Chapter XIV

During her leisure time Sarahi had been reading in the castle's library a lot for the past few days. Sure, she had responsibilities making sure the castle was running well, and giving orders to the guards. She'd even had the guards arrest several people whom Grigori said were involved in the plots against her and Hadar. With all that was going on Sarahi liked losing herself in books, whether they were books of poetry or books that told stories of love and courage.

For the past few days she'd been reading a book entitled “The Madness of Dr. Nyx,” a story about an alchemist who made great discoveries, but in the process truly lost his mind. It was a harrowing tale, and it was intentionally hard to tell what parts of the story were meant to be events that actually happened and which parts were mere hallucinations. Each time she had to put the book back for the day she wrote down the page she had left off on and came back to it the next day. This time, though, when she opened the book to the page she'd left off on she found a small slip of paper inside the book on that page.

“You're my home: the place where I find comfort and warmth.

You're my dream: my every hope for the future.

You're my heart: the very seat of my deepest emotions.

You're my mind: the center of all my thoughts.

You're my treasure: that which I hold most dear in this life.

You're my star: the one I think of when making a wish.

You're my song: a melodious voice that lifts my spirit.

You truly are everything to me.”

Sarahi gasped as she began to read it, and blushed deeper and deeper as she got further into the poem. The hand-writing was most definitely Milo's, she'd recognize his sloppy capital letters anywhere, which in some ways was, in itself, endearing. She read over the poem twice more with a content smile before discovering something was written on the other side of the paper. “Heaven on Erets, page 45.”

“Heaven on Erets” was the name of a love story Sarahi was very fond of. She'd first read it when she was twelve years old, and after reading it she simply wouldn't shut up about it for months. Milo had even made fun of her a little for her obsession with the novel, while Hadar had very specifically criticized the book's plot-holes and unrealistic dialogue. She pocketed the first poem and went over to another shelf, where “Heaven on Erets” was located, turning the book to page 45. Inside the book, on that page, was another slip of paper, with another poem.

“I cannot compare thee to the moon,

for its beauty is but a reflection,

it shows only a fraction of the light

shining brightly from the sun.

Let then this poem be the moon,

for it is you who are the sun.”

Again Sarahi was at a loss for words, and she glanced over at the door of the library, where Milo stood, pretending to read a copy of the Sacred Scriptures. The sly smile and deep red blush on his face gave away that he knew Sarahi was reading the poems he'd written her, and that he was proud of how much they pleased her. On the back of this slip of paper was another note about another book, “The Wolves of Firefall, page 72.” This was a fantasy novel, written about a pack of talking wolves who fought another wolf pack for control over a land plagued by active volcanoes. Milo's favorite book when he was thirteen. Sarahi grabbed that book and turned to page 72 and found the third poem Milo had written for her.

“Cut the bonds and let's be free,

let us dance, you and me.

No walls nor bars shall hold us,

and ne'er an eye shall behold us..

We could fly like sacred doves,

carried by the wings of love.

Oh, to roll in grassy fields,

and only to our desires yield.

Just to make the night our own,

and wherever we lay our home."

This time there was no indication of another poem in another book, but by then there was certainly no need for one. That last poem was far bolder than the other two, even a tad risqué, and that made it the best of the three, in Sarahi's opinion.

To both of them the rest of the day was a blur. They went about their usual duties. Sarahi signed documents and approved guard patrols with Milo watching over her, but all the while they looked forward to the hour that Sarahi could retire for the night. Milo wondered all day what Sarahi would say, how she really felt about his poems. He himself was particularly worried that at least one of the three, the second one, might be a tad weak, but at the same time hoped that all three touched her deeply. At the same time Sarahi tried to figure out what she would say to Milo when the night was done. She thought about how cute she found it that a man who could write eloquent words like that had such terrible hand-writing. She also thought about how he had been so clever to use books from their past to hide two of the poems. It was then that something dawned on her that she felt almost a fool for not noticing before. When she first read “Heaven on Erets” Milo had given her a lot of grief about it, and teased her. He even read through it so that he could tease her love for it more thoroughly, quoting specific lines of dialogue from the book in the sappiest voices he could manage, a favor she later repaid by making fun of “The Wolves of Firefall” and its implausible plot and setting. Nonetheless, before Milo read “Heaven on Erets” he had always kept his hair cut short, out of his eyes, easy to maintain, and practical. After reading that book he started growing his hair very long. The significance of this was that Lord Orville, the male lead in “Heaven on Erets” also had long hair, and Lady Aria, the female lead, thought his hair was beautiful and loved to run her fingers through it. Apparently Milo had thought that the long hair would make him more attractive in Sarahi's eyes, and as such grew his hair long to impress her. She had to admit, the look did suit him, though her affections for him had started long before that.

Finally, after the sun had set, Sarahi retired to her room. The recent demon attacks inside of the castle had given Milo reason to follow Sarahi into her quarters without arousing any suspicions. She needed his protection, especially when she slept, so no one questioned when he followed her through the door and they locked it behind them. The walls of the King's quarters, where Sarahi slept, were thick and built to contain sound. Generations ago a previous king had altered the room to make sure that at the very least in his bedroom he could have privacy, for he found he had no privacy anywhere else. Of course, this made Milo following Sarahi into the bedroom all the more important, because if she were to fall under attack while in her room she would need to scream pretty loudly for the guards to know she was in trouble. Some guards had suggested that she sleep in a room with thinner walls until Hadar got back, but she reminded them that she still didn't know who all in the castle was in on the assassination plots. The door on the King's quarters had by far the hardest locks to pick and the window was near impossible to climb up to and open from the outside.

Once they were inside the room and they were sure no one could see or hear them Sarahi threw her arms around Milo's neck and gave him a deep kiss on the lips. The forcefulness of the kiss nearly knocked him down, and he struggled to remain on his feet, bracing himself against the wardrobe. “Thank you so much for the poems, Milo!”

“Glad you liked them.” Milo hugged her tightly and swayed with her a little. He enjoyed the feeling of her warmth against him, and her beating heart against his chest. “You didn't think any of them were silly?”

Sarahi laughed. “Always so self-conscious! Of course not!”

“Oh. Good.”

“That is, assuming you mean them.”

“Of course I do, Sarahi! I love you!” Only after saying it did Milo realize that it was the first time he'd actually said those three words out-loud to Sarahi. Not that she didn't know, of course, Hadar had sort of robbed them of a more dramatic reveal. The words rolled out so naturally, and as soon as he said it he knew for certain that it was true.

“Oh, Milo! I love you too!” Sarahi kissed Milo again. This time she held the kiss longer and gave his lower lip a small bite. Milo was surprised by this particular action on her part, but not in the least displeased. “So you meant every word?”

“Absolutely!”

“Even the part about 'yielding to our desires' and 'rolling in grassy fields?'”

Milo blushed deeply, he certainly meant those words, but he was embarrassed hearing them quoted back at him, and was surprised at Sarahi's boldness. “I...umm...”

Sarahi gave a wicked smile, “Were you imagining us all entwined in a field with the wind rushing over our bare skin? The sounds of our moans carried in the air and our motions shaking the stalks of wheat?”

“Well...” Milo stammered, feeling almost as if he'd forgotten what words were. His face felt like it was on fire and he hung his head a little to let his long hair fall down and hide it.

“Were you imagining my lips on your chest? Or yours on mine? You want to make the night our own?”

“It's...I do...or, it's not that I don't...”

Sarahi laughed. “A little too soon, I understand. But it's something to look forward to.” She simply couldn't get over how fun he was to tease, and how easy it was to get a rise out of him.

“Tart!” Milo said. He laughed with a combination of relief and nervousness. The two of them sat down on the edge of the bed, which, considering the conversation that they’d just had made Milo slightly more nervous at first.

Sarahi leaned her head on Milo's shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around her. “So, you didn't hate 'Heaven on Erets' so much as you had me believe, eh?”

Milo chuckled. “No. I just said what I said back then to get a rise out of you. I really didn't find it any less plausible than any other work of fiction. Besides, a book with too much realism would just be boring. Can you imagine a book that was too realistic? Barely any witty quips, people going about their mundane lives...”

“It'd be pretty dull. I meant, though, that you grew your hair out because of that book, didn't you?”

“Well, yes,” Milo said. “At first I just read about Lord Orville and how he was portrayed as this beautiful man with long, dark hair, and I thought 'I'll bet she'd find me handsomer if I had hair like that,' and so I grew it out. After a while I just found that I liked it that way, and that's why I kept it.”

Sarahi ran her fingers through Milo's hair and gave it a light and playful tug. “I thought you were handsome long before that.” The two of them sat in silence after that for a few minutes, just enjoying being near one another. After about a quarter of an hour Sarahi broke the silence. “You don't think the way you gave me the poems was a wee bit risky?”

“Why would it be risky? Neither of our names were written on the pages. If someone were to stumble across those poems they could be from anyone to anyone.”

“Except that someone could have seen you place the poems in the books, or maybe known that I was reading 'The Madness of Dr. Nyx' and put two and two together.” Sarahi pointed out.

“The only way anyone would notice details like that is if they already suspected us and were investigating,” Milo said. “Besides, I was careful. I know no one saw me place those poems in the books, and the funny thing about those particular books is that not many adults these days read 'Heaven on Erets' or 'The Wolves of Firefall.' 'The Madness of Dr. Nyx' is hardly popular either, considering how dark and confusing it is, and there are hundreds of books in that library. Hard to imagine someone would just stumble across the right page and find what I'd written.”

“I still think it was a bit...well...dangerous, considering...”

“If all else fails I can deny to anyone who questions us that I wrote the poetry, maybe claim that it was actually Hadar who'd written it and I was just placing it there for your eyes. Or I could deny having placed the poems there at all, and then it would simply be the word of some guard or servant against the word of a paladin.” Milo shook his head and smirked. “But if you're worried about it I won't do that again. I can always come up with other ways of expressing my love for you.”

“Might be better not to take those kinds of risks. There is an inquisitor in the castle, after all.”

“An inquisitor whose life you threatened,” Milo said. “If he's got a brain in that pale head of his he'll keep his mouth shut and his accusations to himself. He gave you more than enough reason to off him, and for a second I thought you would.”

“For a second I thought I would too,” Sarahi said. “Can't say I like hearing that he'd like nothing more than to burn us all at the stake.”

“Yeah...sickening really...I kind of wish Hadar hadn't brought him here. Maybe we could’ve figured out who the warlock was ourselves.”

“Maybe, but I doubt it. We were more trained to fight demons than to investigate possible warlocks. Terrible as the Inquisition is they get results when they investigate.”

“True...but I don't know. I don't really want to talk about Grigori...”

“Yeah...he's not really important at the moment.”

After that the two of them held each other for many hours, only occasionally breaking the silence to make some endearing comment or another. Eventually the two of them drifted off, falling asleep in each other's loving arms. They felt safer than either of them had felt since that first demon attack in the castle.