#Chapter 106: More important matters

Fiona We stayed up late Thursday playing. I was already sleep deprived from several days of staying up late working, because Friday was the first day of Conrad’s leave. The first day I’d be leading the morning meeting in his place. I was, in fact, fully prepared for the meeting by the time I returned to the palace Thursday night. Conrad had been prepping me for days. I’d finished all my required reading. But if left to my own devices, I surely would have stayed up late worrying about it and spinning my wheels over-rehearsing. So Alexander’s little stunt with the candles and such was very well-timed. I needed to be forced to take a break. And spending the night soaking up his energy was the best thing I could have done with all that tension and anxiety I had thrumming inside me. But still I found myself wishing, when my three a.m. alarm went off, that maybe we had called it a night a little earlier. Alexander had left me feeling good, yes. But days upon days of sleep deprivati