Two Hearts, One Journey

The room was dark. The only light seemed to be the thunder outside and a single candle, flickering on the nightstand. Daniel looked up at the ceiling. His head was still swimming from the drink and he was having trouble focusing his eyes. He turned over and tried to blink away the blurriness. "Rose?" he whispered into the darkness.

"I'm here," she replied as she put on another log on the fire. She sat down next to him on the bed and wiped his brow with a damp cloth. "How are you feeling?"

"Not so good," he groaned, turning onto his side to face her. "That bastard."

"Shhhh!" Rose warned, putting a finger to her lips. "Don't say that in front of Enzo. He might hear you."

Daniel looked at her, confused. "What? Why?"

"He's my brother." She leaned in closer, whispering now. "And he'll marry me off soon."

The realization hit Daniel like a ton of bricks. He sat up suddenly and winced as his stomach protested violently against his sudden movement. He felt dizzy and had to lean back against the headboard for support. Rose quickly put an arm around him, fearing that he might pass out again if he fell over sideways on the bed. She felt him grow more alert by the second and eventually felt him lean back against her shoulder to steady himself once more.

She smiled at him fondly and brushed his hair away from his forehead with a gentle hand before she kissed it softly.

A flash of lightening lit up the room in a blinding white-blue glare, followed shortly by a deafening crack of thunder right above their heads that made both of them jump in surprise. The fire on the hearth danced merrily in response to the violent weather outside and painted dark shadows across every wall of their small cottage home on the outskirts of town. When they were able to look back at each other again, Daniel turned towards Rose with a serious expression on his face and said: "Let's run away together."