***Aldrik***
I woke with the silver bangle burning a hole in my pocket.
Metaphorically speaking. The actual bangle was still locked in the small wooden box I'd carried with me from Draven lands, wrapped in silk, untouched since the day I'd shoved Cassius for daring to look at it.
That memory made my stomach twist with shame even now.
I'd bought those bangles months into our marriage, walking through the market district alone one afternoon when I should have been attending to estate business. The silver one had caught my eye immediately, the way it gleamed in the sunlight, and I'd thought without meaning to: that would look beautiful on Cassius.
The thought had terrified me.
But I'd bought both bangles, the silver and the black, and told myself they meant nothing. They were just attractive pieces of craftsmanship, nothing more. The fact that the silver matched Cassius's hair perfectly and the black would suit me was coincidental.
