Chapter 417: A Favour Asked

Chapter 416: A Favour Asked

Lyria’s POV

I nodded, and was upon the point of rising from my chair when Duke Valenridge spoke again.

"And that shall be for another time."

I paused.

"I b-beg your pardon?"

"I am fairly certain, Your Highness, that you suffer no ailment of the ear," he said dryly.

I rolled my eyes at him.

The gesture came so naturally that I did not think to stop it, and by the time I realised what I had done, it was already too late. Duke Valenridge’s lips curved upward into a small smile.

"I am not putting an end to the lessons, Your Highness," he said.

"You a-are doing precisely t-that, Your Grace," I argued.

"On the contrary, curious wolf, I am only delaying them a while," he corrected. "Merely until I have rested. This office you have appointed me to proves rather more demanding than I had anticipated, and I find I must recover myself before beginning in earnest."

"You a-are using that as an e-excuse."

"I am using it as a genuine concern for my own wellbeing. I told you earlier that I have difficulty sleeping. I did not speak falsely when I said it."

I paused at that.

I had, in truth, forgotten. He had seemed so lively throughout our conversation that I had failed to properly mark his countenance. But regarding him now, I could see the faint shadows beneath his eyes, the slight pallor of his skin, which I had first observed upon his arrival.

He did indeed appear fatigued, though only, I suppose, to one who troubled to look closely. And beneath the fatigue there was something else besides, something I could not quite name nor was this the first occasion upon which I had felt it. Still, if allowing him to delay the lesson should serve him the better, then I ought to grant it.

I exhaled with considerable drama, as though the whole weight of the world had settled upon my shoulders and I could scarcely stand beneath it.

"Indeed?" he asked. "My requesting a little time to rest reduces you to such weariness as this?"

My lips twitched, but I offered no reply to that observation, addressing myself instead to the matter previously at hand.

"I u-understand," I said. "It w-would be rather unbecoming of m-me to detain you h-here merely for m-my own s-selfish reasons."

He inclined his head.

"Then I am glad we are of one accord."

"I am s-sure I shall s-see you at a later time, Your G-Grace."

His brow furrowed as he regarded me.

"Pray, curious wolf, what precisely does that signify?"

"I had thought y-you were l-leaning towards d-devious wolf now?" I asked him.

"That remains a matter for debate. But do me the kindness of answering what I asked you before."

"And t-that is a question I d-do not understand. You h-have only just told me you h-have need of rest."

"I have."

"Then y-you ought to g-go and r-rest. Surely t-that much is obvious."

"And yet you speak as though I intend to depart."

"D-do you not?" I asked him. "H-how, then, do y-you propose to r-rest?"

"Your Highness," he said, slowly, "I propose to rest here, in your presence."

I stared at him, quite astonished.

"D-do you jest?"

"I do not."

"You c-cannot be s-serious."

"I am entirely serious, Your Highness," he said. "I rest a great deal better in your presence."

I opened my mouth to answer him, but he continued before I could.

"I give you my word I shall not disturb you. You may even set your gender-neutral cat to watch over me as I rest."

As though summoned by the very mention of it, the cat gave a meow from the corner where it had lain, observing the both of us.

I glanced towards it, then back at Duke Valenridge.

"My c-cat can do n-nothing of the sort," I said. "It i-is no guard."

"No," Duke Valenridge agreed. "It is not. But in truth, Your Highness, I have need of the rest. I feel a migraine coming upon me, and I should rather not spend the remainder of the day quite incapacitated by it."

He hesitated a moment, then added:

"I shall owe you this favour forever after. But that occasion in the library was among the few upon which I rested well. And I must beg of you, for I am not above the begging of it, that you grant me the same once more."

"You may occupy yourself however you wish while I sleep. I did say, after all, that I intended to pass the whole of the day with you. And even in sleep, I should wish to remain in your presence."

I studied him once more. In truth, I could not send him away, least of all as he appeared at this very moment. Nor would this be the first occasion upon which he had slept in my presence. I daresay it should prove much as it had been that time in the library, though in a somewhat different posture now.

"Very well. Y-you may make u-use of the bed."

"You are certain of this?" he asked me.

"I w-would not have s-said so otherwise."

"I am obliged to you for your generosity, Your Highness," he said, and then he rose from his chair and began to remove his coat.

The cat made a sound of protest or so I chose to regard it, though it was but a meow.

Duke Valenridge glanced towards the creature.

"I am only removing my coat," he informed it gravely. "Nothing besides. I assure you, I harbour no ill intentions."

The cat meowed once more, and Duke Valenridge laughed softly.

"I do not believe it credits me."

He draped his coat across the back of the chair he had lately vacated and crossed to the bed. I watched as he lowered himself upon it, his movements careful, as though he took pains not to disturb its arrangement.

He did not draw back the coverlet, nor did he close his eyes. He merely lay upon the bed, regarding the ceiling above.

"D-did you not just say you w-wished to rest?"

"I did."

"Then w-why do you not r-rest?"

He was quiet a moment.

"It is somewhat strange, lying upon your bed," he said at last. "And I confess it carries your scent about it as though you yourself lay here beside me."