"He touched what's mine." Hakan's voice was still tight with barely leashed violence.
"He looked at what's yours. There's a subtle but important difference." Sarp glanced back at Asif, who was still struggling to breathe on the marble floor. "Though I suspect he won't be making that mistake again. Or speaking. Or eating solid foods for a while."
I should have been horrified. Should have been appalled at the casual brutality, at the possessive rage that had nearly killed a man for the crime of suggesting a walk in the gardens.
Instead, I felt heat coiling low in my belly.
Something was wrong with me. Something was deeply, fundamentally wrong with me that Hakan's violence made me want to drag him into the nearest alcove and let him claim me all over again.
"You're staring," Hakan said without looking at me.
"I'm not."
"You are." Now he did look, and his eyes had gone dark with knowing. "You liked that."
I said nothing.
His smile was sharp as a blade. "Later."
The promise in that single word made me shiver.
My father's chambers were quiet when we arrived. The clusters of anxious healers that had haunted his bedside for weeks were gone, replaced by a single attendant who bowed deeply and withdrew at Gün Ata's gesture.
"Little light." My father's voice was stronger than it had been in days—weeks, perhaps. "And Hakan. Good. I wanted to speak with you both."
He looked better. Gods, he looked so much better. Color had returned to his cheeks, and his divine light glowed steady and sure, no longer the flickering candle flame that had terrified me into sleepless nights. He sat up against the pillows with an ease that would have been impossible a month ago.
"The healers say you're recovering well," I said, taking his hand in both of mine.
"The healers are cautiously optimistic, which is their way of saying they're baffled but pleased." His golden eyes crinkled with something approaching his old humor. "I've decided to take advantage of their confusion before they remember to be worried again."
"What do you mean?"
"Tomorrow, I will call a formal assembly of the council." He looked past me to Hakan, and something shifted in his expression—a weighing, a measuring that reminded me this was not just my father but a god who had ruled for millennia. "I've accepted your relationship in private, but acceptance means nothing if the realm believes I merely tolerate the union. The council whispers. The nobles scheme. Lord Serkan has been circling like a vulture, waiting for me to show weakness."
Hakan's voice was steady. "What are you proposing?"
"Before the full council and the highest nobles of the Light Court, I will name you a Light Lord and grant you a seat among my advisors." Gün Ata paused, letting the weight of those words settle. "You will be the first shadow-wielder to hold such a title in three thousand years."
I forgot how to breathe.
Beside me, Hakan had gone perfectly still—that dangerous stillness I'd learned meant he was feeling something too intensely to show it.
"There will be resistance," my father continued. "Serkan will oppose it. Mehmet will cite scripture. Half the council will claim I've gone mad from illness. But I did not build this realm by bending to the opinions of lesser men."
"Why?" Hakan's voice was rough. "You know what I am. What my father is. Why would you give me this?"
"Because when your power manifested—when you learned what blood truly flows in your veins—you could have fled to your father's realm. Claimed your birthright among the shadows. Instead, you stayed. You fought to protect my daughter." Gün Ata's gaze was piercing. "You chose her. You chose light. Now let me ensure that light has a place for you."
The silence stretched between them.
"I accept." Hakan's voice was controlled, but I heard the emotion buried beneath it. "And I will not give you reason to regret this decision."
"See that you don't." There was warmth beneath my father's warning. "Now go. I need rest before tomorrow's battle with the council, and you both have preparations to make."
I kissed his forehead, my heart so full it ached, and let Hakan lead me from the room.
The moment we were in the corridor, Hakan pulled me into an alcove, his mouth finding mine with desperate intensity.
