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The pillow was uncomfortable beneath his head. He still couldn't get used to such comfort after spending so long on the hard beds of the barracks and sleeping on the floor. He shifted, considering going back to sleeping on the windowsill, where he had been sleeping for the past few days. Finally, he gave up trying to sleep and sat up. It took some fumbling around in the moonlight filtering through the window for him to light a candle. He sat down on his bed, setting the candle down next to him and picking up the book that he had taken from the castle library earlier. His mother had taught him to read even though most commoners were illiterate, and he was glad for it.

The book was bound in leather, the title written in golden calligraphy across the top: The Three Princes. From what he had read between training squires in archery, it was about three princes who all clambered for a throne after their father succumbed to illness. The youngest assassinated the king before he could name the eldest as his heir, but the eldest claimed the throne nonetheless. The middle son argued the council supported him, however, and civil war broke out afterwards.

He was just about to open it when there was a soft knock. Will bolted up, throwing his book onto the bedside table before making his way to the door. He was surprised to see Audrey when he unlocked the door, her hair in a loose braid. She was dressed in a shift with bare feet, a candle in one hand.

"Audrey." He swallowed. "It's early."

"I'm sorry. I should go," she mumbled, looking embarrassed.

Will blinked. "No. No, it's fine. Come on in."

He stepped to the side to let her in. She walked through, letting Will shut the door behind her as she placed the candle on a wooden table near the door. A Northern princess, born of ice and snow.

"Why...?" Will didn't finish the question.

She looked down nervously at her fingers. "I can't sleep."

"Me neither." Will examined her. "Nightmares?"

She nodded. "Tonight it was my aunt being split open with an axe. I don't want to deal with them alone." Will sat down on the edge of his bed and patted the area beside him, gesturing for her to join him. She did so and carried on. "If I try to close my eyes, my limbs contract and jerk me back to wakefulness. It's like I'm always on alert for an attack." She shook her head slightly, staring at the carpet in front of her. "I hate it. I hate it so much. I also have nightmares of him."

Will assumed she meant Landon. He tentatively put his arms around her, and she leaned into him. Despite all that she had been through, she was still only a girl. A girl who had no family left, no crown. She might have had a strong facade, but she was still a girl.

"You can stay here if you like. I doubt I'll be sleeping either." Will smiled comfortingly at her as he pulled back, holding her at arm's length.

"The servants will talk," she muttered.

Will shrugged. "It's none of their business. Some company wouldn't be terrible."

She nodded, and Will shuffled across the bed to sit with his back to the bedframe. She joined him, pulling her knees to her chest after adjusting the pillow behind her back. Will picked up the book from his bedside table. She turned her head to look at it.

"Have you ever read it?" he asked her.

Something softened in her stony expression.

"You like to read?" She sounded surprised.

"I may be a common archer, but I am not a stupid and illiterate one," he said with a grin.

She smiled back. "That's debatable."

"Hey, I read books occasionally! Although most are kinda... boring. It has to be a really good one with a bloody plot, or else I get bored and start dozing off."

"I'm going to pretend you never said that." She moved her hands from her knees to take the book and flicked through the pages, as if it was delicate and the paper would crumble beneath her fingers. "I have read it. The three Haedley princes, four hundred years ago when the Haedley family still ruled the East." She passed it back. "The ending is good."

"Dragons swoop in and burn everyone alive?" Will asked cheekily.

She shook her head, although she was smiling. "You're insufferable."

"Count me an archer and a jester." He put the book beside him.

"Except you aren't funny." She played with her braid.

"How rude, my lady." He made a face.

"Tell me more about yourself, archer." She pulled her hair from her braid and her hair spilled out, falling to her elbow. He was unused to seeing her without a braid and it was strange to see the small waves in her mahogany-coloured hair. In the candlelight, there was a hint of red to it, but it was too brown to be called auburn anymore. It was somewhere in between.

"You know almost everything about me there is to know." He turned his gaze away and looked at his feet. "I was born on a small farm. I don't remember my father, and my mother never spoke of him. I assume he just left her, but I know he was an archer too because he left me a bow for when I grew up. I had a sister, and she died later from the Blue Fever that killed so many. My mother had been a seamstress in a small village before, but the grief of Iowa was too much, so she took us to Lakewood Moat, where Damek Westerling took us in. He had just lost a daughter, however, and was cruel. My mother was beaten, and I was thrown around a bit too." Will hadn't spoken so much about his past for years. He showed her the scar at the top of his arm. "Once, I was made to sleep in the dog kennels for speaking back. They weren't happy to have me there." He laughed humourlessly, and she lay a finger on the scar and traced it, her gaze sympathetic. "I learnt archery with the help of a guard for a few years. Those years were harsh, but I got through it with the company of the guard and my mother. One day, my mother told me to flee. So, I did. I ran and ran, and I didn't look back. I never saw her again. I just stayed in a Northern village for some time after that with a laundress before trying my luck with Lucian. And he took me in."

She leaned her head on his shoulder. He put an arm around her, feeling the warmth of her body beside him. He gently took her wrist with two fingers, pressing his thumb against the spot where her pulse beat and letting himself feel the throb of her life. She didn't protest.

"I'm sorry about your sister," she mumbled.

"I miss her." He ran a hand through her hair. She moved her knees and lay her head on his lap, watching his face.

"Why aren't you some rich and powerful lord?" she mumbled sleepily.

"I often ask myself that." He tried for a teasing smile.

"I'm serious." She shook her head. "You're an archer, and I'm supposed to be the heir to the Northern throne."

"So?" He tried to act nonchalant. "Then I'm sworn to serve you, Your Highness."

"Don't call me that."

"Okay, fine milady." Will couldn't help the words that next came out. "What is the deal between you and Clovis?"

She blinked. "What?"

Will hoped he wasn't as red in the face as he thought he was. "You know. You and the brown-haired guy look close."

She stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Oh, Will," she finally said with an admiring smile. "He doesn't even like females. But you look adorable right now." She was teasing him.

"Oh." Will felt stupid suddenly. "Well, does that mean...?"

She sat up suddenly and kissed him, shocking him into silence. Will's hands instantly slid around her waist, pulling her closer and going up into her loose hair. He didn't want to let go, her soft lips against his and his against hers. It seemed to only last for a second before she pulled away first, staring into his eyes. He traced a finger along her bottom lip as she watched him silently.

"Once this is all over, I want to take you to the West," Will said.

"Why?" Her blue eyes looked up into his.

Will smiled softly. "So we can go to one of those festivals that everyone admires. I have imagined it. We could dance under the stars, and the music would play around us. There would be laughter and lights, and the war would be over. We'll go and see the Free Isles and see the beautiful beaches that they boast of having, maybe visit their temples. Maybe we'll get a boat and sail into the sunset on a day where the red, blue, and gold sky is filled with stars. It will be just us."

A future for them. He was half-afraid that he had gone too far, but she was smiling back. "You should be a poet," she remarked. "I would love that."

She laced her fingers in his, then kissed him again until their lips were bruised and swollen, both of their clothes crinkled, and leaned her head on his chest. They wouldn't go further than that, Will knew. Despite his own want, they couldn't, and he would never ask that of her until she learnt to trust him. She could smile and kiss him all she wanted, but he knew she had left some part of her back in the North, and she still couldn't trust him.

"Promise me you will never leave me," she muttered.

"I promise," Will whispered. "And I promise I will never mistreat you. I promise I will support you and be here for you in any way that I can."

"Thank you." There was a longing in her eyes, but she nodded, lay down, and turned onto her side. Will watched her as she stared into space and finally closed her eyes, curled into a ball as if to protect herself. Will tucked the blankets around her before reaching for his book and reading into the night. At some point, Audrey shifted in her sleep so her back was pressed against him, but he didn't move her away. Now and then, she muttered something in her sleep, sounding a lot like 'lute', and her body stiffened and loosed, her fists clenching and unclenching at her sides. But she still slept, relaxing when Will gently put a hand on her shoulder.

It was a warm feeling to know she trusted him enough to sleep comfortably alongside him.

The book went on for a hundred more pages, writing about a shared love interest of the youngest and eldest son, a few battles, then the forgotten younger sister of the three princes outwitting them all and taking the crown after having them all sentenced to death. The ending made him smile to himself. Audrey was right; it was a good one. They had underestimated the girl in the shadows, right before she proved them all to be dullards.

The biggest enemy hides where you can't see them, his mother had told him once. That is what makes them so powerful.

Will finally put the book down, blew out the candle and lay down to fall asleep, his back against hers. He was surprised to find he had no nightmares that night. His sleep was blissfully empty of anything.

In the morning, the servants would shoot him suspicious looks after seeing Audrey leaving his room just an hour after most of the staff had woken to start their daily chores. He always grinned back, knowing that nothing had happened except for ambitious promises whispered in the dark.

He also knew that he had slept more comfortably that night than he had in years.

Aw Will is such a baby

Love you all,

Shelly M x