✦ Throne of Glass and Night ✦

Twenty Seven

When Mala became conscious once more, it was in a much more mild manner.

"Dearest, wake up, we have things we need to attend to," she could hear Nyx through her drowsy and stirring state.

"Mmm...don't want to...want to sleep..." she whined, burying her face into her pillow.

Nyx chuckled warmly while mussing with her hair that was sprawled wildly around the pillow. Mala groaned in exasperation, determined to cling on what little sleep she had left. There wasn't much thanks to Nyx.

"Ah, I forget princesses need their beauty rest; how silly of me. Although it looks like you hardly need it my dear," he moved the hair from her face and turned her head so it wasn't smashed into the pillow any longer.

"Are you saying I don't deserve sleep?" Mala asked accusatorially.

"No darling, that's not what I'm saying," the melodic laugh he let out was clear and resonating and it echoed in her head like an infinite chiming gong.

She swore she could never forget it. It was both offsetting to hear it coming from Nyx and equable to hear him so calm and serene.

"I don't think you could be any more beautiful than you already are, and a loss of your precious beauty sleep wouldn't do anything to change that dearest," his voice was light and dispassionate, though his words held a different meaning.

She opened her eyes when Nyx finally stopped playing around with her hair. His back was to her when she turned her head to the side, and his wings were splayed, limbs of elegance and perfection. The top half of his body was unclothed and he only had pants that were slung over his hips. They looked as if they may fall down in any mere second and when Mala imagined it happening she slapped her face in disgruntlement. Nyx's wings flexed and he quickly shook his head back and forth as he walked away from the bed.

"W-wait what are we doing today," Mala raised a hand drowsily, sleep clouding her groggy vision.

"We're studying old texts with Amren today, wear whatever you'd like," Nyx waved a hand back at her as he wandered to his room's connecting bathroom.

She almost fell out of the bed attempting to get herself to the nearby closet. The hatred she felt for not being able to sleep in was unmatched. Mala locked herself in the closet and blindly picked out a maroon slitted dress from a hanger. After she slipped the fitted attire over her head she searched for something to tame her tousled and disheveled hair. There was nothing of sort in sight.

Unlocking the closet door, Mala yelled out so Nyx could hear her from the other room, "Nyx, do you have a comb?"

His response was muffled, "Yes dearest, it's in the cabinet on the bottom left."

The rows and rows of cabinets taunted her. There was no such thing of a bottom left cabinet because there were too many versions of it.

"Nyx I—"

The closet door opened and Nyx interrupted her, "Don't worry princess, your prince is here to save you from your troubles."

Mala rolled her eyes at his strange antics, giving him space to come through the closet doorway. He was fully dressed this time, clothed in a tight shirt and better fit pants that didn't appear as though they'd slip off at any given chance. Nyx made his way over to the left side of the room where he opened a cabinet at the bottom of all the others. Mala didn't think she would ever have found it alone.

However, instead of handing the comb over to her, Nyx motioned to the bench that was stationed in the closet for Mala to sit on. She was persuaded well enough and settled on the bench in front of him. His hand on the comb was steady and gentle as he carefully threaded it through her knotted strands of hair. He placed his other hand on top of her head so when he brushed through the knots so he wouldn't pull her head back. He was thoughtful enough to disentangle and tidy her mane of hair, making certain that it was neat and proper enough that she wouldn't have to look at herself in the mirror in disgust. She hadn't even had to ask him to do brush her hair, apparently it was natural for him to attend to any female's needs when he deemed it appropriate.

And thus it was a time where Mala had her hair brushed mindfully and kindly enough that she felt at peace with Nyx. She was once again lulled into a sense of security with the male from another place. From another world—and this time, she decided not to mind it; instead, she let the feeling wash over her and embraced it. If Nyx made her feel at home, she wouldn't take it for granted, she would cherish it for as long as she could. Until she lost the feeling once and for all in the very end.

~tev <3