4- Reconciliation

She was going out from the High Lord's residence, still a bit taken aback by what had just happened, and the decision she had made, which made her her guardian's fiancée. She didn't know exactly how that could be possible, but the High Lord – Akkarin, she repeated to herself – had told her not to worry. , that he was going to talk to Lorlen as soon as possible, and that she should say nothing of it for the moment. The last point was quite obvious, since Sonea knew well that intimate relationship between guardians and novices was absolutely forbidden. However, she could not even begin to imagine how she could tell such a thing to – to who, by the way? Here was no one to tell. Except for Rothen… And she would have to tell him someday. That would be the hardest part of it, she thought.

She began doubting it when she saw Dorrien coming straight for her through the garden. 'Dorrien. Great.'

He, too, didn't seem very pleased to see her, though he didn't change direction. But perhaps it was what he was seeing in her that displeased him, not her. She would have preferred the other way though, and that he would leave her alone.

He didn't.

"I hope you slept well, Sonea. Do you enjoy the morning? You look radiant." In spite of his cordial words, his tone voice was icy. Sonea wondered. Did she look radiant? Well, she might truly be.

"I slept well, and I would think it a shame not to enjoy such nice weather. I'm sorry Dorrien, but I'm headed towards the university. I have some classes to attend."

"You still have half an hour before the first bell ringing. More than enough to tell me what I wanna know."

"And what do you want to know?" she asked with a weary and wary voice.

"As if you didn't know!" He hissed. He grew grimmer and gazed into her eyes. "If you force me to tell it, I'll do it. I want to know if the High Lord proposed to you again this morning, and what you answered him if he did. And you know what? I'm sure he did." That was said with such distaste in the voice, that Sonea forgot all her resolutions about not to fighting with him She could barely stop herself for slapping him. Instead she said, harshly:

"It's none of your concern!"

Dorrien said nothing at first, too flabbergasted to speak. Eventually, he recovers enough of his mind to explode: "None of my concern? None of my concern? Of course it is my concern! It should be the while Guild's concern, if his High Lord marries his own no – " Sonea's hand on his mouth stopped him from saying more.

"Will you please shut up? Sonea hissed. "Do you really have to yell it in a place like this?"

Dorrien calmly removed the young woman's hand.

"I just wanted to make sure, since you wouldn't answer. So he did ask?" Seeing that Sonea wasn't replying, he added: "And you said "Yes"?"

At this, Sonea straightened and looker at him defiantly.

"I did. And you better not to tell anyone about this, if you don't want me to chop your head off."

"Do you really think I could ever tell something like that to Father? But Hell, Sonea, how could you have done that?" He didn't sound angry anymore, but so disappointed, that Sonea looked down at her shoes.

"Listen Dorrien, I… I don't know. I think… you know, I think I just wanted that very much. I didn't want to tell him "No", and I wanted to tell him "Yes". I did, and I don't intend on regretting it." She paused, then asked, hesitantly: "Dorrien, can I ask you something?"

"Of course you can".

She breathed deeply, and then took the plunge. "Did I really look radiant, earlier?"

He stared at her, a bit surprised by her question. Under his stare, Sonea felt herself blush and hastily said: "It was nothing, just forget it –"

"You did. You may not have realized it, but you were smiling from one ear to another. It makes you look even prettier than the usual."

She blushed more, making him chuckle. Then he returned to being serious.

"Do you love him?"

Taken aback, Sonea raised her head in an abrupt move. She hadn't been expecting that. She looked away and felt her cheeks becoming hot. "Err… I… Well…"

"I supposed that's another "Yes"."

She brought her eyes back to him. The anger seemed to have given the place to… sadness. Somehow, she felt guilty for having made him sad, but on the other hand, she couldn't help being happy and a bit dizzy by what she just found out.

"I suppose it is." She was in love with Akkarin, her guardian and the High Lord of the Guild, a black Magician, and the most powerful man in the Allied Lands. Where would this fact lead her – lead them – , she couldn't guess, and right now it didn't matter. She loved Akkarin.

Dorrien had surely seen that she was lost in her thought, because he didn't say anything when she looked back at him, and only to say: "Weren't you heading to the University? You're going to be late. Off you go!"

She smiled gently at him. "Thank you Dorrien. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. But you better be gentle when you tell Father. He's growing old, and his heart has to be handled carefully."

"I know. I will." She replied, despite the knock she felt was forming in her stomach. Rothen was definitely going to be the hardest point.

Ok guys, so that's the result of my ceiling-staring. Did you enjoy it? The following chapters should come out faster, I just have to motivate myself to tap it.

A big thank you to my beta-reader HeadlessHedwig, I'll count on you for the next ones too =)