Chapter 19 A weird treasure and a extremly hot night
The path they choose to walk on turned out to be the most scary they ever stepped foot on. Althrough it was bright daylight it was getting darker and colder the farther they went into it. The plants seemed to be more creepy, the trees looked like they were living and they could hear strange, eerie noises. Rath and Marianna observed the surroundings with each step they took. They didn´t want to be surprised from something dangerous or deadly. When they were really deep in the forest, Rath couldn´t stand the silence any longer. He decided to do it like Marianna and share some of his life with her. If she could be open with him, so could he. So he told her his best pranks he ever played on someone. Like when he hid a few harlegmos (spiders) in Vilandra´s bedroom. He still had to laugh about the loud scream and her horrofied expression when she ran through the halls in the castle. Too bad that someone saw him and he was punished from his father. For two weeks he had to dust the old books in the library. Althrough it was not so bad to do it. After all he discovered his interest for some of the history books there. For hours he would sat on the old couch in the corner and read through them. He still did it after his punishment was over and nobody was in sight. He didn´t want someone to know that he had a passion for reading. Furthermore it was something that he wanted to do alone, like a little vacation from all his responsiblities and his family. Marianna could relate to it. She had something like that. She didn´t read a book, but she sang when she was sure that nobody was near. It was a escape from the dark vibes that were always floating through the rooms at the castle. It was the only time she could really be herself and let her guard down for a few hours. Rath just wanted to tell Marianna how he almost destroyed the whole palace at his tenth birthday, when he noticed that something had changed around them. He turned his head and watched Marianna, who seemed to have noticed it also, because she was facing him, too. They both turned to the path at the same time. Then they saw it. The path was at its end and a sunbeam fell through a little opening. Immediately they ran as fast as they could to it. Never in their life they were so relieved to see the suns again and feel the heat on their bodies. Rath kneeled on the ground and started to pray while he lifted his arms. Marianna only watched him with a smile on her face. Sometimes she wondered about his sanity and how he made it to so far in his life. Althrough she was happy that they made it out of the scary wood she didn´t make a show about it like her companion. While he was still kneeling on the ground infront of her feet, Marianna took the time to observe the scenery around them. They seemed to be near the sea, because it were almost no trees there. And despite the heat from the suns a light breeze was blowing. Then she turned her head to her right and discovered something that she apparently had overlooked the first time. A little cabin was standing on a little clearing. It looked really old. The grey paint was slowly coming off, a few roof tiles were missing and there were absolutly no windows anymore. The cabin was obviously not used for a few decades.
" Hey Rath. Whose the owner of this thing", Marianna pointed to the cabin. Rath had to know more about it. At least he grew up here and knew more people than her.
Rath paused in his praisings and starred at the place Marianna was pointing at. He had absolutely no clue who would want to live there. He couldn´t remember ever seeing this cabin before. Ok he wasn´t that deep in the forest before, hence he couldn´t have seen it. " Don´t know".
" Do you think we should maybe check it out?", Marianna hoped not. She could imagine how much little crawling creatures where living in this dump. For the second time a shudder went through her body. Everything with no feet or more than four was scaring her.
Rath arose from his position on the ground and faced Marianna. " What´s up? Are you scared of a little cabin?".
" Not of the cabin, but the things that could be inside".
" What do you think is in there?", Rath couldn´t imagine that something dangerous could be in the little cottage. " I think the only thing living there will be harlegmos", he noticed that Marianna made a face at that. " Don´t tell me you´re scared of harlegmos?".
Marianna couldn´t understand why Rath was smiling. Many people were scared of insects. " I´m not scared. I just don´t like them".
Rath was really enjoying that. Finally he found out that Marianna wasn´t that perfect. She had flaws like everybody else. And that made her more attractive as she already was anyway. " Don´t worry princess. I´ll protect you".
" I don´t need anybody to protect me", Marianna knew she should have shut her mouth and keep that secret to herself. Now Rath thought she was a little princess who needed somebody to look out for her. But not with her. With a glare she headed straight to the cabin and let him standing behind.
Rath smiled after her. His plan worked just fine. He knew how much Marianna hated to be treated like a little girl and that she would overcome her fear just to show that she could hold her own. One of the many reason why he was so attracted to her. When Rath saw that Marianna was almost by the cabin he finally followed her.
Marianna was slightly faltering in her steps the closer she got to the cottage. Maybe she shouldn´t have said anything. Now she had to swallow her fear and go in there. She could imagine what sight she would see. The dust was propably already so high that somebody could write something in it, harlegmo webs everywhere and a smell that would blow away the strongest man on this planet. Just as she wanted to put her feet on the first stair, an image of a huge harlegmo popped in her head. It had eight, long, hairy legs, many little eyes, which were all directed on her and a body that was as big as the cottage itself. Marianna tried to banish the picture in her head, but the fear had embraced her in a tight grip. She was frozen to the spot and didn´t dare to move any muscle.
" Hey. Is everything alright with you?", Rath was a tad bit worried about her condition. For a minute now she was just standing there. Her face was white and her eyes seemed to be starring through something. Until he laid a hand on her arm.
Immediately her stiffness dissapeared and she turned her head to Rath. " You were right. I´m absolutely terrified of harlegmos". Now it was out. She observed his reaction at this revelation. But instead of laughter, like she expected the only thing she got was understanding.
" It´s alright. Everybody has some fears".
Marianna faced the cabin again. Why couldn´t she simply go inside and took a look around? She survived worse and she was still there. No she wouldn´t let her fear overtake her. She escaped her fathers army and then a little cottage shouldn´t be a problem at all. Besides this time she wasn´t alone anymore. She still had Rath at her side. " Ok let´s get inside"
" That´s what I wanted to hear", Rath gave her arm a reassuring squeeze, before he realesed it.
Marianna took a really deep breath, all her courage and stepped on the first stair. The fear was slowly ebbing away and at its place was just this calmness. Not even the scary noise of the stair could frighten her now. But just as she arrived at the last stair the door to the cabin flew open. Shocked Marianna let out a piercing scream and tried to take a step back. However she missed the stair and she fell backwards directly on Rath. Together they both crashed to the ground.
" Finally you´re there. I already thought you weren´t coming at all", Larek stepped out of the cabin ready to take his frustation for waiting so long out on Marianna and Rath. Didn´t they know that it was rude to let someone wait that long. Then he noticed that they were laying on the ground. Marianna right on top of Rath. " What are you doing down there?".
Marianna rolled off of Rath and checked if he was hurt in any kind. After she was sure that nothing was broken or injured she faced Larek with a glare. " What are we doing? What are you doing here scaring the shit out of me?".
" I was told to wait here for you", what was her problem? He should be pissed for sitting in his filthy dump for hours. Not the other way around.
Rath stood up from the ground and helped Marianna back on her feet. He was glad that she had kept her knees in the other direction or he could have said goodbye to his future children. " I´m assuming you´re here to give us the treasure?".
" That, my friend is correct", Larek excused himfelf for a moment and went in the cottage. A few seconds he came back with something that looked like a book in his hand. " That´s the treasure"
Marianna and Rath both stepped forward to take a closer look it at. It really was a book. It seemed to be pretty old, because the brown cover was slightly worn. There was a strange symbol in the middle. Instinctively they both stretched their arms out and touched it. Immediately a white light shot up and illuminated the entire area around them. Marianna and Rath felt that the book regnorized them as their keeper. After a few more seconds the light dissapeared as fast as it came. Now the book looked like it did before again.
" Holy Shit! What was that?", Larek had never seen something like that. He thought he witnessed every strange thing by now, but now he knew that he had still more to see.
Marianna ignored him and turned to Rath with a frown covering her face. " Did you feel it, too?".
" Yeah. What do you think it means?".
Marianna shrugged her shoulders. She was as clueless as Rath. But the feeling was incredible. She never felt something so warm and beautiful in her life. She saw the same thought reflecting in Rath´s eyes. He was equally moved from the emotions that were coming from that light.
" Hey! I asked you something!", Larek waggled with his arms to get the attention from at least one of the both. They seemed to be in a conversation without speaking with each other. It was strange to look at. Yeah there was nothing between them my ass. No matter what they both said, they had a deep connection.
Now Rath and Marianna both faced Larek at the same time. It was like they just noticed that Larek was still there. The spell that connected them was instantly broken. Marianna was the first to recover from it. " Did you say something?".
" Actually yes. But you both were to busy to stare at each other to listen to me", Larek was at the end of his patience. At first they let him wait for hours in a cottage that was the collecting point for all harlegmos and then they don´t listen to what he said. No he had enough for today.
Marianna stepped closer to Larek. She couldn´t think straight if she was near Rath. " Alright. I´m sorry. I swear you have our undivided attention now".
" Forget it. It´s unimportant anyway", Larek saw on his timer on his right wrist. Judging after the way he cursed it seemed to be later than he thought. He squeezed the book in Mariannas hand " You should go now. You don´t have much time left". With that Larek blinked with his eyes and was gone.
Shocked Marianna saw to the place, where Larek stood a few seconds ago. How could he do that? " Where is he gone?".
" He´s probably at the castle and complaints about us", Rath said that like it was nothing unusual. But for Marianna it was something new. She didn´t know anybody who could do that. Rath noticed her baffled expression. " Didn´t you know that he´s a space shifter?". After he received a raised eyebrow he explained it to her. " He has the power to shift from one place to another with a blink of an eye".
" Wow. That´s what I call a useful power. He has to show me how he does that when we arrive at the castle", and she would bug him until he agreed to teach her. Althrough her powers were more dangerous than Lareks it was never wrong to pick up new things that could help you survive. Especially if you´re part of the royal army.
Rath rolled his eyes. Damn Larek and his stupid powers. " We should go now".
Marianna, who was in the process to open the book to look what was standing inside it, faced him at that. " No. I want to know what is written in there".
" You can do that later".
Marianna tried to send him a nasty glare. But Rath wasn´t even looking in her direction. He was too busy staring at the sky. " But I want to know now!".
Rath glanced away from the sky and turned his head in her direction. Now he knew that she was a princess. He heared that tone that Marianna had in her voice and he knew from where. Ava used this tone as well when she wanted something from him. " We don´t have time for that!".
Marianna put on her sad face and pouted. " Please".
Rath intented to stay strong. He wanted to just win for once against her. But it was hard when Marianna looked so absolutely adoring with her pouting face. No he couldn´t get sidetracked. " I said no".
Marianna saw that Rath was slowly weakening. Now she had to put in the big guns. Seductively she snuggled her body against his and stroked his hard chest with her forefinger. Then she looked up, directly in Rath´s eyes " Pretty please".
Rath had to swallow at that. He could feel his constancy crumbling. She was so near he could smell her unique scent and if he would bent his head a little lower he could kiss her. For a moment he forgot that they didn´t have time for this dwadling. He even forgot where he was and what they had to do. The only thing in his mind was the strong urge to throw her to the ground and have his way with her. No stop that. He had to be hard. And how hard he was. Even she had to feel it. So he put on his mean face." We´re going. And that´s final!".
Marianna was shocked about the commanding tone in his voice. But then a smile broke out on her face. Oh boy that tone in his voice was a total turn on. Suddenly she noticed that her body began to tingle all over and heat was arising from strange places. " Alright. You win".
" Finally", Rath was glad that this topic was closed and they could at last continue their track again. He didn´t know how long he could have withstand her torture. " Now get your cute little ass in gear", with a final slap on her butt he started in the direction of the dark path, which would bring them back to the camping place they slept the night before. Hopefully they made it before the suns would be going down.
Marianna gawked after him with her mouth wide open. Did he just order her around? And what was yet more bad, she liked it. A lot. Quickly she put the book in her backpack and followed Rath. On her way to his side she noticed that he walked a bit strange. " Did I hurt you after all when I fell on you?".
Rath stopped his walk and looked back at her. Was that a trick question? " No. Why you´re asking?".
" It´s just that you´re walking funny".
Now Rath seemed to be embarrassed. A little flush graced his face. He couldn´t tell her that he had slight problems to walk with a hard on. He was just trying to find a position so that his pants wouldn´t rub at his penis all the time and make it worse for him to put one foot infront of the other. " It´s nothing. Let it go".
" I could help you", Marianna felt a tad bit bad about that. After all it was her fault that he had problems.
Rath´s blush got deeper when she said that and the image that popped in his head didn´t help his problem either. " Thanks for asking. But no".
" Alright. If you´re sure".
" Absolutely sure", Rath turned around and started walking again.
Marianna tried to hide her laughter. Like she didn´t know what his problem was. She had felt it pressing against her stomach. And boy was it big. No wonder that he couldn´t walk straight anymore. Pleased with herself she trailed after Rath with a light bounce in her step.
All the way back through the dark path their were coming from, Rath was curious why Marianna was so happy. She wasn´t even scared anymore, althrough nothing had changed since they went through it an hour ago. But her cheerfull mood was contagious and he caught himself smiling at her antics. She was definitely a strange girl. A strange girl he loved more than his own life. The planet was doomed, because Rath found his soulmate. He was startled at that thought. Where was this coming from? He didn´t even believe in something like soulmates or true love? What was happening to him? And why just now? Rath was so deep in thoughts that he didn´t notice that they came out of the scary part of the forest and into the lighter one. Then he registered out of the corner of his eyes that Marianna was in the process to eat a berry that was poisonous. Immediately he stormed to her and snatched her hand away from the bush.
" Don´t do it. They´re poisonous".
Marianna was shocked for a few seconds. Geez did he have to scare her to death? Her heart almost stopped beating. Carefully she laid a hand on her chest where she could feel her heart beating really fast now. " You almost gave me a heartattack".
" I´m sorry. But believe me when I say that you don´t want to know what happens when you eat those things", Rath tried them when he was younger. It was a bet between Larek, Zan and him. He won the bet, but to a price. For a few days he couldn´t keep his food down, on both ends. It wasn´t a pleasant experience.
Marianna eyed the wonderful green berries again. They looked really tempting and because she skipped the breakfast she was pretty hungry. Thankfully Rath stopped her before she could put them in her mouth. " Thank you". And she really meant it.
" All right. Let´s get going. I want to arrive at the camping place before it´s to dark to see anything", Rath didn´t wait for a reply before he began to move again.
Marianna slowly followed him. The thoughts about the book were forgotten, but now they were replaced with Rath´s behaviour. Ok for any other person it wouldn´t be such a big deal that he stopped her from a painful experience, but for her it was a big deal. Every other male she ever came in contact with wouldn´t have done that. They would have watched her how she stuffed her face with those berries. For the first time she really believed that Rath cared about her. It was easy to say that you loved someone and even if you didn´t mean it. But to show it was a little harder. And Rath just proved that. Maybe she should finally release her past, her bad experience and create new, better memories. Maybe it was time to let go of her fears and just live for the now. It was slowly time to stop living with ghosts and return back to the real world. Althrough she knew that she still had a long way to go to achive the goal she was putting on herself, she was sure that she would make it someday. For now she did the first step in the right direction. The next step was to show Rath that he wasn´t alone with his feelings. And she already knew how she had to do it. Just as she finished that thought she bumped into Rath, or rather his backpack.
" What´s up? Why are we stopping?".
" To strike our camp here", Rath took his backpack from his shoulders and put it near the fireplace. " I don´t know about you but I´m rather hungry".
" I didn´t realize that we´re already that far", Marianna must have been so deep in thoughts that she was unaware how long they were walking. Was the time really gone that fast? Oh my. Either she was a slow thinker or they were faster than she thought. But the path seemed to be longer when they went from it.
" Yeah. I noticed that", especially because he observed her the whole way. She seemed to come to a conclusion about something. He tried to use his powers and take a look in her feelings, but then he decided against it. He shouldn´t do that. If she wanted to share her emotions with him, she would do it.
" Sorry about that", Marianna finally took her backback from her shoulders and threw it on the ground, too. " Why don´t you look for a few branches we can set on fire and I will take care of anything else?".
" Does that mean you will cook without insulting me?", Rath just wanted to be sure, before he went to bring fire wood. Not that she started to call him names again, just because he let her make the meal.
Marianna had to smile at the reminder. Ok she was out of line the night before. But she made her point clear to him and he at least asked now if she cooked. " Yes. Now go".
Rath saluted quickly and then wandered deeper into the wood to go hunting after branches. Marianna watched after him and when she couldn´t spot him anymore, she sat on the ground and started to spread out the sleepingbags, which where hanging on their backpacks. Then she found a cane of bospe ( beans with bacon), a cane of lineinto ( stew ) and two big kafflen ( potatoes ). What should they eat? That was a tough question. Either they this or nothing. She absolutely hated stew, no matter with what. Hence the cane of lineinto went in the backpack again. Before she began to eat that, she rather would hunt down an animal, kill and gut it. How anybody could it this was out of her imagination. But now she had to choose between the kafflen or the cane of bospe. After she couldn´t make up her mind what they should eat, she gave up and decided that they would eat both. So now she only had to wait for Rath, who would bring the needful fire wood with him.
A few moments later Rath appeared with an arm full of branches. He must have been lucky, because he wasn´t gone that long and yet he had many fire wood. " Did you know how many creature are living in these woods?
" Don´t tell me, I´m begging you", it was bad enough that she had a good imagination about it, but to really know it. No thank you. She still wanted to sleep tonight.
" On my way I saw this thing. It had at least twenty little feets and it smelled really bad", Rath loved to tease her. And since he knew how scared she was of harlegmos and probably other crawling creatures he had to use the opportunity.
Marianna took a stone that was lying beside her and threw it at Rath." Shut up. I don´t want to hear it".
Rath laughed about her. She was just to easy to tick off. And it was a pleasure for him to see her shuddering. " Alright. You don´t have to be violent".
Marianna eyed him warily when he kneeled besides her and put the branches in the fire place. She hoped that he let everything that was living in this forsaken forest where it was and didn´t think he could bring something with him, just to scare her. That would fit him. Just as Rath wanted to set the branches on fire, Marianna remembered the kaffeln and quickly snatched two of twigs away. After she received a raised eyebrow she pointed at their meal. While Rath could finally make a fire, Marianna stuck the kaffeln on the branches.
After they stuffed their bellies and were sated, both were still sitting around the fire and watched how the flames danced in the light breeze. The suns were long gone now and the night was a bit chilly, but not cold. The silence which was surrounding them was not uncomfortable. They were just too lazy to talk and too awake to sleep. But then Marianna stood up and went to her backpack.
" What are you doing?", Rath wouldn´t have minded to just sit there a little bit longer and enjoy the quiet.
" I want to know what´s standing in this book", Marianna finally pulled it out of her backpack and threw it on the ground. Shortly after that she laid herself with her belly down on her sleepingbag. She took the book and opened the first page.
Rath wouldn´t say it loud, but he was curious as well. Therefore he put himself beside Marianna. " And what´s standing in there?".
She was browsing through the whole book. But everywhere was the same. " Absolutley nothing. The pages are empty".
Rath couldn´t believe that. But when he saw that the pages where indeed blank he was a bit confused. Why did they have to go to this mission, if the treasure they had to retrieve was just nothing more than a book with blank leafs? That made no sense at all. " Maybe it´s a diary?".
" No. A diary has a lock on the outside", Marianna didn´t possess that, but she saw that Vilandra and Ava had one of it. She would never entrust her deepest and darkest thoughts in a book. She would probably be to scared that someone might find it.
" Alright. Then it´s really a piece of crap", Rath took the book out of Marianna´s hands and threw it on his sleepingbag. They didn´t need it, if it didn´t give them any information.
Marianna rolled on her back and starred at the sky above. She was a little dissapointed about the book. Ok she knew that nothing really interesting would be standing in there. But nothing at all. That was simply whacked. Why should they find it then? Definitely not because it was important, that was for sure. She turned her head to Rath to ask him what he was thinking about all this, when she noticed that he watched her with a strange expression on his face.
" What are you looking at? Do I have something in my face?".
Rath stretched his right arm out and touched her face softly. At first he caressed her cheek and then he stroked her hair out of her face. " No. I just notice how beautiful you look in the moonlight"
" The light must be shining on my good side then", Marianna was slightly nervous. Never did someone look at her like that. With so much longing and desire. And Rath could probably see it mirroring in her own eyes.
Rath smiled at her. He wanted to take her nervousness and give her the feeling that he wouldn´t hurt her. " I want to kiss you so bad right now".
" Who´s stopping you? It´s not me", Marianna wanted it as bad as Rath, if not more. She was finally ready to do what they both wanted for a long time now.
Without a word Rath slowly bend down until his lips touched hers. For a few seconds he waited, that was actually always the moment he woke up and detect that everything was just a dream. But when he realized that Marianna was still there he enveloped her face with his hands and fully kissed her. At first they went slow, but when Marianna opened her mouth and let his tongue enter Rath couldn´t detain himself any longer. He let all the passion that was building since he knew her flow into this kiss. It was rough and yet still gentle, powerful but not painful. It was just everything. Slowly Rath kissed his way to her throat. When he hit a really sensitive spot right under her left ear, Marianna moaned extremely loud. Encouraged through the noise Rath softly bit the spot, but not to much to draw blood, just enough to let her feel it. Meanwhile Marianna´s hands found their way to Rath´s neck. Carefully she tried to caress him, but when he bit her she almost lost it and unfortunaly for him she was digging her fingernails in his flesh. However he seemed to like it. At least she thought so after the strange grunt he made. She was just in the process to let her right hand trail down his back, when she felt Rath´s hand was making his way under her shirt and he started to stroke her left breast tenderly. Now she was thankfully that she didn´t wear something underneath her clothes. The sensation that broke out in her whole body was unbelievable. She never felt so lightheaded and open like now. Oh shit. She died probably and this all was just an imagination.
" I want to feel you. All of you", Rath whispered in her ear. He wanted her to know that they wouldn´t do anything she didn´t want.
Marianna wanted to scream that he should do whatever he wanted. But she was too far gone to utter a complete sentence. " Me too".
That was all Rath needed. With trained skills he took her shirt and her tanktop off and threw them away. He didn´t care if they got dirty or not. All that mattered right now was just Marianna and her absolutely stunning body, which was laying there for him to take. He almost destroyed his shirt with his effort to get rid of his shirt and his tanktop. After that he laid himself on her. He propped himself on his hands, so that he didn´t crush Marianna under him. She was looking with so much lust in her eyes at him, that he was on the brink to lose everything in his trousers. Strange she didn´t even touch him in any way. He watched as her tongue came out of her mouth and wet her lips. Judging after the little twinkle in her eyes, she knew what she was doing. Slowly her hand snaked over his chest to his belly until it dissapeared in his trousers. With ease she took his manhood and caressed it.
" I hope that´s not your weapon", Marianna breathed out. Her nervousness was almost gone. Now she was in the mood to play.
" I don´t know. Maybe you should check it. Just to be safe", Rath wanted to see if she would do it. Besides he wanted out of his pants or he would make them dirty. Her hand was softly stroking up and down his shaft and it was hard for him to restrain himself.
" That´s a brilliant idea", Marianna beamed at him. Quickly she rolled them around that she was on top of Rath. Now she had better access to his pants. And she had the control.
Teasingly she let herself slide from his body until her face was hovering over his crotch. Even from there she could smell his lust and it was arousing. She opened his belt from his trousers in slow motion and made sure that she came often in contact with his penis that was captured behind the zipper. When she came to the pants she had enough from all the teasing and with one swift move she used her powers to let it dissapear, together with his underwear. Now that´s what she called to use her power properly.
" Eager, are we?", Rath didn´t have anything against it. He waited too long already to come to this stage in their relationship. If it would have gone after his mind, they would have had sex a long time ago. But he was glad that they waited, because now it meant something.
" I can go slower if you want", Marianna threw a glance at his cock. He was standing proud in the air, waiting for action. " But I don´t think you can hold out any longer".
" Do what you want. You´re in control now", and that was big for him. After all he didn´t give up his control for anybody. But with Marianna he wasn´t scared or insecure.
Marianna eyes were lighting up at that. " I´m in control? I like it", that was the last words that were spoken between them. Without a word Marianna ripped her remaining clothes off of her body and pounced on him. It was wild, it was pure lust and it felt groundshattering. They didn´t care that it was cold, because the heat they shared was warming them, or that they were in the open, where anybody could see them. The only thing that mattered where their bodies who craved after another. A few hours and two explosive orgasm later Marianna and Rath were lying side by side in the sleepingbag. Her head was resting on his chest and Rath was softly stroking her arm. Both were played out, but satisfied.
" Are you alright?", Rath was a little concerned, because he wasn´t exactly tender to her. Ok she wasn´t, too , but he was a guy he could stand it.
Marianna turned his head so that she could look him in the eyes. She knew why he was asking that. But she wasn´t made out of glas. " Yes. More than alright actually".
" Good to know", Rath yawned really loud. " I don´t want to be a jerk, but you tired me out".
Marianna felt really sleepy, too. " Yeah. We should probably sleep now. We had a long day".
Rath bend his head and gave Marianna a kiss on her temple. " Good night".
" Good night. Sleep tight", Marianna closed her eyes and made herself comfortable on Rath chest. It was rather a pretty comfy place to lay your head on. And she could listen to his heartbeat. It was the most beautiful sound she heared.
Rath smiled at the back of Mariannas head. This was how he always wanted to go to sleep. Without worry and his lover in his arms. " I love you". With that Rath closed his eyes.
Marianna opened her eyes for a moment. He said it again. And the urge to tell him the same was there, too. But she couldn´t. Not yet al least. " I love you, too", she whispered really quite so she was the only one who could hear it.