Liliana awoke with a quick, quiet gasp, but not much else. Countless years of living with nightmares, this was the only reaction they would get out of her now. She found the fact her eyes opened to find a room she'd never seen to be more shocking than her dreams- but even that didn't last long. It took all of three seconds to gather her bearings and collect memories in the haze of exhaustion brought on by only managing to get a few fitful hours of sleep. Putting the pieces together, her eyes fell on the figure lying beside her, still in the embrace of sleep, unlike her, but equally as bare. This was Jace Beleren's flat. This was Jace Beleren's room. This was Jace Beleren's bed. This was Jace Beleren. Looking back at his sleeping form made her sigh both in contentment and unease.
The two of them had run into each other at the festivities the night before (Liliana wasn't quite 100% sure just what was being celebrated, but who was she to turn down a little fun?) after the two of them ended their last encounter on unsatisfactory terms. She'd honestly expected him to stomp off angrily and brood somewhere else once they'd gotten a chance to speak again, but he'd honestly surprised her. Maybe that was why she'd wound up here- it wasn't very often she found herself being surprised. Being around as long as she had, she figured she'd been jaded to just about anything the world could throw at her. Of course, then it decided to lob Jace.
She'd received a lot of meaningless gifts from a lot of men she'd never bothered to remember the faces of. They'd all just been for means of courtship- just a flashy, showy way to woo her, like a wild animal displaying it's brightly colored feathers. Jace's came in the form of an envelope- of secrets of important people who would be more than willing to pay people to stay quiet. It wasn't really to win her affections- or maybe it was, and in this case, Liliana was more of a fool than she had once thought- as much as it was a gift you gave someone you legitimately cared for. Should she ever come into dire straights, all she needed do was open the envelope. No one had really ever given her a gift to ensure her well being (at least, not in recent memory).
Liliana sat up and looked out towards the window, the drawn shades relenting just enough where she could see the night sky being chased away by faint pink and orange hues outside. In that small room filled with the salty smell of sweat and the sweet aroma of a long night spent with another, she couldn't bring herself to be completely relaxed or happy. Waking up beside Jace was a pleasant surprise on the surface, but somewhere deep down in the farthest reaches of her mind, she couldn't help but feel this was all according to plan.
A plan, yes, there had been one, though any recollection of it hardly lasted very long. It was like trying to remember a dream, and only remembering the very beginning and the very end. She was there to do something- something whispered cruelly to her that she hadn't ended up in Jace's quarters on accident. Everything she'd done until now- doing odd jobs for the Consortium, meeting Jace and Kallist, getting closer to the former- felt the slightest bit pre-determined, and that was what bothered her the most. There was a small part of her, one thought long buried- an innocent, hopeful part of her that wanted it all to be genuine. Every touch, every caress, every kiss- she'd done it for a reason that wasn't just to consummate her feelings.
And just before it felt as if she were close to a breakthrough, Jace awoke with a tired-but-satisfied groan, and the very thought was chased away, escaping out into the early morning.
"Awake already?" Liliana asked as she looked to the mind-reader with a joking smirk on her face. "I figured you'd be out a lot longer than that after all that..." She paused, a short, alluring chuckle escaping her. "...work you put in."
"I should say the same." Jace retorted.
"I have a lot more stamina than that- a lot more." Liliana spoke suggestively. She sidled closer to him until her lower body brushed against his chest and her long, black hair that spilled over her shoulders caressed his skin as she leaned over him.
Honestly, though, Liliana had been with better, experienced men. It was Jace's genuine nature that won her over in the end and not his prowess beneath the sheets- as it were. He could have easily read her mind- delved into the more experienced, adult parts of her memory and fish out exactly what he needed. He could probably do it seamlessly without her even knowing, but he'd made a point not to. He'd outright refused when Liliana had passively suggested it, his moral compass pointing him somewhere else other than to cheat his way into Liliana's affection- a gesture that was kind, if not just the slightest bit naive.
That being said, Liliana had been with worse, too, and Jace was much different than them. He was different than all of them.
It was a habit of her's to force smiles, falsify laughter, pretend to be surprised and fake pleasure. It was relieving, among other things, not to have to put on an act. All through the night and into early morning, her smiles had been real, her laughter genuine, her surprise tangible and her pleasure- oh she'd certainly felt something alright. It all made her glad she had chosen not to bid Jace good night.
But was it really real? The same, doubting voice in her mind asked.
"It something wrong?" Jace's words interrupted her thoughts, drawing Liliana back to reality along with his touch as he wrapped his arm around her waist. She was quick to unfurrow her brow and place her hand gently on top of his as she forced the first smile she'd made all night. She knew he wouldn't pry to see if it were real or not, he'd made his case about that already.
"It's nothing that should concern you." She assured him, a small bite in her softly spoken words, quietly warning him not to pry. "Just a personal matter I can take care of later. Let's just focus on now..." Just in case words wouldn't put down Jace's worried curiosity, Liliana resorted to actions as she positioned herself above him and leaned inward, pressing her lips against his. Then his jaw line. Then his neck-
The soft-but-intrusive sound of boots against the creaking floorboards of the flat interrupted her journey downward- and although it did exactly was Liliana had been attempting to accomplish (in distracting Jace from the troubled look she'd allowed to grace her complexion) it also forced the two apart. They looked back at each other in matching looks of disappointment and sighed.
"Sounds like someone's up." Liliana laughed, defeat in her voice as she began to pull away. There was the possibility that Kallist, who was now up and about just outside the door, knew Jace hadn't returned from his romp around town alone, but now the mood had been permeated and broken entirely. Any more advances were sure to be awkward now.
"Wait!" Jace commended urgently, following after her so that the two of them were sitting up-right. His words were just desperate enough for Liliana to obey, and she sat before him, arms patiently hanging at her sides. With an action just as sudden as his words, he embraced her, pressing his naked form against her own, pulling her close into an embrace that was tight but nowhere close to being uncomfortable. In return, she reached up, cupping the sides of his face before giving him one, last, deep kiss and punctuated the gesture by nibbling playfully at his bottom lip before pulling away.
"Is this where we say good night?" Jace asked, a smile on his face that Liliana returned in kind, accompanied with soft, unintrusive laughter.
"This," she corrected, shaking her head, "is where we say, 'I'll see you soon'."
The moment had been ruined, but Liliana's mood was far from being made the same. Not by the long, awkward goodbye that she didn't want to end, or the look Kallist gave the two of them as Jace showed her to the door or the tangible tension that accompanied it. The cool morning air did nothing to rip away the warm feeling still lying peacefully inside her, nor did the lack of someone being at her side.
But then it all came drifting back, like an unwelcome flood. Now a fare ways away from the flat and Jace's prying eyes and mind, Liliana remembered. Her pressing predicament, Bolas, their deal- whenever she was around Jace those thoughts and memories vanished, like they'd never even happened at all. But when she found herself alone, they'd return like phantoms come to haunt her. Normally they wouldn't bother her as much as they were at that moment as her breath became short and a weight began to press down on her shoulders. But now they did.
Or rather, maybe it wasn't the fact that they had returned. It was the fact that her feelings for Jace Beleren were refusing to fade.