The guest chambers were silent.
After the monster invasion, the engagement party was cut short. Nobles were escorted out. Healers patched the wounded. The ballroom was sealed for investigation.
Kazriel was offered the west wing suite. Aria was supposed to stay in her family's manor across the garden.
But she came to him anyway.
No guards. No attendants. Just her, in a soft lavender nightgown, standing at the threshold of his room.
He blinked, shirtless and in loose sleepwear, clearly not expecting visitors.
"…Aria?"
She stepped in without a word.
Closed the door behind her.
And exhaled, "I don't want to sleep alone tonight."
He nodded once. No teasing. No questions.
Just understanding.
---
The bed was wide, covered in silver-blue silk sheets. Aria slid beneath them wordlessly, back to him at first. Tense. Quiet.
Kazriel lay beside her, hands to himself.
Then, softly: "You okay?"
"No," she admitted. "Everything I thought I knew about you shattered tonight."
He chuckled. "Sorry for ruining your expectations."
"…You didn't ruin them," she whispered. "You just... changed them. You're not what I imagined. But that doesn't mean I dislike it."
Silence.
Then, slowly, she turned—facing him.
Their eyes met in the dim moonlight.
"I know this was supposed to be a political engagement," she murmured. "But I think I want it to be more."
His hand found hers beneath the sheets, warm and steady.
"It already is," he said gently. "To me."
---
They lay facing each other in silence, breath syncing. No walls between them now. Just the hum of tension that had softened into something warmer.
She moved closer.
He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her against his chest.
And there, wrapped in his warmth, Aria whispered, "Thank you… for protecting me."
He smiled, brushing his lips lightly against her forehead.
"Always."
---
They fell asleep like that—entangled, not in passion, but in trust.
It was the first night of many they'd spend together.
But this one would always be the most intimate.
The night they chose comfort, not because they had to.
But because they wanted to.