He removes his cold hand from my mouth, and I gasp his name in the darkness, relieved. "Kaladin! I thought they had gotten past you," I whisper, catching my breath.

He still has my arms pinned, and I'm acutely aware of how close our faces are, breath mingling with each others. His long hair is no longer pulled back with his ribbon, and it falls freely in dark tendrils, tickling my face.

His leg presses against my bare thigh, and I'm suddenly grateful for the dark room as my face heats. I silently curse wearing this gown, but you must understand, I wasn't expecting any night time visitors. The hem of the night dress reaches just above my knees, and is made for warm summer nights; which this one obviously is not, but it is the most comfortable sleeping garment that I own.

He releases me and takes a step back, seemingly oblivious to my distress. "Of course not." He says, his voice sounding somewhat wounded that I had any doubted in his abilities. "I've taken care of our little dinner guest, but his friends aren't far off. "

My chest tightens at the news. "How long? "

He puts his hood back so I can see his face, and he regards me with an inclined head. "A few days at most. "

I run my fingers through my tangled hair in frustration, very aware that when my arms are lifted, so is the hem of my night dress. I stop doing that.

Kaladin watches me as I step away from the wall and start to pace the carpet.

The fire in the hearth has dimmed low, reduced to glowing embers with the occasional lick of flame, producing little heat.

I go to close the window, and I hear Kaladin move quietly behind me. I look back at him to see his silhouette crouched near the fire place, and he gently puts more wood on the puffs of smoke to prevent any noise.

I finish with the window, then retrieve my dagger from the bed, where Kaladin must have tossed it.

When I turn back around, Kaladin is standing, looking around my chambers with his arms folded in front of his chest.

I can see now, thanks to the light produced from the revived fire, that he had changed out of the other cloths that he wore earlier tonight.

I swallow, and go to the other side of the bed to pick my pillow and blanket from the floor, tossing them onto the bed.

I look up and Kaladin is watching me again. "Was the floor very comfortable?"

I stand awkwardly near my night stand, look down at the dagger in my grasp and hurriedly put it back into the drawer of the stand. "No- I mean yes, the bed is too soft."

Kaladin watches me a moment more, seemingly amused at my strangeness before speaking. "I have a suggestion."

"About my sleeping arrangements?"

He stares at me a beat, apparently fighting a smile, because he looks away a moment. "About what to do, for your protection." He clarifies helpfully.

Feeling idiotic, I nod, waiting for him to continue.

"I'll stay with you."

"Stay with me? Well that's a commitment," I say jokingly. "Very unlike you."

He raises an eyebrow. "I'm serious, Lyra. Let me stay here with you at night, so that I can help protect you. "
He nods over to the window. "I can sit there while you rest. Someone should be with you, while your Captain is out chasing his tail."

I bite my lip, feeling guilty now that I know that what Hana is doing is useless; I have him out searching for a dead man in the cold. "I will inform him the morning... "

Kaladin is terribly still as he watches me, the fire casting a warm light on him from behind. This is a different person than the one I met in the woods.

"The Captain, he cares for you." He points out, eyes starting to roam around the spacious room.

I nod, unsure of what he is getting at. "He does; he is like family to me. "

Kaladin started to walk around the chambers, and he casts a look at me over his shoulder. "Is that so? When he ran to you earlier, the concern on his face seemed that of someone who deeply loves you. "

My eyebrows shoot up into my hairline, and I nearly laugh. "You must be mistaken. He is my guard and we are very close, but feelings like that cannot coexist between the Guard and a Princess. " If something like that were to happen, the offending Guard would most likely be hanged, and the Princess exiled.

He looks to me, shaking his head and walks silently over. "Lyra, can't you see that you are so much more than just a Princess? Your a mercenary, a skilled Rider of the feared Vann Hest, and you've done things no other princess would have even dreamed of." As he speaks, he gets closer, stopping when he is a few inches away from me.

I swallow, attempting to step back, but the night stand at my back reminds me that I have no where to go.

"You've defied a King, and you've played yourself, as a boy, into the trust of ruthless mercenaries. You, my Princess, are something else. " By the time he is finished, his nose is nearly touching mine and my heart feels as if it may explode.

"Kaladin..." I start to say, afraid he might kiss me, and startlingly enough, afraid that he might not.

He smirks, and reaches beside me to get the chair from the table next to us. "With your consent, I'll get comfortable. This may be a long night. "

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A/N

I know, super short chapter and I'm sorry to hear your complaints, but I wanted to give my "shippers" a little something... and sorry for those of you who don't like the idea of the two together... but not that sorry :)

Also, sorry about the update confusion, I posted it by accident before it was ready!

Again, thanks for correcting my 'once' problem, I have gone over the story to fix that but I'm only human, and have missed some. (Same with the 'abd' issue, auto correct looks the other way, I guess).

I know this story must frustrate some, but please, its a working progress and only the first draft! Once I finish the book, then I have to go back through and add things in and take things out... and then once edited and all that jazz, then try and see about self-publishing!

Thanks for sticking with me, guys, I really do appreciate you!

-A.