Elora’s look turned sharp.“He loves you.”
“I know.”The words were true and still hurt.“I just don’t know where that love is supposed to fit when right now it feels like the safety of the realm takes all of him.”
Elora went quiet, and in that quiet Cassie nearly said it—I’m pregnant.The syllables pressed against her teeth.She wanted to tell her best friend.But she also felt like the father of their child should be the first to know.Cassie swallowed them with the next breath and stared hard at the sunlight on stone until the urge passed.The quiet continued, as if Elora carried just as much turmoil as Cassie did.
Elora broke the silence first, voice low.“Last night, he didn’t argue with me.He just touched me until I forgot why I was mad.And I’m even madder about that.”
Cassie’s mouth curved.“Weaponized affection is still affection.”
“It’s manipulation with better marketing,” Elora said flatly, then sighed.“But I let him.Because for a minute the storm stopped.”
Cassie understood that bone-deep.“Sometimes you need to stop the storm and count that as a win.”
Elora blew out a breath.“Fine.One point to the queen’s wisdom.”She tilted her head.“What are you going to do about your king?”
“Talk to him,” Cassie said.Her heart thumped once, too loud.“Eventually.When he’s looking at me andactuallysees me.”
Footsteps crunched over gravel behind them.The air shifted, different weight, different gravity.Elora didn’t turn because as his mate, she’d have felt him.
Cush stopped a few paces away, wearing late morning like armor with braided hair, practice leathers, expression controlled.His gaze swept Elora first, cataloguing, then cut to Cassie with a soldier’s economy.
“Elora,” he said, voice even.
She stood as she looked up at him.“Cush,” she said in the same tone.
He lifted a brow, the gesture somehow both affectionate and annoyed.“We should finish what we were discussing.”
Elora folded her arms.“We finished when I said we did.”
His jaw ticked.“You didn’t have my approval to spar.”
She stepped closer, eyes bright with defiance.“Didn’t realize I needed your permission to breathe.”
Cassie couldn’t decide if she should just continue to sit and watch the show, or give them some privacy.She mentally shrugged and decided on watching because it was better than thinking about her own issues.
His voice dropped, quiet and hard.“You’re not invincible, Elora.You push and push until someone bleeds.Usually you.”
“Maybe if you stopped trying to cage me, I wouldn’t have to push,” she shot back.“I’m not one of your soldiers.”
“You’re myChosen,” he said, tension vibrating through the words.“Which means I care if you come home alive and unscathed.”
Her laugh was soft and dangerous.“Then trust that I can make that happen myself.”She pivoted sharply, chin high.“I’m going to shower.Alone.Tell Sidhion if he tries to critique my footwork again, I’ll aim higher.”
Her shoulder brushed Cassie’s in parting.“Text me later,” she murmured, and then she was gone, fury moving her like momentum.
Cush watched her go, the lines of his body drawn tight as a bowstring.When he finally exhaled, it sounded like surrender he didn’t want to admit.
“Any advice?”he asked without looking at Cassie.
“Stop trying to win,” Cassie said.“Start trying to listen.”
He grunted.“Noted.”He shifted, and the world shifted with him—small, telling things moving into focus as only warriors notice.His head tilted.He went very, very still.
“What,” Cassie said, too quickly.
His eyes flicked to her face, then lower—throat, chest, the pulse under her skin—before lifting again, guarded now.“Your scent is different,” he said, voice quiet.“And your heart line ..it’s doubled.”
Chill ran down Cassie’s spine.She didn’t move.Didn’t breathe.“Cush.”
