“Something else is on your mind. Tell me, Kira,” Luke requests, his hands gently lying on her ticklish neck.
“I want the trumpeters to present us as Luke and Kira Callindor. I’m sorry if it comes out strange, but I want to try out the name for a night,” she says before she sits up and looks directly into his eyes. “I lied to you about telling my father about who you were. I was unable to tell my father your name because I never got to introduce you. He refuses to know the names of my suitors until he meets them. It’s some archaic tradition of our family. Now, if we claim to be married then he will learn about you in an unorthodox fashion. I can easily handle a month of my spending money dropping to one gold coin a week as punishment for lying to his friends. It isn’t like it will be a full lie since one day it will be the truth.”
Luke laughs at the idea until he releases a wide yawn. “That’s alright. We can have some fun with it. Seeing so many nobles and our friends stare at us in disbelief will be worth the trouble.”
“It's time for you to go to sleep,” Kira states.
“Want to hear something funny?” Luke whispers with a weak chuckle. “I just realized that Nimby stabbed me on my birthday.”
Kira kisses Luke on the lips, pushing him against the pillows. She stops the kiss and strokes his cheek while their noses gently touch. A few of her tears fall onto his eyes, which prompts him to wipe away the few that have been caught in her eyelashes. For several seconds, he lets his hand wander over her face and shoulders.
“Promise to be here when I wake up?” he asks.
“For the next week, the god of destruction himself couldn’t tear me away from you,” Kira replies. She gives him a kiss on the forehead and hears him mutter something incoherent before he passes out. It isn’t long before she falls asleep in his arms and their soft breathing is the only sound in the room.
As Luke and Kira snuggle together in dream-filled bliss, a small form dressed in black hops onto the window ledge. The figure watches Luke and Kira with a sad, lonely smile. With a nod, the figure pulls out a small wooden figurine depicting a man and woman embracing. The shadowy form carefully throws the figurine into the room. It sails soundlessly across the room and lands in Luke’s open satchel.
“I swore that I would see you two together at the end of this, Luke. I will make good on my promise,” the intruder whispers before leaping into the bushes below and vanishing.
The adventure continues in
Allure of the Gypsies
Legends of Windemere: 02 - Prodigy of Rainbow Tower Page 48
