Her hand was shaking, causing her to smudge her writing every time she took quill to parchment. For what must have been the hundredth time, she took the soiled piece of parchment and crumpled it up, tossing it into the fire with a frustrated huff. Distantly, she felt fingers stroking across the back of her free hand, heard a familiar voice murmuring, "are you sure you don't want me to do it, Cass?" She shook her head and simply sighed again, pressing her head back into the loveseat she shared with her companion a little harder than was necessary. He gripped her hand a little more firmly and brushed her hair from where it had fallen across her face in her anguish, tucking it securely behind her ear instead. His hand curled around her jaw and turned her to face him, where she met his grey eyes with her cerulean ones. "Really," he insisted, "I'll do it. She won't know the difference."

Cassie shook her head again and leaned into his tender touch. "She'll know, Julian," she said. "Even if I dictated it to you, she'd realize it's not my handwriting."

Another sigh, and she sat up straight, summoning another piece of parchment from her bag. Julian's arm wound around her shoulders and she settled against his side, but kept her focus on the letter. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to get the words right even if she could write properly. In the back of her head, she could hear her father's voice so clearly she began to second guess whether it was a good idea to write the letter in the first place. He's too old for you, you're too young to be dating anyway, you barely know him, you deserve so much better, if he hurts you I'll-

Cassie snapped herself out of it before she heard any more. Newfound determination spurring her on, she bent her head and began to write, her sloping calligraphy coming out a little sloppier than usual due to the speed she found herself writing with. He has to find out sometime, she thought. If you keep it a secret any longer he'll only be more upset.

Since Julian had wooed her three months previous, she had tried to keep their relationship under wraps. As it was, when she'd told her mother (and begged her not to tell her father), she'd understated how serious they had become; as far as Narcissa knew, Cassie and Julian had only just met, and were in the beginning stages of romance. Cassie knew she had been only digging her own grave when she downplayed their relationship, but how could she confess how quickly they'd progressed to her mother, when she hadn't even revealed the pairing to her father?

She finished the letter fairly quickly and set her quill aside, eyes moving quickly across the parchment as she read and reread it. After a moment or two, she offered it to Julian for his approval. He continued to stroke her skin soothingly even as he read, then nodded, a smile curling his lips.

"It's perfect, love," he said, and briefly pressed his lips to her temple. "Simple, and to the point. Are you going to send it tonight?"

Cassie took the letter back and read it again, her hands beginning to shake once more as anxiety crept up her spine. What if they rejected him? What if they forbade her to see him? What if they-

"Cassie?"

Julian's voice cut through the one in her own mind and she looked up at him, offering him a weak smile.

"Sorry," she muttered, and nodded. "Yes. I'll send it now." He squeezed her hand once more as she stood, but she tugged him to his feet with her. "Come with me. And then let's go to bed." They left for the Owlery together, Cassie pressed against his side, nerves coursing through her like electricity.