~Aria ~
The night is heavy with silence. No guards loiter in the corridor outside, no footsteps echo against the stone. Just the stillness of a castle holding its breath.
Kael hasn’t told me to stay, but he hasn’t dismissed me either. And somehow, that’s enough to keep me here, sitting across from him in the war chamber. Flames lick at the edges of the room, scattering light across maps spread wide across the table. Wolves and crowns carved from ivory mark territories, battles, futures.But he doesn’t look at them.
His scarred hands rest against the wood, steady but tense, as if holding back something that wants to break free. He looks less like a ruler and more like a predator caught between strikes.
I should leave. Every instinct screams at me to put space between us. But something a
