When Evangeline felt the King's eyes settle on her, she instinctively braced herself. She had expected something invasive, something that would cling to her skin and make her feel small beneath the weight of a monarch's scrutiny. She thought it would be the kind of gaze that made her want to step behind Hades and disappear from sight.
But none of that came.
There was no disgust. No crawling discomfort and no sense of being measured like a possession.
Instead, what she felt was something strangely gentle.
The King looked at her as though he were studying something precious, something fragile. The softness in his eyes was unsettling in its own way, almost like a grandfather gazing upon a beloved granddaughter he had not seen in years. That unexpected warmth caught her off guard, leaving her uncertain how to respond.
