Dismantle

The heat of the sun woke her up.

Manon stared at nothing, feeling groggy but well rested.

Her hands carressed her arms. It was warm. The heat of the sun, the bright sky and the calm wind.

She hadn't had this moment ever since she got here in Feyren. Her heart was in joy. She was in peace.

A smile formed on her face, remembering how much she missed the warmth of being alive.

And then she went back to reality.

A weight of something heavy has dented the soft sheets.

Realizing that someone was sleeping beside her, she turned slowly, still in the process of taking everything in.

Another warmth from something that wasn't the sun. It came from man.

A man's body.

With a slow and steady breathing, there he was laying still beside her.

Maden was sleeping steady beside her.

Beside her.

She almost panicked.

His dark hair pointing in different directions, his left cheek dipped into the comforter. And then his lashes. Lashes thicker than hers where poking his cheeks.

He was breathtakingly handsome, Manon could only stare in awestruck.

How can he be so beautiful?

Those were her thoughts when suddenly he started moving, realizing the sun was hitting him directly, Manon reached out to cover his eyes from the sun to shield his sleeping state.

Until his eyes met hers. His upper eyelid drooping low, heavy-lidded from his sleep.

That was when Manon realized his eyes weren't black.

His eye color was gray with a hint of the darkest blue. It was deep, not just the color of his eyes but the way he looks at her as if he sees her.

His eyes were dreamy, half-shut but his gaze was penetrating through her soul.

Then he grabbed her hand that was shielding him from the direct sun, softly.

And then he brought her hands down to his lips and kissed it.

Then he closed his eyes as if savoring the feeling of her skin against his lips.

Manon could feel the beat of her heart. Strange to take it in, to understand but she felt alive.

She pulled her hand away.

This time he was fully awake.

"Wouldn't they be mad if they see you here? They warned me about you. I think you should go," she blabbered fast.

She was in a state of panic.

"They also warned me about how charming humans could get," he muttered under his breath.

Manon stood up and went farther away from him, towards the curtain where the windows were.

In his sudden change of demeanor, her brows furrowed, wondering how much of a maniac he was yesterday begging his father to give him a human as if she was a plaything.

Right now he was different. He was much more matured, much more composed and lesser evil than he was before.

What changed? Manon asked herself unsure of how to take this observations.

Or maybe because he slept and everything was better than before like how afraid she was about the weather in Feyren.

Maybe that was the reason.

Maden then turned around and slowly stood up from laying comfortably against the bed.

Those bedroom hair was enough to make her heart skip a beat.

Good Lord, how can I be attracted to a fae?

He had the stature of a man. A body of a man.

He didn't even look like a monster, he looked way human-like for her own good.

Manon wished he looked like a monster, something as sinister like the spikes outside this great manor.

"Please leave. They might see you," Manon said in a haste.

"Why are you treating me like a prostitute? This is insane, never in my life have I met a woman—"

Then someone came in. The doors to her chamber were wide open.

And then she heard someone clearing their throat and her neck snap towards the sound.

Oh boy.