Total Eclipse of the Heart (Royal AU Wally x reader)

Chapter Nine

Lady (Y/n) slowly opened the door to the Spades quarters. It was dark, quiet and empty. She lit up a candle and took careful steps so as to not wake up anyone. She heard a groan and froze, spinning around to look at the couch. She relaxed when she saw Arnold, sleeping on it, his pet rabbit asleep on his chest. She felt a sense of guilt. Was he waiting for her?
'He probably wanted to catch me by surprise, but ended up falling asleep.'
She brought the candle a little bit closer to see his face. He was frowning, his face twitching from time to time. He must be having a nightmare. She wondered if she should wake him up. Suddenly, she heard a squack and turned over to see the bird from the hunt flying towards her.
"Shshshshsh!" she harshly whispered, quickly putting the candle on the table and catching it, then covering its beak. "It's me! It's me!"
Arnold groaned again. She froze and watched as he wiggled in his sleep. He turned to his side, making Blizzard fall on the floor. It shook the small animal awake and it looked around in panic.
"Ow no, you poor thing." (Y/n) crouched. "Are you okay?"
Blizzard simply looked back up at Arnold, then went to hop on the couch opposite of him. (Y/n) couldn't help but chuckle.

After making sure the bird knew she wasn't an intruder, she let it go and went to the kitchen. The servants must've made her something, she thought, if she missed dinner, there should still be a place setting at the table. She walked in the dining room and saw that there actually were two place settings at the table.
"No way." she looked back. "Arnold...?"
She pursued her lips, feeling her guilt growing stronger. She didn't even want to eat anymore, not when he didn't. She went back to him and sat on the couch opposite of him, mindlessly petting the bunny next to her.
"I'm sorry..." she whispered. "This really isn't how I planned it... How we planned it."
'But the progress we've made is so incredible though!'
This situation left her a bit conflicted. Nobody – not even the council – knew this, but (Y/n) has been Arnold's confidant for a while, turning to her whenever something was bothering him. But they've both been so busy lately and their schedule simply didn't allow them to spend a lot of time with each-other. It worried her. How was he holding up with everything? Was he doing well on his own? Was he doing well without her?

She shook her head. This was Arnold after all. Even if he was doing well, she knew it wouldn't mean anything regarding his mental or emotional state. She wanted to check on him, just to check if he was okay. But she still didn't want to wake him up, he looked more peaceful in his sleep now.
She thought for a moment and went to her room. Wrote a couple of sentences on a small note that she then placed on the coffee table, where the young man could easily find it upon waking up. She covered him in a blanket and ran a hand through his hair.
"Goodnight." she whispered, then went to Blizzard and gave it a big smooch, waking it up. "Goodnight cutie patootie."

The rabbit watched her leave with a yawn that made it yawn too. It scratched the back of its ear then spotted the paper note in the moonlight. It hopped on the table and sniffed the paper. Just as it was about to eat it, something happen and it ran away in fear.
A breeze blew. A breeze that came from nowhere, for all the windows were closed, and not even the Marquis' hair moved along with it. Like an invisible hand, it swatted away the note and gently pulled it under a chest of drawers. Never to be found, and never to be read.

The next morning, the servants woke up before their employers and found the bird scratching a set of drawers. They thought maybe it was hungry and it made it cranky. Indeed, it stopped when they gave it a good meal. The members of the High Council of Spades woke up shortly after that.
"Where were you last night?" was the first Arnold asked (Y/n).
She glanced at the others. She wouldn't have a problem telling him the truth, but with Catherine and Gwendolyn... She knew it would start something that she didn't want to happen.
"I was with Mr. Dear." she said. "We bumped into each-other and hanged out."
"Until this late?" he frowned.
"Who are you, her father?" Gwendolyn rolled her eyes. "She can and should allow herself to have some leisure time with her friend."
"He needed help regarding some business matter, and I helped him." (Y/n) said.