The fact that she refused to give him a chance , to listen stung more than her asking him to leave did. Whether he deserved it or not, Laighean felt the profound sting of her rejection and found the weight of that pain and guilt more difficult to bear than he imagined. He'd heard people speak of feelings like this and how devastating it could be to one's mind as well as the heart, but he'd never experienced it in-spite of all the women he'd fooled with. He'd cared about all of them , but never let himself become attatched to the idea of any of them...
and then there was Aella and...well, his thoughts and feelings were a mess.
He found his voice again around the tight lump in his throat and nodded, his voice quieter and joyless. Not like Laighean at all. "Yer tired and it's late. Ah- ah'll see ye another day , ah s'ppose." Maybe, maybe not. He turned to leave but paused and turned around and moved over to her bed. He leaned over her and placed something on her pillow, "Ah'm so sorry. Ah 'ope ye kin find it in yer 'eart t' fergive me." He said softly and ,turning, he left her room the way he'd come. And the object he'd left on her pillow was a rose made of ice.
~
What he wasn't expecting were the guards waiting for him right outside Aella's window below under the tree. "Aha! There he is!" One of the guards spotted him an pointed at the descending ghost and by the time Laighean noticed the man, he was close enough to get caught in the light of another guard's torch as he rasied it. The light broke the curse and Laighean fell several feet, landing on his back in the middle of the ring of waiting guardsmen. "Ohhh..me back."
"I don't need to explain why we're arresting you again, mage." The lead guard sneered at Laighean as he and his men seized him and forced him to his feet . Laighean said nothing and offered no resistance as his arms were twisted behind his back and he was led away in chains for the second time that night.
~
And he found himself back snugly in his dirty, cold cell once again. The crabby old inmate next door was snickering, "I knew you would be back. No one escapes!"
Laighean didn't seem to hear nor care about the old man or the guards taunting him. He took a seat on the floor quietly and sighed. He thought of Aella, lowered his head and buried his face in his hands.
((A rose which will probably melt on her pillow and make it all wet. Serves her right! Bwahahaha!))