DRAVEN'S POV.
By the time I finally left the council chamber, the castle had gone unnaturally quiet. The kind of quiet that comes after blood has been scrubbed from stone floors. After orders have been barked, messengers sent, borders tightened. After I'd signed my name beneath commands that could start wars or prevent them.
Hours had passed. I hadn't gone to her immediately, and that failure sat heavy in my chest.
I stopped outside Selin's door. For a moment, I hesitated. Not because I didn't want to see her, but because I didn't know what version of myself she would get when I stepped inside. The Alpha king who calculated losses and enemy intent…or the man who had held her shaking body in the forest and whispered promises he wasn't sure he could keep.
I knocked softly.
"Selin," I said. "It's me."
There was movement almost instantly. No surprise.
She'd been waiting.
