It didn't take Gareth much to fall into sleep, he was heavily intoxicated which helped it along simply. He wished Tatiana stayed with him in the bed but it wasn't his decision, although in most marriages it would be. He fell asleep with a small smile on his face, finally things were falling into place for him.

--

Gavin couldn't sleep, it had become a bad habit in the past couple of weeks when his father grew ill. That meant he could come into power very soon, and he couldn't let anyone get in the way of that. His nights were filled with nightmares of what his life might be like in the years to come if he didn't achieve power. Gavin would wake up in a cold sweat, his heart beating quickly and his breath short.

Tonight was even worse, now that his brother Gareth and his chosen fiance were getting along well there was more competition for the throne. He had placed his bets on his brothers negative demeanour, but for some reason this girl had been different for him.

Gavin had always been the one to want the power more, he was the well behaved one, the favourite. He was always the smartest of the two, often studying in the library, and practicing his hardest when it came to training. To him he was the better looking and most sociable one, he deserved this more than anyone.

On this night he made his way to the library, reading a book seemed to calm his nerves at such an hour. He held a candle in his hand as he entered quietly, no one else was up at this time. He didn't even notice Tatiana by the window, instead he moved to the bookshelf letting his fingers trail across it, landing on the book he had in mind. He pulled it from its dusty holding and blew off the dirt as he rubbed the cover.

Tatiana leaned her head back, resting her eyes for a moment. She heard the door open and the very familiar sound of footsteps. Her instincts took over as she stood up quickly. She grabbed the book before it fell onto the ground startling the other person. She gently sat the book on the sill and moved her hair from her face. Who else was up this late?

Tatiana peeked around the corner and quickly place her hand over her mouth, covering a soft gasp. Gavin. She quickly settled down and picked through plans. If he had not seen her yet she could use it her advantage but if even if he did say something no one would believe her.It hit hard like a bag full of rocks. First she needed wine, lots of wine. If it had worked to easily on Gareth, it had to work on his twin. She paused, hiding behind a book shelf. She took a few deep breaths before walking up behind him.

She crossed her arms and erased all emotion from her face. "What are you doing?" She asked, her voice soft and quiet but bitter and oozing with venom.

Gavin on the inside was startled by the voice but chose to not show it, he held his tongue racking his mind who it must be, then the bitterness in her voice let him know it was Tatiana. "Shouldn't I ask you that question since you are a guest in my castle..." his tone was smooth as he didn't bother to turn around to face her. He still kept his eyes on the book he held in his hands, with a small smile on his face, this night just became more interesting.

"Your castle? I'm sure your father would love to hear about that." She snapped. She was becoming rather annoyed with him. As far as she was concerned the castle still belonged to their father. She realized it may have been a mistake even speaking to him. Tatiana tried to ignore the growing tiredness and focus on her plan. "Can I get you a drink? You look a bit parched." She said, uncrossing her arms.

Gavin had to roll his eyes as he turned to her, "No, I am not that proud if you must know... its my families castle, and that is what I meant." this girl was vicious towards him, and he supposed Gareth hadn't said too many nice things about him, part of him was hurt because deep down he wasn't that bad, he just needed to have his guard up all the time, and with his father there was no such thing as failing.

He let out a small laugh at her offer, "Am I supposed to take that as kindness? Knowing your character you might just poison it." Not realizing where Tatiana sat originally he moved to the window and sat in the very spot she had just before. This was unintentional as it was his favourite spot to read this late at night.

She swallowed. "I don't poison but now that you mentioned it I guess I'll keep that in mind." She watched him move over to the spot she had just been minutes ago. She sighed and turned to face him. "Why do you want the kingdom so much?" She asked. Tatiana was surprised by how hard it was to get information out of him. Especially when his twin was easy to get drunk. Her cheeks redden from the thought.

Maybe she would just go check on him. Just to make sure he wasn't sick or anything. Or maybe it was just because she wanted another kiss...or two. She shivered and tried to forget the days events. She glared at the man in front of her and wondered what had happened between the two of them.

Gavin shot her a familiar charming smile that could have been easily upon Gareth's lips. The girl caught on quick, and was sharp, which he found admirable. "It's not so much a want... as a need," he said firmly as he flipped through the pages of the book, his eyes averted to the simple quiet world outside.

"Has my brother not told you of our circumstances if we do not gain power?" Gavin was sure the two of them had discussed this, it was inevitable. Gavin just like Gareth was not ready to take over a property that was under dispute. Not that he wasn't strong enough to do so, but deep down he feared that his future may be a short one.

Tatiana played along. "No he has not. Would you like to explain?" She leaned against the closet book shelve. To her didn't matter who won the title of king. Tatiana wanted to married now. To claim Gareth as her's and of course get in trouble. If he wasn't going to fall for a drink then maybe he would answer her questions this way. He seemed willing to tell her about what would happen after the winner was announced.

"There's another piece of land our family owns, far away from here..." he said softly, this was as sincere as Gavin had been. At times he grew tired of holding up such a harsh disposition, this may confuse others and take his honesty for false but he felt like he'd be retelling what Gareth had described. "It's always surrounded by war, and is often fought over, our family constantly needs to defend it..."

He sighed wishing that every day could be as simple as the night portrayed, it was silent, and serene. "It's a continuous battle for your own life, and others... I don't wish it upon anyone to have to hear the terror in the night of woman and children being harmed... or seeing the carnage of men brought back to be buried."

"Then why not do something about it?" She asked. Her eyes felt heavy but there too many questions to ask, too many things she wanted to know. Tatiana was trying to weed out the most important ones first. "Why are you and your brother so against each other? That portrait I saw you were both smiling and looked so happy." She said quickly. She stood up straight and was getting ready to leave.

Gavin rose an eyebrow at her, "We were young then, and we hadn't seen or experienced the worst yet..." the twins had gone through a lot of turmoil throughout their life, and that portrait was painted before they were considered men. "When we were old enough our father turned us against each other constantly... and if you didn't turn out to be the better... well it wasn't pretty." Gavin didn't want to go through the details.

It was worse enough having to go through beatings, and whipping for bad behaviour, but even when you tried your best and it wasn't good enough you were punished. Gavin would try his hardest and there was often a time he would win, at which his father would make him watch Gareth go through his punishment without lending him a hand. Eventually it had split the two apart, to Gavin he was only protecting himself, but with that his brother was in pain, this was a lesson his father said they must learn to become king one day.

Gavin had become bitter to the whole family, and most of his feelings were underneath while on the outside he became the brother Gareth believed him to be.

"It must have been hard being twins and all. I do understand to some content." She said. She turned her head, letting her hair shield her frowning face. She paled thinking about what type of things they had gone through. IT must have been awful to have your own brother being told to fight against you. She eyed him, trying to figure out if he was truly upset over it.

"I suppose that the best man will win. But do promise me or maybe promise yourself that after whoever wins...be the best brother you can be. Winner or not. I'm sure your brother misses those old times back when that portrait happened." She said and with that left the room to retire for the night.

Gavin wanted to follow after her and tell her she was wrong, that Gareth would never forgive him and no only that but he wouldn't be anything but happy to beat him and watch him suffer for once. It was the horribleness of their situation that even people that appeared good had bad intentions. He shook the feeling of hurt off of him, he didn't have to seek approval from his brothers wife to be, she would be insignificant in his life to come. He settled down for the night in the spot by the window as he opened his book.

Tatiana stood behind her closed door, looking at the floor with tears threatening to spill over. She felt bad for the both of them, having to deal with everything their father had them do. She took a deep breath and lay down, not even bother to change out of her gown. She felt too emotionally drained to deal with her clothing. She had fallen asleep but woke up once from a nightmare.

Tatiana changed into her nightgown and crawled under the blankets, watching the window until she finally fell asleep again. By this time the sun was starting to rise up and lighten up the sky, crowning it morning. She lay curled in her bed, dreaming dreams she would not remember upon waking up.

Gareth woke up with a large throbbing headache, this was the first he had in a long time. He pulled himself out of bed, and looked in the mirror to see he was still fully clothed which wasn't typical, he couldn't really remember what happened either. After stumbling around for sometime he made it down the stairs, he was in need of water, and a lot of of it. He stood over the basin of water, but instead of drinking it he lifted some in his hands and let it wash over his face.

Tatiana had sleep uneasy. She woke many times having weird dreams about just about anything that her mind could make up. She had only two full hours of sleep and now lay in bed, staring lazily at the window. She had watched the sky get dark to light and was rather bored. Her body ached to sleep but her mind would not rest. She moved her covers up to her chin and snuggled into the warm bed. She snapped her eyes shut.

(sorry for being so slow lately I just started school again)

After some much needed refreshment Gareth noticed that Tatiana hadn't yet awoken, it was now nearing the late morning. A thought crossed his mind of her being nearly as intoxicated as he was, but he wasn't certain. He played with the idea of waking her up and wondered if she would be mad, deciding it was better that they didn't waste the whole day he slowly walked up the stairs towards her chambers.

When he peeked through the door he found a lump in the bed, clearly she covered herself fully, this put a small smile on his face as he approached the bed. He knelt next to the bed and lifted the blanket to see if she was still fast asleep.

Tatiana felt the cold breeze rush under the blanket to her body. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her. Her curled hair fell over her face, shielding it from him. She was dreaming that she was back home, before they had moved in with her father's second wife. Back when she was free to escape into the forest and read in the barn without being bothered for hours. Even through she wanted to stay there in her dreams one face kept popping into her mind.

That person meant more to her then reliving her silly childhood. She still could roam freely and she had a whole room full of all sorts of books and she had him. That was good enough. She opened her eyes and watched Gareth from behind her hair. She made no move to show that she was awake but rested and watched him watch her.

-That's ok.-

Gareth's smile grew wider as he saw what she looked like underneath, not only was she in a nice night gown but she looked quite adorable with her hair all over the place. He wondered what she was dreaming as he watched her lay still, he couldn't help himself, he let his hand trail up her arm to her face where he began to brush a little hair aside thinking it wouldn't wake her so suddenly.

Her skin became hot upon his touch on her arm. She moved her hair back and smiled at him. "Is there something you need so early?" She reached out and pulled him closer. She gave him a quick peck and sat up. A shiver crept down her spine, causing her to shudder slightly. "What time is it?" She asked, seeing the sun had already risen and was high in the sky.

Gareth smiled as she looked up at him, mirroring his own. "It is not very early..." he said softly before she could pull him into her sweet lips for a small kiss. This didn't satisfy him, but he wouldn't plead her for more. "It is the early afternoon now." He moved from the bed so she could freely move as she wanted, "I can leave you to sleep longer if so wish it?"