Chapter 16 — The Warlord's Restraint
Elowen woke before dawn.
For a few heartbeats, she did not know where she was. The ceiling above her was stone, dark and high, etched with protective runes that pulsed faintly like a sleeping heartbeat. The bed beneath her was wide and warm, draped in fabrics too fine for a maid's quarters too fine even for most noblewomen's rooms.
Then she felt it.
The steady presence beside her.
Kael Draven lay on his back, one arm resting above his head, the other bent near his chest. He was still fully clothed, as he always was when they shared a room black tunic, dark trousers, boots removed but dagger still within reach. Even in sleep, he looked like a man ready for war.
Elowen lay on her side, facing him, frozen by the realization that sometime during the night, she had moved closer.
Her fingers were curled lightly into the fabric of his sleeve.
Her cheek rested against his shoulder.
She inhaled sharply, fear spiking until she realized he had not moved.
Kael was awake.
She could feel it in the way his breathing was too measured, too controlled.
"I'm sorry," she whispered immediately, mortification flooding her. "I didn't mean to I must have "
"You did nothing wrong," he said quietly.
His voice was low, rougher than usual, as though he had been awake far longer than she had.
Elowen hesitated, then slowly lifted her head, her fingers loosening their grip on his sleeve. She tried to pull back, but Kael's arm moved not to trap her, but to brace against the mattress near her waist, stopping her retreat without touching her.
The restraint was deliberate.
Careful.
"Stay," he said.
The word was not a command. It was a request.
Elowen's breath caught.
She searched his face in the dim pre dawn light. His silver eyes were open now, fixed on the ceiling, jaw tight as if holding something dangerous behind his teeth.
"Kael," she murmured, unsure. "If this is uncomfortable "
"It is not," he said instantly.
Then, after a pause that felt heavy with meaning, he added, "It is difficult. There is a difference."
Her heart began to pound.
Difficult.
Because of her? Or because of himself?
She shifted slightly, enough that their bodies were fully facing one another now. They were still not touching there was a careful inch of space between them but the closeness felt intimate all the same.
"You've been different since the court," Elowen said softly. "Since Isolde."
A muscle in his jaw flexed.
"I should have handled her sooner," he said. "I allowed her presence to unsettle you."
"She made me feel small," Elowen admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "Like I was pretending to stand where I didn't belong."
Kael turned his head then, finally looking at her fully.
The intensity of his gaze made her breath stutter.
"You belong wherever you choose to stand," he said. "And if anyone dares suggest otherwise, they challenge me."
She swallowed. "That's what frightens me."
His brows drew together. "That my protection is feared?"
"That your power is," she said honestly. "And that I might become the reason you lose control."
For a long moment, Kael said nothing.
Then he reached out slowly, visibly giving her time to pull away and brushed his knuckles against her wrist. The contact was light, almost reverent.
"I have erased cities from maps," he said quietly. "I have ended bloodlines with a thought. I have been feared since the day I first held a blade."
His thumb shifted, barely grazing the sensitive skin at the base of her palm.
"But you," he continued, voice lowering, "are the only thing that has ever made me choose restraint."
Elowen's breath trembled.
"I don't want to be your weakness," she said.
Kael's hand closed gently around hers.
"You are my anchor."
The words settled between them, heavy and undeniable.
Elowen felt something inside her chest loosen an old, tight knot she hadn't known how to name.
She squeezed his hand, tentative but sincere.
"Then don't push me away," she said. "And don't keep pretending you're alone in this."
His grip tightened not painfully, but with emotion barely contained.
"I am afraid," he admitted.
The confession felt more dangerous than any battle.
"Of hurting you?"
"Yes." His eyes darkened. "And of wanting you."
Her breath caught at the raw honesty in his voice.
She shifted closer, slowly closing the distance he had so carefully maintained. Her forehead brushed against his shoulder, her hair spilling over his chest.
Kael stiffened instantly.
"Elowen "
"I know," she said softly. "And I'm not asking for more than this."
She rested her head there, listening to the steady thunder of his heart beneath her ear. It was strong. Controlled. Human.
After a long, tense moment, Kael's arm moved.
This time, he wrapped it around her.
The embrace was firm but careful, his hand resting at her upper back, nowhere improper, yet full of promise. She melted into it, relief washing over her in waves.
They lay like that as the first pale light of morning crept into the room.
Two people bound not by obligation or fear
But by choice.
And by a restraint that spoke of something far more dangerous than power.
Love.