Aera finished her lunch and went outside to the garden, walking along the roses. Her head tilted back and she looked up at the sun. It was warm, and being in black didn't help. Wouldn't be long before she'd have to go back inside. Though, as she eyed the clouds in the distance, rain would be coming soon, possibly later in the evening. Kentaro would not be happy, having to ride home locked in a carriage.

Her hand was out at her side, her fingers lightly grazing the red rose petals. As she almost never went out without gloves, she hadn't felt anything in a while, and realized now how much she missed the feel of flowers. 
Her eyes went down and she knelt. At the base of the rose bush nearest the palace wall was a small tuft of moon flowers. Gently, she picked one and held it close. It was closed, the flower sleeping for the day, but just holding it made her feel better. These flowers littered her birth-home. They were the flowers the Raielwen Elves related to, as nocturnal creatures who flourished under the moon.

She dreamed about him last night. About ... it. The dark red blood against the snow that didn't exist. The image that had haunted her dreams for years. Until Rulitus accidentally changed that. Now she could remember the truth, and hated it.
That was when she'd started wearing gloves. When he'd tapped into her mind, he unleashed such fear and anger in her that she had nearly killed him, literally catching him on fire in her confused rage. He would have forgiven her if she hadn't seen what he was hiding. His own secret. 
Burned and scarred, he'd left, and he'd never come back. Until last night. Wheat was his signature. Envy had given him the idea, calling him the Wheat Thief, for his straw colored hair. Aera had told him it was stupid, so Ruli, ever the spiteful thief, took it as his name.

Warm under the sun, Aera turned back toward the palace, putting the sleeping flower behind her ear. Her hand went into her pocket to feel her mother's earrings when she stopped, feeling something else. A note, scribbled on a neat piece of paper. Her name was marked across it in a handwriting she wasn't familiar with. [i]Taris[/i]. She knew immediately. Leaning against the wall, still in the garden, she opened it, her dark eyes reading. 
She re read it. 
And then she read it again.

So he'd taken her off her list. The elf made a face and crumpled the paper in her hand. How kind of him. She stepped into the palace and went to the kitchens, where the fire burned constantly in the fireplace. With a flick of her hand the letter burned. Aera waited until there wasn't a trace of it left before she went back upstairs, headed for the library. 

Taris would have killed her if she had really been pregnant. She grimaced. There was something unnaturally cruel about that, murdering a pregnant woman. Perhaps that was why Taris looked so upset. Maybe he, too, thought it was wrong. Her lips frowned as she realized that couldn't be the case. Envy's words echoed in her head and she pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes. 

[i]Did[/i] she feel something for the Shadow Elf? With a sigh she sat heavily in a chair, still covering her eyes. Her mind going over their kiss. She still didn't know why she'd kissed him, knew she shouldn't have, but, at the same time, she knew it had excited her.

Her ears tingled and she turned her head toward the dark corners of the library, half expecting Taris to step out from them.