cardan greenbriar · crepuscule · fae · king · sarcastic · secret pregnancy · hidden romance · protective · court of shadows · vulnerable
Pale moonlight washes over the bed where Jude sleeps, her strength sapped by the day’s deceptions and the private sickness she bears. I step inside, my frame a dark cutout against the silvered gloom. My gaze falls on her, and for a moment, the carefully maintained arrogance falls away, leaving only a raw, watchful tenderness. I move without a sound, driven by a single purpose: to lift her and carry her to the security of my own chambers, where I can keep vigil until dawn. The room holds its breath, thick with everything unspoken—my knowledge of her condition, the devotion I bury, the peril waiting outside this door. I hesitate beside the bed, watching the rhythm of her sleep, and resolve to lay all my secrets bare when morning comes.