My chest tightens enough to make the pain in my heart physical. Dyfri is stupendously courageous. I hate that people underestimate him, even though I can see how useful it is.
“The whole day was a lot,” Dyfri acknowledges, and I can see the exhaustion in his posture now that we’re safely home. All that careful diplomatic manoeuvring, managing personalities and egos and centuries-old grudges, while negotiating the most delicate alliance any of us have ever attempted.
“Well, when you put it like that,” I say, reaching up to touch his hand where it rests on the sofa arm.
“I’m right?”
“Usually.”
“High praise.”
“The highest.”
Dyfri turns his hand to interlock our fingers. His skin is warm, reassuring after hours of navigating conversations where one wrong word could have destroyed everything we’re trying to build.
We stare at each other, and I can feel the intensity building between us like a physical force. After everything we’ve been through today, after watching him navigate impossible conversations and dangerous personalities with such skill and grace, I’m struck again by how remarkable he is.
This brilliant, beautiful man who somehow chose to trust me with his most vulnerable moments. Who let me stand beside him while he convinced a necromancer, a dragon rider, and a terrified portal mage to work with the same government agency that’s been hunting supernatural beings for decades. Who managed to broker an alliance that shouldn’t be possible between groups that have every reason to mistrust each other.
The way Silas had looked at him with grudging respect by the end of their conversation. The careful nods of agreement from Cai and his husbands when Dyfri outlined his plan. Even Jamie’s mother had softened slightly when she saw how gently he’d spoken to Ninian, how he’d understood exactly what reassurances the young man needed to hear.
“You were incredible today,” I say quietly. “The way you handled everyone, found exactly the right approach for each person. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
A faint flush colours Dyfri’s cheeks. “It’s just politics.”
“No, it’s not. It’s empathy. Understanding what people need to feel safe enough to trust.” I squeeze his fingers. “You gave them all exactly what they needed to believe this could work.”
“Wegave them what they needed, together,“ he corrects. “Having you there, seeing that I wasn’t alone in this, that a human was willing to stand with me and vouch for the partnership. That mattered more than you know.”
The warmth in his voice makes something flutter in my chest. “Even when I nearly put my foot in it with that comment about government oversight?”
“Especially then. Your genuine confusion about why they might not trust authority figures was actuallyquite reassuring. It showed them you weren’t trying to manipulate anyone.”
I think back to the moment when I’d bluntly suggested they let Dad’s parliament oversee everything, and the way everyone had gone very still until Dyfri had quietly explained about all the awful things human governments have done to the paranormal community over the years.
“I had no idea,” I admit. “About any of it. I didn’t even know paranormal beings existed. Let alone all the atrocities governments have committed.”
“Most humans don’t. That’s rather the point.” Dyfri’s thumb strokes across my knuckles. “But now you do. And that knowledge makes you dangerous to the people who prefer the status quo.”
“Good,” I say firmly. “The status quo is bollocks.”
His smile is indulgent and teasing. “There’s my revolutionary.”
A silence falls. We are gazing into each other’s eyes. Time is slowing. Gravity is thickening. Heat is growing.
“I need to bathe,” Dyfri says quietly, his dark eyes never leaving mine. There’s something different in his expression now, something smouldering and expectant that makes my pulse quicken.
I nod, not quite trusting my voice.
He stands, moves toward the door, then pauses at the threshold. “Do you wish to join me?”
I’ve never moved so fast in my life. I practically sprint to join him, nearly tripping over my own feet in my eagerness.
Dyfri leads me through the doorway in our flat that I’ve never explored, to a bathroom that takes my breath away. It’s nothing like the practical shower room I’ve been using. This is something from a palace or a luxury spa, allgleaming tiles in shades of green and brown and gold that seem to shift and shimmer in the soft lighting.
The centrepiece is a sunken bath that’s more like a small swimming pool, with marble steps leading down into steaming water that smells faintly of something exotic and wonderful. Jasmine, maybe, or some flower that doesn’t exist in the human world.
Dyfri reaches for the laces of his robes with elegant, practiced movements. One pull, and all the silk tumbles down his body, pooling at his feet in a cascade of midnight fabric.
