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"Unbelievable," Shouxue muttered. "He has got to stop doing this."
The "he" she was referring to was, of course, the most powerful man in the land, and he was currently fast asleep on Shouxue's bed.
Again.
Would it be treason if she were to physically kick him out? He had said he'd treat her as the Winter King when they were alone, so surely not. With Jiujiu and Hongqiao off to bed and Wei Qing away on an errand for the Emperor, they were about as alone as they ever got right now.
She sighed and then threw back her head in frustration. "I have got to stop encouraging him." Every time she allowed him to stay here in her bed and gave him peaceful dreams, it only emboldened him to do it again.
It was only that—well, there were other places for her to sleep in the Ye Ming Palace, and the Emperor looked so tired every time he came to see her. He should stop that, too—coming to see her, that was. He would better spend the time sleeping.
In his own bed.
She'd just turned her back on him to make her way deeper into the Palace, where she could get some sleep herself, when she heard his voice and froze.
"Shouxue."
When she turned back to him, it was to find him just as he'd been a moment ago, his eyes closed and his body relaxed in sleep. She scowled. It was bad enough when he said her name when he was awake; the way it rolled off his tongue like it belonged there was never less than disconcerting.
To hear him say it when he was asleep, unconscious, as if it lived in his mind even then—
Shouxue shivered. No, that was too dangerous a path of thought. The Raven Consort wasn't supposed to think such things, not of anyone. Especially not of the Emperor.
More than anything, she wasn't supposed to feel her heartbeat pick up in her chest at the very possibility.
She turned away again, feeling a little desperate to depart—and was stopped once more.
"Shouxue. There's more than enough room for two."
So he was awake, after all. She didn't know if she felt relieved or disappointed.
"The Raven Consort does not perform night time duties," she said stiffly, her back still turned to him.
"I'm not asking you to," he said quietly. "But I've been told by a little bird that it's very rude of me to kick you out of your own bed."
She scowled again into the night. "I told you that," she said.
His chuckle, low and warm, filled the room. "All the more reason to listen, then," he said very reasonably. "Join me, Shouxue. I don't expect anything of you. It's simply that your presence—" he paused for a moment. "It's very soothing to me."
"You enjoy being insulted? I knew there was something wrong with you," she muttered under her breath. Still, somehow when she finally moved, it was to turn back to face him instead of gliding out of the room. Feeling like she'd been issued a challenge, one she wasn't about to lose, she eyed her bed. "Move over."
For a wonder—or perhaps not, given how strange he was—the Emperor did as he was told. Staring at the empty space next to him, where he'd just been a moment ago, she very suddenly realized her mistake.
Well, there was nothing for it. She wasn't about to let him see her hesitate.
Steeling herself, she plopped herself down next to him. The mattress was still warm with his lingering body heat; she could feel it through her robes, though she did everything she could to pretend she couldn't.
A mistake. This was a mistake. As she stretched out next to him, Shouxue somehow felt warmer than she had in years.
Neither of them said anything for a few long moments. She could hear his breathing next to her. It should sound loud, the only sound in the room other than her own breathing, but it didn't.
Somehow, it felt just right.
"Your presence is…irksome," Shouxue finally said into the silence, just to distract herself.
He gave a huff of laughter. "Well, that's certainly a step up from intolerable." He shifted, rolling over onto his side so that he was facing her. She felt his eyes trace her face in the darkness, and ignored him, staring at the ceiling above them.
"I always have pleasant dreams when I sleep here," he said quietly. "More so than anywhere else. I rarely sleep through the night when I'm not here."
"That would be because I use my magic to make it so," she said bluntly. She'd never said as much before, just assuming that he knew. He probably did know and was simply making small talk, as he was so often wont to do.
He gave a low hum, acknowledging her words. "I don't think that's it."
"That is it," she said.
"If you say so," he replied, but he was very obviously just humouring her.
Shouxue tried to let it go. He was just trying to rile her up, she knew. She waited a moment, staring up at the ceiling, and then another, counting the seconds go by, before suddenly she turned so that she was facing him as well.
"I do say so," she said, because she couldn't help it. He just made her—he made her—
He just made her want to scream. He made her want to reach out and brush away the stray lock of hair that had come loose from his crown. Just because it was annoying her, of course.
He smiled at her, and her traitorous heart felt like it skipped a beat. Then it just about stopped altogether when he reached out to capture a lock of her hair between his fingers, giving it a faint tug before tucking it behind her ear.
"Shouxue," he said.
"What?"
He smirked. "Nothing. I just enjoy saying your name, that's all."
Reaching up, Shouxue tucked her hair more firmly behind her ear. "Then say it in the morning," she said with a huff. "Now go to sleep, Gaojun."
Then, with his stunned silence ringing in her ears, she closed her eyes. After a moment, he gave a low laugh of delight, and Shouxue fell asleep with the memory of his warm laughter in her thoughts.
If she only pretended to ignore the way he leaned in just before she drifted off, his form hovering over hers as he brushed a warm kiss to her temple, he didn't need to know.