Despite feeling comfortably drowsy, Evelyn was still alert enough to notice Lenora stiffen at her request to climb into her bed. She couldn’t help but smirk a little at that, wondering if she would try to make up some excuse to go back to her own room. But to her delight, the girl moved reluctantly toward the bed and began taking off her shoes. Evelyn watched her with heavy eyelids, looking pleased at her obedience. 

[i]"Lady, is this proper?"[/i]

The mistress laughed as she slid over just a bit to make room for her. The mattress sunk a little with the girl’s added weight. “I don’t care if it is or isn’t,” she said indifferently, “It’s not like anybody will know anyways. Unless [i]you[/i] tell them. But you won’t.” She said this with cool, calm authority as if she thought Lenora was incapable of disobeying her. She was lying on her side now, her icy blue eyes looking content and curious at the same time. When Lenora sighed at the softness of the pillows, she laughed again and quirked an eyebrow. 

“More comfortable than the bed upstairs I take it?” She thought that there was something rather adorable in the way the girl settled into the bed, as if the poor thing had never experienced anything like it. [i]She probably hasn’t.[/i] It should have been an obvious thought, but Evelyn was so used to these comforts that she had a hard time imagining having to go without them. “Exquisitely soft, aren’t they?” she murmured, stroking the surface of the Lenora’s pillow with her hand and brushing the other girl’s hair ever so slightly with her fingertips in the process. She nestled herself closer to her maid, very much aware and amused at how stiffly the younger girl lay next to her. She let her knee “accidently” brush her thigh as she inched closer still, until her head came to rest on the same pillow. “The silk is from China and feathers from India,” she whispered, close enough that her breath could tickle Lenora’s ear. “What do you think? Are they to your liking?” There was something slightly mocking in her tone, though it was soft and smooth.

Evelyn drew the covers higher above both of them and snuggled closer to Lenora until her body was flush with hers. “This is [i]much[/i] more comfortable,” she sighed, closing her eyes. The ends of her hair were touching the other girl’s cheek. “I’m much warmer now.” Her voice was steadily getting drowsier and distant. “You had better not…not kick…in your sleep or I’ll push…push you out of the bed…” She yawned and mumbled something that sounded vaguely like “And don’t leave,” before her breathing became regular and even and her expression soft and peaceful.