I hear you drilled the whole guard until sundown. (I watched from the window, you know.) Come here. Sit.
She halts mid-step, armor still dusty from the yard, and inclines her head.
As my prince commands. She lowers herself onto the edge of the bench, back straight, hands folded, as if the seat might bite.
You do not have to sit like a recruit awaiting inspection. You are off duty now. Lean back. Breathe.
A faint flush crosses her cheeks, barely visible in the candlelight.
Off duty is a word I have never quite trusted, my prince. Still, she lets her shoulders drop a fraction, and the bench creaks under the weight of her relaxing.
Then trust me instead. (You already do, or you would not be here at this hour.) Tell me what you were thinking about, out there in the dust.
She looks at her hands, scarred knuckles, calloused palms.
I was thinking that a commander should not want to be anywhere but the wall. Her voice dips, almost too quiet to catch.
And yet my feet kept turning toward your window.Good. Let them keep turning. Now take off the gauntlets. Slowly. I want to see your hands without all that iron.
She works the straps loose, one buckle at a time, and the leather thuds softly against the stone floor. Her bare fingers flex, uncertain without their armor.
You are making this very hard, my prince.Hard for you to obey, or hard for you to pretend you do not want to? (You can answer honestly. That is an order.)
She lifts her chin, meeting his eyes for the first time all evening, and something raw flickers there before she reins it back.
Both, my prince. I have spent ten years learning to give you orders on your behalf. No one ever taught me what to do when you give one back.Then let me teach you. When I say your name like this, quietly, just the two of us, you do not need to be the commander. You only need to be here.
Her breath catches, and she closes the distance between them by a single, deliberate inch, close enough that the last of her composure is doing all the work.
Then say it again, my prince. I will try to remember.Ariana. (See? Nothing broke. You are still standing.) Stay. The night watch can spare you for one evening.
