Cedric was pulled groggily from his restless sleep by the loud squawking in his ear coming from his troublemaking bird, Wormwood. He quickly scowled and angrily shooed the bird away still not opening his eyes. His head was pounding and he was feeling unusually warm.
Where was he?
It was familiar, he knew that much but he wasn't in his bed and his neck felt rather stiff. He let his thoughts die out as he drifted back into the restless sea of sleep. He could feel it's hands reaching out for him. Oh, how he would love to let it drag him back down.
But then the squawking started again this time louder and more urgent. Cedric ignored wormwood for a few more seconds before he slowly opened his eyes with a huff. He was in his study. That's why his neck must feel so stiff-he had fallen asleep in one of the two chairs in the room. In fact his whole body felt stiff, and with a groan he sat up. What time was it? The thought was temporarily forgotten as he leaned forward to rest his head in his hands. He felt like he was on fire and yet cold as ice at the same time. His bones ached and his brain felt like it was trying to make its daring escape through his skull. His eyes slowly started to droop and he was quickly losing the fight to keep them open. A few more minutes wouldn't hurt, would it?
A few minutes turned to a few hours. Cedric was once again pulled from his restless sleep but this time it wasn't by his dear friend crowing in his ear. It was his little princess, Sofia, who was looking down at him with a look of great concern. Down? Wasn't he sitting in a chair just a few minutes ago? Ah, she always did look so pretty no matter what facial expression she was making.
How long had he been asleep?
His thoughts rushed through him like a flood, disjointed and talking over each other. His eyes were threatening to close again, she was saying something to him but he couldn't quite make it out. As his eyes started to close he reached to gently caress her hand "so happy you're here." He mumbled not caring if she heard him or not. Cedric was once again lost among the sleep, no longer aware of what was going on around him. His dreams were filled with fire and of Sofia, so close and yet so far.
Cedric didn't seem like he weighed as much as he did, but Sofia found she had trouble carrying- though more like dragging-him up the stairs to his bedroom. Once she made it up the stairs she still had the obstacle of getting him into bed, and getting him to his bed was going to be a challenge all on it's own. With a huff Sofia adjusted Cedric's weight on her shoulder and made her way to his bed. Honestly if the situation was different Sofia might have felt a little bit of excitement being in here. He wasn't really hers but she liked to pretend, sorcerers bedroom being just the two of them.
Sofia shook her head to chase the thought away and to try and get rid of the blush that was threatening to crawl across her cheeks. With a sigh of relief she had made it to the bed without dropping Cedric, and with one last huff she struggled to get him on the bed, it took her a few tries but she managed. She stood there for a second just looking at the sleeping man who was now laying in front of her, a bit crooked but he was on the bed at least. She smiled proudly to herself. "Ok." She whispered to herself "Now for the next step." She moved to take his shoes off and pushed his legs onto the bed before pulling the covers over him.
Next she turned to search for a piece of cloth that she could dampen a little to place on Cedric's forehead. She came back five minutes later to find that Cedric had moved more to the middle of the bed, Sofia giggled to herself a little. He looked cute curled up in the middle of his rather large bed. Sofia smiled as she hurried over the side of the bed that he was closest to and leaned over it to place the damp cloth on his forehead.
Before she was able to pull away a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and gently pulled her into the bed. Sofia was surprised to say the least but she didn't put up a fight or struggle instead she accepted the invitation almost too eagerly. She curled up next to her sorcerer placing her forehead against his chest before slowly closing her eyes. This was comfortable, this is where she should be.
Cedric know he had to be dreaming, his princess was here in his bed curled up next to him. He refused to open his eyes less the illusion be broken. Instead he pulled his dream closer to his chest refusing to ever let go, this was comfortable, this is where he needed to be. Slowly he sunk back into the darkness of sleep, but this time it was pleasant and warm.