"No need to panic. I'm not going to eat you." Eleonora said, tilting her head at me. Her wet hair slipped over her shoulder, dripping water on the old floorboards at her feet. Her brows furrowed. "Are you okay? You're white as a ghost." She moved towards me, reaching her hand towards my face.

Felix jerked back in an almost instinctive terror. He grabbed her wrist, keeping her from touching him as it her hand were aflame.

Eleonora's eyes dropped from his face, following the movement of the blanket as it fell around his ankles. Her face visibly flushed. "It seems I chose a really bad time for this." She said, her eyes still stuck on where they'd fallen.

With a gasped curse, Felix released her and grabbed the blanket, twisting it around his waist. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting company." Felix flustered, retreating to his bed where he plopped down and crossed his legs. He grabbed his pillow and laid it over his lap for good measure.

"Clearly not. Should I leave and let you take care of that?" Eleonora teased, spinning her finger as she gestured towards his now covered crotch. Her mouth twitching as she suppressed a grin.

"Just keep talking. It'll go away." Felix huffed. "What do you want?"

"I'd rather not be alone until the storm passes."

"Get Robin then."

"I need to be sure you're safe." She padded across the room, looking around at all the things Felix had brought with him into the house. His house fern that was beginning to take over the space by the window, the couple of small photographs he had of he and his father and brother that sat on top of his dresser, the closet packed tight with all of his tailored black suits. He was immediately grateful that his work uniform was tucked away in an old hat box at the very back. Her gaze trailed over the photos but didn't linger. She barely glanced at the closet. She stopped by the window and stroked Hugo along his back, smiling softly as he pushed his head more firmly into her palm. "Did I interrupt a particularly good dream or a self-love session? My apologies either way."

Felix almost swallowed his tongue. He would never understand how a woman that acted so shy and timid out in the general public could speak and behave so boldly at home. The woman had no filter around him. "Stop your teasing. I'm a grown man and neither of us are blushing virgins."

"True." She shrugged. "I can still leave and let you finish."

"I'm good." Felix replied, tossing the pillow aside again. Even if the dream hadn't completely killed his mood. His current mortification had finished the job. Felix fetched a spare blanket from his chair and brought it to her, draping around her shoulders. "Why don't you go change at least. You're dripping wet."

She glanced towards the door and back to Hugo, frowning as she shivered in the blanket. "I'd like to borrow a shirt if you don't mind."

"Your room is literally next door."

"Please."

With a sigh, Felix trudged to his dresser and pulled out his spare set of pajamas. He gave them to her while he retrieved his own discarded pajama pants. They turned their backs to each other as they both dressed. "You don't have to guard me like a mother wolf, you know." Felix said as he tied the cords of his pants. Hearing the creak of his bed springs, he turned.

Eleonora perched at the edge of his bed. She wore only the pajama shirt, which hung on her frame, the sleeves going well past her fingertips and the shirt's bottom reaching nearly to her mid thighs. "The pants wouldn't stay up. Hope you don't mind." She wrapped her blanket back around herself, sniffling as she looked out up at him. "Don't get any ideas." With a particularly loud sniffle, she fell over, her head crash-landing onto his pillow.

"You're not seriously going to sleep in the same bed with me, are you?" Felix asked. "I thought you didn't like me."

"I asked if I could stay here tonight. Where did you think I was going to sleep?"

"I was hoping you were joking." He stared for a moment at the narrow space she'd left open for him. There was no way he was going to be able to avoid touching her. "Do you want me to sleep on the floor?"

"No, it's your room. I just came here to sleep. Keep your hands and all your other body parts to yourself and we'll be fine." 

Gingerly, Felix laid himself down, turning his back towards her. Their backs touched they were so close together. They were quiet for a while. Felix tried to shut his eyes and force himself to sleep, but every time he closed his eyes he saw it again, Eleonora's beautiful face twisting into that of the dead empress' mummified body, her grinning lipless mouth opening and closing, letting loose a stream of words he couldn't understand or even begin to grasp. 

"Are you really okay, Felix?" Eleonora asked after he'd jerked awake for a third time. "You seem very spooked."

"Your knock on the door woke me from a nightmare. I'm still a bit unsettled. That's all."

"That's an interesting way to react to a nightmare."

"It didn't start as a nightmare." He admitted, gripping his pillow tight.

"Oh?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Were you having a sex dream about me?"  

He could hear the laughter in her voice. Mortification sickened his stomach and lit his skin on fire from head to toe. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine." She sighed. Another long pause followed. Finally, as all the clocks in the house chimed the third hour Eleonora asked, "Felix, where do you go in the middle of the night?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb. Robin's seen you leave. He hasn't followed you yet. I didn't want to pry."

"Then don't ask. You told me I could do as I wished and that is exactly what I'm doing."

"You have a mistress?"

"No, I'm just going out to meet with friends. It's nothing to worry over."

"Okay." She said. He felt the bed shift as she turned herself over to face him.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt her small hand graze over the skin of his side. "What is it?" He asked, gripping his pillow beneath his head. 

She leaned closer. Her breath warmed his cheek. "I'm sorry for intruding on you like this. I know you must be uncomfortable. I hate feeling like this too...like I'm not safe...that you're not safe. I know it's awkward, but it helps being within reach of you."

Felix turned over on his back, looking up at her. "I'm flattered you're so worried about me." He smirked. "Did that kiss in the janitor's closet endear me to you? Get you all hot and bothered?"

"I told you never to speak of that again." She pouted. She laid back down, laying her head on the pillow next to his. Their shoulders remained touching. She had one leg sticking out from beneath the blanket and Felix was all too aware of that long stretch of naked skin going up the line of her surprisingly long legs to the beginning curve of her hips. His nightmare flashed before his eyes and he wondered if they would feel the same gripped in his hands as they had in his imagination. "I don't care whether I hate you or not, I don't want anymore blood on my hands. I don't want you to share the same fate as Charles."

Her sad words snapped him from his lurid thoughts. He inwardly castrated himself for letting his mind wander to such filthy places when she wasn't mentally in the best of places. She didn't come here for a midnight tryst. She was here because she was afraid, because she was afraid for him and wracked with guilt. "I'm not going to." He said as if he that for a fact. "You're guarding me very thoroughly. I feel like a prince in a tower guarded by a fire breathing dragon."

"If only I could find one of those." She smirked. Lightning flashed outside the window, but she didn't flinch at it, smirked at him, watching his face. 

Felix's hands clenched in the fabric of his blankets. It took every bit of willpower he had not to kiss the smirk off those lips. Lips still stained a darker shade by the lipstick she'd worn to the opera. He couldn't deny he was attracted to his wife. He was, infuriatingly so, and the kiss had only confirmed that more firmly. She was beautiful and interesting and aggravating in the best way. He wanted to kiss her more. He wanted more, wanted the better part of his nightmare to become reality, for them to be husband and wife in more than just name. He wanted them to be real. His desires made him bold. "Can I kiss you again, Eleonora?" He'd never been one to be timid with the things he wanted and he wouldn't start now. 

She stared up at him. Her lips parted and her eyes became heavy-lidded as her attention moved to his mouth. Eleonora's foot came up between them, bracing against his chest. "Whoa there, Peacock." She said, pressing against him. It surprised him she didn't outright kick him in the face. There was still a playfulness in her expression, a flush to her cheeks that made him think she wasn't all that mad about his advances, that she might've truly considered them. "That must've been some dream." She chuckled.

Felix retreated, flopping back down on the bed. He turned his back again to her. "It was worth a shot. Sorry, Eleonora."

He felt her sit up. "What's gotten into you?" She asked. "What happened in that dream of yours. You're acting kind of strange."

"You don't want to know. Trust me. I'm sorry. I'm just...lonely I guess. Go to sleep. I'll leave you alone." He muttered into the dark, cursing himself for pushing further than he knew she was willing to let him. She wasn't like him. She didn't crave physical touch, didn't thrive on it, wasn't hopelessly addicted to it. Part of him was envious of her for that. 

"I wouldn't be here if I wanted that." She said softly. "We have work to do. Important work. We can't let ourselves get distracted." Still, Felix didn't turn toward her or look her way. At last he felt her settle down and her breathing changed signaling that she'd fallen asleep.

He awoke from more dreams of her, these more run of the mill and far from nightmares. She was still there in his bed, still dressed only in his pajama shirt. He'd turned towards her during the night. His body was curled around hers, their legs tangled, and his arm was looped around her waist to keep her there. His head rested on a pillow of her tangled hair, her head tucked beneath his chin. He lay there for a while listening to her soft breathing. A few months ago he would never have imagined they'd get to this point, that she would even be able to stomach this closeness to him. He knew that when she woke up he'd be getting at least an elbow through his ribcage, but for now he rested. "You and I should really have a talk." He whispered to himself, brushing his hand through her thick, long hair from her shoulder blade, moving it behind her ear and baring more of her shoulder to him. He sighed with worry. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep at this, keeping her at arm's length. He didn't think it would bother him as much as it did, but he was a person that craved affection and closeness, the opposite of her. He wanted everything she did not and worse of all, part of him was beginning to want those things with her.

Eleonora squirmed against him, beginning to stir then awoke all at once. Her eyes flared open and shifted to glare at him over her shoulder. 

"Good morning." He said, retreating his hand. 

She pulled up the blanket and looked beneath. "Really, Felix?" She sighed at his very obvious arousal.

"Oh, don't start. What did you expect?" He sat up, bunching the blankets down at his waist to wait for his blood to cool. He ran his hand through his hair, trying to disentangle it and smooth it back into place.

"Not you being at half-mast the majority of the time." She said with a little laugh that didn't help Felix's current situation. She climbed out of bed and went to the window. She opened it up and leaned out of it. The sun bathed her face in a golden glow and the wind took her hair, sending it undulating back from her face prettily. The snow and lightning had gone and now the sun was shining in a cloudless sky, the air warm as late spring.  Whatever being controlled the weather these days seemed to be ridiculously drunk.  Hugo leaped off of the dresser and trotted over with a pleased chirp. He wound himself through her legs, rubbing his head and sides against her seeking attention, which she more than happily gave. She scooped him up and held him like a baby in the window, letting him look out at the birds fluttering by. 

"I'm sorry about that I-"

"No need, Felix. It's a natural reaction. Nothing to be ashamed of."

Felix started to tell her what he truly thought of her, that he wanted her that he wanted this marriage to be more than a political agreement made to shut their mother's up. He wanted her to see him as more than a sidekick in her endeavor to save the world. More than that, he simply wanted to tell her that he thought she was beautiful. He'd said those words to many women in his life, daily at work, but this was one of the few times he truly meant it. He wanted to tell her a lot of things, but instead he clenched his teeth and held it in. 

Closing the window, she moved away and turned her eyes on him. "Hurry up and get dressed. We're due at Court this morning. I have to assist my mother with her duties." She hurried out, taking Hugo with her. Her steps seemed lighter, her eyes more alive than they'd ever been. 

"How is the coffee this morning, sir?" Robin asked, sitting the usual enormous plate of over-cooked bacon at the center of the table.

"It tastes better than usual." Felix looked into his already half-full cup and up at Robin. Robin even looked a little different, not so thin, his mouth curving in a soft neutral smile. "Did you do something different, today?"

"Not at all, sir." His thin lips twitched in their corners, "Did you?"

Before Felix could prod further, the click of Eleonora's heels drew his attention. She swept into the room in a scarlet red outfit. A loose-fitting shirt was tucked into her skirt and a wide belt synched her waist, giving her a wasp-like silhouette. She'd pulled up her hair and pinned it up beneath a fine- though simple hat that sat tilted over her hair. She'd even put on a pair of ruby earrings. It was the finest he'd ever seen her dress herself. 

"Are you nearly finished with your breakfast? I'm already running late?," she said, taking a piece of bacon from the plate on the table and making short work of it. It crunched beneath her teeth.

"Y-yes," Felix answered, stupefied. 

"Good," Her gaze darted up and down him as he stood from the table. There was something in her eyes he couldn't place. "I like your hair that way."

Felix reached up to his head. He'd forgotten to comb it and slick it down with his usual styling grease. It was messy and disheveled, at odds with the fine suit he wore. He started to smooth it with his fingers.

"No," Eleonora commanded. "Leave it." Her lips, painted in her family colors curved and pulled away from white perfect teeth. "It makes you look a little less like a Salazar."  With the swish of her skirt and the click of heels, she strode from the room and Felix, still stunned and a bit confused followed after her for another day of playing sidekick.