Alisiyad Chapter 13 ~ Roller Coaster

Liseli woke slowly, gradually becoming aware of herself again.  There was a cool breeze on her face and a warm breath on her neck.  Russ was holding her close to him, one hand spread out over her stomach, the other cupped her right breast.  His hands were large and warm, his arms felt very heavy draped around her.  She almost felt as if she couldn’t move.

Liseli opened her eyes and watched the curtains flapping lazily.  They’d left the balcony doors open, last night, but pulled the curtains closed.  Patches of sunlight flooded the room momentarily, then subsided as the curtains swayed back toward the balcony.  Russ twitched briefly in his sleep.  Liseli closed her eyes and tried to fall back asleep, but she could still sense the shift of light, from dark and cool to bright and warm with every swish of the curtains against the floor.

She moved Russ’s hands and carefully turned over.  He rolled onto his back and sighed but didn’t wake up.  She kissed the underside of his jaw, then watched him for a moment before laying her head on the pillow near his shoulder.  She closed her eyes.  She could still hear the curtains . . . .

 . . . Swish.

Swish . . . .

 . . . Swish.

Liseli . . . .

Her eyes flew open, and she lifted her head to look back over her shoulder at the curtains.  But they were just curtains, making no noise other than the quiet swishing.  She lowered her head back down and squeezed her eyes shut, grimacing into the pillow.

It was a problem.  Her mind was awake now, and if she tried to lie still in bed it would just wander in and out of shallow dreaming.  But she didn’t want to wake Russ.  Not just yet.  She eased out of bed and straightened the blankets over him.  She gathered up her clothes, yawning.  She’d been able to sleep without further dreams, but still . . . all in all it hadn’t been a restful night.  She went into the bathroom.

Later she was soaking in the low tub, the ends of her hair flat and wet around her shoulders.  She looked down at her body, wiggling her toes, and thought about Russ.  Her Russ?  Was he really?  She was afraid of the answer.  He was like a store full of glass and china.  Hers to break.  He was sleeping like a baby in the next room, and when he woke up the taste of her would be in his mouth, and he had made love to her like it was the best thing that had ever happened in his entire life, and, oh God, it was to her, it was—

She was crying.  A tear dripped off her chin and landed in the water with a plop.  She sucked in a shaky breath. She didn’t know if she was happy or sad.

You don’t know what you are anymore.

She lay down in the tub, submerging herself completely, and listened to the water flooding her ears.

Liseli was drying her hair; first squeezing the ends over the tub, then patting it with a towel and dragging a comb through the knots.  She heard the sound of a door opening, and froze.

“What?” said Russ’s voice sleepily.

“Good morning, sir.  Did you sleep well last night?”  It was a servant.

A pause.  “Uh, yeah.”  Russ didn’t sound very convincing.  Not very happy, either.

Why?  But he did, Liseli thought.  He’d been sleeping very soundly.

“Very good.”  She listened closely; the servant was moving around the room, picking up Russ’s clothes, drawing back the curtains, shutting the doors and latching them.

“Breakfast will be served for the Mayor and family out in the garden in thirty minutes,” the servant said.  “You are invited.  I will escort you.”

“Okay.  No, thanks.  I mean, I can find them—”

“They will be in the pavilion.”

“Right.  Pavilion.”

“Do you know where it is?”

“Yeah.”  It sounded like a lie.  But the servant accepted it.

“Would you like me to draw you a bath, sir?”

Oh, God.

“Um . . . sure, thanks.”

That idiot!  Doesn’t he know I’m in here?

She panicked for a moment, looking for a place to hide, then threw herself at the door and leaned against it heavily, holding the handle.  She was only wearing the thin nightgown, and it clung to her damp skin.  Besides, she wasn’t supposed to be there at all.  In a moment she felt the servant jiggling the handle on the other side, trying to push the door in.  After a struggle: “It seems your door is stuck, sir.”

“Oh.  Really.  Well, it doesn’t matter.”

“But—”

“I’ll smell bad and piss behind a tree,” Russ said, with uncharacteristic testiness.  “It doesn’t matter.”

Whoa . . . .  Liseli wondered why he was so upset. 

The servant let up on the door and said, miffed, “I will be going then.  Unless there is anything else you need.”

“No.  Thanks.”

There was a knock at the hallway door, and the servant asked, “Shall I answer that, sir?”

“Everyone just comes in here, anyway.”

“I will get it.”

The door opened, and a female voice spoke, “Excuse me.  Miss Eliasha asked me to bring this over to your room.”

“Really.”  Russ sounded confused.  “That can’t be for me.”

“I would hope not, sir,” the male servant said dryly.

What?  Liseli wished she could see through the door.

“There is a note,” said the female servant.  “Shall I leave it here?”

“Fine.  Sure.”

After a moment the door shut, and the room was quiet.  She heard the bed creak.  The door to the bathroom opened, she stepped back.

“Oh.”  Russ looked surprised.  He was naked, and self-consciously moved his hands down to cover himself.  “I, uh, thought you’d . . . left.”

“No.”  She smiled faintly at his modesty.  “I would have said so if I had.”

“Would you?”  He looked at her strangely, and she was confused.

“ . . . Yeah.”  She felt goosebumps on her skin as her hair hung wet and cold against her shoulders.  Russ was behaving coldly.  He was never that way.  Not to her.

“Well.”  She looked down, then began to walk past him out the door, saying, “I suppose you want to use the toilet.”

“Um, Liseli.”  He blocked the way, putting a hand on her arm.

She stopped and looked ahead.  She couldn’t stand it.  “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”  He pulled her closer and hugged her tightly to his chest.  He lowered his head to kiss her, but she didn’t relax, not liking the evasive reply.  When he drew back she ducked out of his arms and went into the bedroom.

“Eliasha sent you a present,” he said, leaning against the doorframe.

“What?”

“It’s on the bed.”