Chapitre 444: I'm not seeking isolation, I'm seeking solace

There was a long pause.

"...May I join you?" Lyov ventured, smiling faintly as he looked down at her, all swathed in blankets and cocooned in bed as she was.

He was still in the doorway, hesitant to enter fully without an invitation.

Isabelle could hear the longing in his voice.

She couldn't have turned him away then if she tried.

She certainly didn't want to, in any case.

"Of course," She breathed out. "I would never turn you away."

There was a smile from Lyov. "Thank you." He took the few steps forward into the bedchamber. "I just didn't want to bother you if you wanted to be alone for a while."

"I wasn't intending to be alone," She assured him, raising the blanket beside her head with one arm. "I was planning to let Snowball sleep for a while. He's been so stressed..."

Snowball let out a quiet chirrup from his place on the pillow next to her, the only part of him visible under the pile of blankets on top of him.