that he had gone overboard with teasing her once again. He should have his presence announced in the future when he visits her but for this once, he entered the room and settled on one of the plush armchairs. 

Who sacrificed for her?

Other than the mark of resurrection, he also thought about the scars he saw on her wrists when she was dressing his bandages for the past month. Those weren't scars that she could've gotten from simple accidents. They looked deliberate, as though someone had meant to harm her in that manner. It was unsettling how he couldn't solve the mysteries surrounding her and there was so much he had on his mind. He wanted to know what exactly happened to her in Thethia, who did she plan to plot against and everything that happened between her and Elizabeth. 

"You're still here?" A hand hovered in front of him and he snapped back into attention.

He looked at her, ascertained that he was too deep into his own headspace to realise that she had come out of the dressing room. Glancing up and down, it was his turn to feel slightly flustered now that she was dressed thinly in a white long-sleeved nightgown. He turned slightly and thought about the raging snowstorm outside, he asked, "Aren't you cold?" 

"It's quite warm in here," Elianna replied. "You are done with work?"

"Yes, it's rather late at night now. My knights need to rest too," Rowan gave her a slight nod. "I'm here to check on you before I return to my own place to rest. Meanwhile, I also have a few matters to discuss with you." 

"What's the matter?"

"I hope that you'll be staying here for a long while, let me know if you have any plans in mind."

"I planned to talk to you about this too. I'm not quite sure what I can do here." Elianna walked to the nearest armchair and settled down. Raking her fingers through her hair, she combed her hair and tugged lightly as she tried to untangle the wet streands. She added with a small smile, "Of course, I don't want to be idling around. If you have anything in mind that I could do, please let me know."

He kept his gaze at her and noticed that her hair was still wet from the bath. Water seeped into her white nightgown forming a large translucent patch on her back which clung onto her skin, revealing the curve of her small waist. Rowan coughed as he felt his body temperature rising.

"You okay?" She raised her head to look at him, her amber eyes overflowed with concern.

He felt his throat constrict as he tried to suppress the rising heat within him. With all the will in his heart, he diverted his attention away from her body and simply stared at the space over her shoulders. Elianna sharply noticed that he was acting slightly off and attempted to move closer to him. Concern tinted in her voice when she as asked, "What's wrong?" 

"Sit down!" He panicked.

"What?"

"Just talk from there, don't come any closer," He coughed again.

Elianna looked at him with an expression indicating that she was deeply confused, but she went back to sit down as he instructed. Pondering for a few moments, she decided to forgo the sudden situation and go back to the previous topic, "I'm good at medicine and healing. Do you think I can be a Royal Doctor?" 

"Hmm," he carefully considered her suggestion. "It can be done. I'm just worried that people would recognise you."

"A veil will do just fine to hide my identity," she said.

"Well, I can appoint you as my personal doctor, you can just stay in Lyx Palace."

"Sounds like I would have nothing to do," She complained.

"Alec and the rest had their days too easy when I'm not around, you'd be surprised by how much work you have starting tomorrow," he mentioned, raising his brows slightly.

"I'll accept the post for now," she muttered, seemingly unsure what he meant but thought that it was always better to be useful than to idle around.

"To be a Royal Doctor, you have to take the Royal Medical Exam, you can work on that for now. I'll help you schedule an appointment once you're ready." Rowan rose from his seat. "It's late. I'll take my leave now. Remember to keep warm."

"I'll send you to the door," she smiled, hopping off the couch.

Rowan turned to look at her but saw that her gown had yet to dry. As she stood, she swiped her hair to the side, revealing more than what she did the previous time. The heat within him surged once again and he only prayed that his restraint wouldn't snap before he could reach the door to leave her bedchamber. The desire of a man in his prime age was indeed unimaginable and he finally understood what Alec meant by that. 

"It's fine! Just sit down!" He ordered.

"Rowan? What's the matter?"

Before Elianna could reach him, he already grabbed her by her waist and swung her into his embrace. She shrieked, surprised by the sudden movement.

"Since the Lady is so curious, it would be rude for the man to ignore her requests, isn't it?" he said in a voice that was deep and rich.

She stared at him with unexpected nervousness and mumbled, "W-What is it?"

Rowan held her closer to him as he teasingly kissed her nose then her cheeks. She fidgeted in his hold and when her thigh accidentally brushed against somewhere weirdly unfamiliar, he let out a suppressed groan.

"Eli, please stop moving," he warned softly.

The lady in his arms immediately went still, she raised her hands and placed them over her reddened face. Rowan really went too overboard with her this time and he sighed apologetically before carrying her towards the bed and placed her down. 

He gently pried open her hands and held onto her cheeks while planting a soft kiss on her forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow, love."

"Goodnight, Rowan," Elianna squeaked.

"Goodnight, Eli," Rowan chuckled before making his way out of her room.

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