Seria couldn't focus on her guard duties the next day.
Her mind kept replaying the previous evening – Damien's vulnerability, her instinctive desire to help, the way sitting close to him had felt natural rather than professional.
"Captain?" One of her lieutenants interrupted her brooding. "The patrol reports are ready for review."
"Thank you." She forced herself to focus on actual work rather than complicated nobles with dark powers and their even more complicated relationships.
But concentration proved difficult. Because beneath the professional concerns about guard corruption and demon collaboration, something more personal was churning.
She'd felt something last night. Sitting close to Damien, listening to him speak about his mother, watching humanity return to his eyes as he shared vulnerability – she'd felt connection that went beyond investigative partnership.
And that terrified her.
