She walked over to the door and opened it, stepping into the hallway, the candlelight from her chamber stretching uncertainly along the walls. “Hello?” she called, keeping her voice steady as she moved forward.
At the far end of the passage, half-hidden in shadow, she saw a small figure crouched near the wall.
Lucy’s breath caught. She hurried toward him, skirts gathered in her hands, and as she drew closer, the candlelight revealed a familiar head of hair, bowed low, shoulders shaking with silent sobs.
“Daniel,” she said gently, sinking down before him at once. “Oh, my dear, you scared me. Why are you here in the dark?”
He lifted his face then, eyes red and shining with tears, clearly startled to see her but relieved all the same. “I... I had a bad dream,” he said in a rush, his voice trembling. “A really bad one. I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn’t.” He scrubbed at his cheek with his sleeve. “I just wanted to see Papa. Just for a minute. He always knows what to say when I get scared.”
Lucy’s chest tightened. She opened her arms without hesitation, and Daniel leaned into her, clinging. She wrapped him close, one hand smoothing his hair, the other steady at his back.
“It’s all right,” she murmured, trying to keep her voice low and soothing. “You’re safe. Nightmares feel very real when they come, especially when the thunder joins them, but they cannot harm you. They are only thoughts that have lost their way.”
He sniffed, pressing his face into her shoulder. “It didn’t feel like that.”
“I know,” she said softly. “But feelings pass, even the frightening ones. They always do. You were very brave to leave your bed and look for comfort instead of hiding from the fear.”
Daniel relaxed a little at that, his breathing evening as the storm continued to rage outside.
“Your father would tell you the same,” Lucy went on, resting her cheek lightly against his hair. “That courage does not mean never being afraid. It means knowing where to go when you are.”
The words surprised even her, yet they felt right as she said them.
She held him there for a moment longer, until the tension eased from his small frame. When his breathing had steadied, Lucy drew back just enough to look at him properly.
“Would you like me to take you to your father?” she asked gently. “I can walk with you to his room if that would help.”
Daniel nodded at once, clutching her hand. “Yes, please.”
She rose with him, fingers tightening around his smaller ones as they stepped into the corridor together. As they walked, Lucy started to realize what she was about to do. It would mean waking Rowan. The thought alone brought a flush of discomfort to her cheeks. Seeking him out in the middle of the night was improper, awkward, and far too intimate for her liking.
Lucy pressed her lips together, schooling herself into calm. She had no choice. Daniel needed his father. That was reason enough, excuse enough, justification enough. All she intended to do was deliver him safely, see him settled, and leave at once.
She told herself this firmly as they walked.
For days now, she had avoided Rowan carefully, turning corners before he could see her, inventing small errands to keep their paths from crossing. She had not known how to resume a conversation left unfinished, not when his question still echoedso persistently in her thoughts. His challenge to her certainty, to the life she believed she had chosen, unsettled her in many ways.
But what truly bothered her was the fact that she was taking it so seriously. There had been other people who had questioned her decision, and she never batted an eye. Even her mother constantly questioned her, and Lucy still ignored her. Why then was she taking Rowan’s question to heart?
Tonight, however, was not the night to discuss that. There would be no conversation. No explanations.
She would place Daniel in his father’s care and retreat, swiftly and quietly, back to the safety of distance she had so carefully maintained.
That, she decided, was all this would be.
Once she got to his chambers, she hesitated at the door before knocking once... softly. She only waited seconds before taking the handle. Rowan’s door yielded easily beneath her hand, unlocked.
Lucy hesitated only a moment before easing it open and stepping inside, Daniel close at her side. The room was dim, lit faintly by the restless flashes of lightning beyond the curtains. Rowan lay upon the bed with his back to them, one arm flung carelessly across the mattress, deep in sleep.
“Your Grace,” she said softly.
No response.
She tried again, her voice a little firmer this time. “Your Grace.”
Still nothing.
Her heart beat faster as she stepped closer. Carefully, she reached out and tapped his arm, causing him to stir at once.
