Chapter 42

The halls of the fortress were colder tonight, or maybe that was just Aeliana's imagination.

She moved swiftly through the corridors, her pulse hammering against her ribs, her frustration a raw, burning thing in her chest. She had barely been able to stomach the past few hours, confined like some fragile ornament while Tharx handled everything-while he decided what was best for her.

Again.

She reached his chambers without hesitation, pushing the heavy doors open without knocking.

Tharx stood near the balcony, his back to her, silhouetted against the flickering glow of the city beyond. He was dressed in his usual dark robes, the fabric stretching over his broad frame. His posture was rigid, the tension coiled in his shoulders betraying the fact that he had known this confrontation was coming.

"You had me locked in my chambers like a prisoner," she snapped.

Tharx didn't turn immediately. Instead, he exhaled slowly, a long, measured breath that only made her anger flare hotter. "You were under guard."

"Under guard?" she repeated, stepping farther into the room. "Do you even hear yourself? After everything, you still think you can just order me away like I'm some delicate thing you can keep in a cage?"

Tharx finally turned, his golden eyes gleaming in the dim light. "You were nearly killed, Aeliana," he said, voice taut with restraint. "I do not have the luxury of pretending that doesn't matter."

She huffed a sharp, humorless laugh. "It doesn't feel like it matters. It feels like you're hiding me away so no one has to look at me. So they can all forget I exist, and you don't have to deal with the inconvenience of me being a target."

Tharx stepped forward, slow and deliberate, closing the space between them in an instant. "You think I do this because you are an inconvenience?" His voice was dangerously soft now, but it was the heat in his gaze that sent a shiver down her spine.

Aeliana tilted her chin up defiantly. "Yes," she said. "I think it's easier for you to keep me hidden. Because keeping me in the open forces you to admit that I matter more than you want me to."

Tharx went utterly still.

For the first time since she had known him, he faltered-just for a fraction of a second, but she saw it. The way his jaw tightened, the way his fingers twitched at his sides as if resisting the urge to reach for something.

He didn't deny it.

The realization hit her hard, stealing the breath from her lungs.

She had expected him to snap at her, to scoff and dismiss her words as foolish. Instead, he just stood there, the tension between them thick and suffocating.

"You are under my protection," he said finally, but the words lacked the usual certainty they carried.

Aeliana's heart pounded. "Protection," she echoed, voice quieter now. "Or possession?"

Tharx's gaze darkened.

Neither of them moved.

The air between them crackled, the silence stretching too long, too charged. She was suddenly aware of how close they were, how the flickering torchlight cast shadows across the sharp lines of his face.

She should have stepped back.

She didn't.

Tharx's eyes dropped to her mouth for a fraction of a second, so quick she might have imagined it. But she hadn't.

Aeliana's breath caught.

She forced herself to move, breaking the moment, stepping around him with purpose. "I won't hide," she said, voice steadier than she felt.

Tharx turned as she passed him. "Aeliana-"

"I refuse."

Her fingers curled at her sides as she looked over her shoulder. "You can lock every door in this palace, but I will still find a way to walk through them."

Tharx's gaze was molten now, burning with something she couldn't quite name. His jaw clenched, but he said nothing.

And that silence was all the permission she needed.

The next evening, she made sure they saw her.

The high court had gathered in the grand hall for an event that was, on the surface, a celebration of Tharx's recent victories. But beneath the polite conversation and lavish displays of power, Aeliana knew the true purpose.

It was a test.

A test of her place.

A test of his decision to keep her by his side.

Aeliana stood near the entrance, her fingers tightening around the folds of the deep crimson fabric that draped her body. The dress was unfamiliar-too fine, too elegant-but it made her look like she belonged.

Even if no one else thought so.

She took a slow breath and stepped forward.

The reaction was immediate.

The whispers started before she had even made it halfway across the room. Some were quiet murmurs behind jeweled hands, others were barely concealed sneers.

"She has no place here."

"The human thinks she is one of us now?"

"How long before he grows tired of his pet?"

Aeliana ignored them.

She kept walking, back straight, head high, until she reached Tharx's side.

She could feel the weight of his presence before she even looked at him.

When she did, she found him already watching her.

He was impossibly still, his expression unreadable, but the sharp flicker in his eyes told her everything she needed to know.

He had expected her to disobey him.

He had expected her to challenge him.

And she had.

She did not break his gaze, even as the court watched, even as the tension between them stretched thin.

A long silence fell between them, heavy and waiting.

Then, without a word, Tharx extended his hand.

Aeliana hesitated only for a fraction of a second before she took it.

The contact was electric, a warmth that spread up her arm and into her chest. Tharx's grip was firm, his thumb grazing the inside of her wrist as he guided her forward.

It was a statement.

Not a lover's touch. Not a king claiming his queen.

But something dangerously close.

The whispers grew louder, but Aeliana didn't care.

She had won.