Just as the pleasure of a woman's company was not foreign to Luke, so was a man's company not foreign to Rhiane. She had her own dalliances back in the village though with far less social games than the crown prince obviously enjoyed. Matters there were extraordinarily straight-forward. A drink would be shared, comments would be made about one another's physique, and after a brief period of flirting things would escalate quickly to intercourse. They'd romp one or twice before amicably and unceremoniously parting ways. Truth be told she had never dated or had want to do so. Life on the farm was complicated enough without the worries of a relationship to add another layer of complexity.

For these reasons she didn't need to question a man's intentions with her often. The two she spent the most time with were relatives but many men in the village were married or otherwise attached. Of those she interacted with that were bachelors she was always clear that she was emphatically disinterested in a relationship and they had either respected that or found themselves dealing with her surly brother Gerald instead of her. There had never been anyone like Tobias in her life. Sebastian and she were close but he was not attracted to her gender and in love with her sibling. The next most similar situation was a single farmer named Henry who had sought her advice over the years pursuing ladies with which she was familiar with and he had a difficult time relating to in conversation.

"I don't believe you," she said stubbornly. Until she had absolute evidence that Tobias wasn't satisfied with being her friend she was reluctant to refuse his company. Rhiane remained unconvinced that Luke was not just projecting his own bias onto his cousin. The heir to the throne might not be able to keep things platonic with a woman but that did not mean that every other male suffered the same predilection. "Lia and Octavia look down at me because of my birth. I can speak just as well with a man as a woman- either there's no secret language or I lost my chance to learn it growing up when my mother passed away. There's nothing about me they have any desire to understand," she insisted. It wasn't completely wrong. The noblewomen were professional and polite, but none of the staff had forgotten the princess elect was a commoner, and she had not yet built a strong enough rapport with any of them that they could be considered more than slight fond. It was still the queen's palace and so her prejudices trickled down to the lowest servant of the royalty. That Tobias was immune was the exception rather than the rule.

The slowing of his breath indicated that Luke was no longer awake enough to argue. She let out a sigh of relief that she had avoided being drawn into his arms more than their current embrace. As carefully as she was able she laid down with him still holding onto her. Laying on his back would have been the most comfortable position for him, but it was not tenable so long as he kept his grip around her waist, and so she laid on her side with her fiance behind her. Her own ailment meant she had to sleep on her right side instead of her left. Looking back she would laugh at how ridiculous they were; even sleeping had become unnecessarily complicated. Rhaine had thought once they were under the covers with their heads on the pillows he would be less distracting. For nearly half an hour she listened to his rhythmic breathing, felt the warmth of his exhale on her neck, and felt the comforting pressure of his arms on her midsection.

Almost an hour had passed before she succumbed to the land of dreams. During their short time together Luke had come to know that she slept very deeply and was hard to rouse. Unfortunately she did not have this benefit that night. Nightmares plagued her in constant, merciless cycles. Some merely replayed what she had seen while others had changes that made her role in the events more heinous than was the reality. Had it not been for the soothing presence seeping into her unconscious mind she might have awoken a dozen times over. As it was she would twitch or jerk lightly, Luke would instinctively hug her more firmly in response, and the visions would dissipate into nothingness for a time of restful repose.

Four times over the course of the night, however, she did start to emerge from slumber. The first she had murmured the word, 'No' in distress over and over. Luke had mumbled something about it not being morning into her hair, jolting her into the realization it had been a mere nightmare, and helping her quickly fall back to sleep. The second and third times she had made a noise in her throat that sounded like a strangled whimper and squirmed in his grasp, reacting to an advancing assassin of her imagination, but had been coaxed to relax when her betrothed sighed and squeezed her fingers. The last had been only a couple hours before dawn and been the worst, her voice struggling to voice apologies to the phantoms of her mind, but she had calmed when she heard a voice she recognized as Luke's whispering in to her ear. The words had been unintelligible under her distress and exhaustion, not because he had been incoherent, but because she was half under by the third syllable.

As morning finally broke Rhiane was still soundly asleep. Her hair, which had been braided by the nurses the day before, had come completely undone and was loosely tangled. Small bags were under her eyes but they were no worse than what anyone might have expected given the circumstances; make-up would easily cover the discoloration. Yesterday she had spent more of the day in a bed or chair unconscious than any other, but the interruptions caused by nightmares had left her with a lingering fatigue, much like when an ill patient would struggle with a persistent cough in the evening. Dr. Gulsvig and Dr. Romanelli had advised her to take some sort of medication that would guarantee a REM cycle without detrimental disruptions but she had predictably refused. The princess elected was entangled, latched onto Luke as he was her, not releasing her solitary lifeline from the darkness.