Mark kept his eyes closed, not because he was sleepy, but because he had decided it was preferable to pretend to be asleep rather than break the quiet that had settled over the bed.
'If I stay still long enough, maybe neither of them will notice I'm awake,' Mark thought.
But his plan didn't work, because at that very moment, Mark felt the two weights on his shoulders shift slightly at the same time.
First Ely, then Aria.
"…Master?"
"…Master, are you awake?"
Mark let out a very small sigh through his nose.
"No," he replied without opening his eyes.
"He's awake!"
"MASTERRRRR!"
And in under a second, the two weights on his shoulders disappeared, replaced by two considerably more enthusiastic weights on his chest.
Mark finally opened his eyes, more out of survival instinct than anything else, and found Ely and Aria's faces centimeters from his.
Ely had her white hair falling over her right shoulder, and her blue eyes were shining in an almost dangerous way.
