The Price {Completed}

Chapter Twenty-Seven

While I waited for Ferdinand to return, I fashioned a pitiful sort of broom from the ragged sheet dividing the room. By flapping it along the floor, it created enough wind to blow the majority of the dust, dirt, and hollow bug husks against the wall. For a few minutes, I tried to wipe the windows and the stove but soon found it was a useless endeavor. Instead, I took the sheet into the hall and shook it out until I felt it was as clean as it would get, and then returned it to the string across the room.

Ferdinand still hadn't returned, so I opened the stove to inspect what the previous occupants had left behind. It was nearly packed with ashes and bits and pieces of flotsam, which I suspected meant that it was used as a trash bin by the others who lived on this floor. I made a note to always keep the door locked, else I might have unexpected visitors come to dump their ashes.

By the time I forced our sliver of the rickety window open and dumped the ashes out into the street, there was a knock on the door. I closed the window quickly, before the smell of the river became too strong, and wiped my hands on my skirt as I crossed the room.

"Who is it?" I asked, fearing the response that someone needed to use the stove.

"Ferdinand," came the response, and I breathed easy as I pulled out the key and let him in.

He came laden with two packages tied up in brown string, and a loaf of brown bread resting on top. A small stool was hooked over one of his arms, banging into his legs each time he took a step. I grabbed the packages from him before he could drop them, and he placed the stool down by the stove.

"Couldn't find much variety, so I'm afraid it's just beef and potatoes," he said. I eagerly unwrapped one to reveal small chunks of meat sitting amongst steaming potatoes.

"Oh, it looks delicious," I said.

"I brought this as a table," Ferdinand said, setting his dinner on the stool and standing on one side. I took up the other, and we found that we barely both fit. But it was a cozy squeeze, and we playfully stole from each other's dinners, sneaking potatoes or meat when the other wasn't looking. Ferdinand cut up the bread with his pocket knife and handed me a large slice, which I piled the potatoes and meat on top of. He laughed and shook his head, watching me try to balance everything and still take a bite. A few crumbs fell onto the stool, but I just scooped them up and placed them back on the paper, to eat with the rest.

Night had fallen an hour ago, and we ate by what little moonlight came through the grimy window. Sleep soon sang its siren song, luring my mind away from our chatter. I hid only a few yawns before Ferdinand noticed. He crumpled the paper our meals came in and tossed it into the stove, along with a few scraps of woods we found in the dark corners of the room. Soon a small fire tried to make a dent in the frigid cold.

"I would offer you the bed, only there's isn't one," Ferdinand said.

I laughed and shook my head. "It's fine. I'll just use some of my clothes."

I placed my spare dress onto the ground by the stove to do what it could against the draft wafting through the loose floorboards, and then piled all the rest of my clothing into a mountain on top of me. Once he saw I was settled, Ferdinand picked up his satchel and headed for the other side of the sheet. I stopped him with an extended hand.

"You'll freeze all the way over there." I paused before continuing. "I really don't want to wake up to find a frozen Ferdinand statue. You can sleep on this side."

He looked reluctant, but I forged on.

"It's all right. I know you want do anything untoward, and to be honest we'll probably be too cold to even sleep."

The air around us felt like a sharp slap against the skin, and I think it was what ultimately convinced him to sleep by my side instead of behind the sheet. He lay his clothes next to mine and then draped his fur coat over both of us. I was closest to the fire, facing the stove. Ferdinand faced out at first, but I felt him shift over and face my back a few minutes in. The heat from the stove was weak and he scooted a fraction closer a few minutes later. I kept still, hoping he would think me a sleep and not feel like he had to make sure I knew he wouldn't touch me.

The wind whistled against the holes in the window, and the stovepipe hole splattered water at the base of my feet. I drew them up, hiding from the cold drippings, and Ferdinand shifted behind me.

"Nadia?" he whispered.

"Yes?" I turned over, facing him so that we could talk better.

"I'm going to try and find some work tomorrow," he whispered. His breath stirred my hair. "I don't know if anyone will have any jobs, but there has to be someone who needs some hauling done."

"I feel bad," I said, looking to my hands that were curled between us. I didn't want to look at his face, in case I saw something I didn't want to. "If it wasn't for me, you could have stayed behind with Mr. Padva. Your parents would know to look for you there, and your night wouldn't be spent surrounded by the stench of Garrond. I'm not your responsibility, and the situation I'm in is all my own fault. I wasn't forced to marry Mr. Lennox, and I wasn't forced to dance those rebellious ballets."

Ferdinand sighed. "I don't care if it was your fault or not. Believe me when I tell you that the happiest I can be in these times is if I'm making sure you're not alone or scared. Until Lennox comes back, or you can stand on your own, or you don't want me around anymore, I'll always be here to walk through it all with you," he said. "We're living on the verge of a precipice with this unrest in the city, and I wouldn't dream of casting you off into it all by yourself."

"I'll find work as well," I said. "I won't make you use all your savings. I can do chores as well as the next girl, and maybe when things quiet down the Common Army officers will pay me to dance a ballet for them. They'll have nothing to do with all the theaters being shut down, and no nobles to throw grand parties."

Ferdinand smiled softly. Our breath mixed together between us, warming my fingers. "That sounds like a good idea. We'll be all right, Nadia." He said it so firmly that I was tempted to believe him. He pulled his jacket up under his chin, his eyes searching mine for a moment. He hesitated, just for a fraction of a second, and then leaned forward to press a gentle kiss to my forehead. My eyes fluttered shut and for some reason tears pricked behind them as his breath spread across my skin and his unshaved chin scraped near my nose.

"Sleep well," he murmured, and pulled his lips away.

"You too," I whispered.

We fell silent and Ferdinand slipped into sleep effortlessly. I wanted to sleep, to escape the nipping cold of my nose and the splatter of water through the leaks in the roof, but I found myself engrossed in Ferdinand's face with a racing heart. Shadows claimed half his face, yet I couldn't stop staring at the sharp angle of his jaw and the way his eyes moved ever so slightly while he dreamed of something I would never know. His hands tucked into his jacket and his legs curled away from the puddle. My hands rested only inches from his cheek, and I wondered if this was what it felt like to be with someone you loved. Those princesses in fairy tales, married to the prince in the end, did they fall asleep each night staring at his face and wondering how in the world she wound up so close to him?

When sleep rode heavy on my eyelids, I forced them to stay open. I was afraid that I might fall asleep and the moment would be lost forever, to be replaced with the reality of my marriage and the brewing anger of the city. So I watched him until the infant hours of dawn, when I finally could hold my eyes open no longer, and slipped away into a dreamless sleep.

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EDIT:

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is not the end! :P Apparently there's been some confusion over this being the last chapter in The Price, but I can assure you that we have a while to go before I type those two final words! I wouldn't leave you guys hanging with no conclusion to  what happens between Nadia and Mr. Lennox! I will be posting another chapter on Friday, 12/11/15 (or 11/12/15 if you're of the 'month comes second' kind). So stay tuned, and never fear! There will be drama, heartbreak, destitution, confrontation, and much more in the coming chapters!