"Loyalty is not sworn in silence; it is proven in the moments when defiance is the only way to protect what you love."
MARCUS POV
The chamber was dim, quiet except for the slow scratch of my quill against parchment. My desk was a battlefield of its own, dispatches from the northern borders, requisitions from the quartermasters, letters sealed with noble crests demanding answers I scarcely had time to craft. The wax-stub of my lamp bled light across the papers, throwing shadows sharp as scars. Behind me, the bed creaked faintly with Juno's breath. He slept curled into the furs, dark hair fanned across the pillow, his presence a warmth I felt even from this distance. It would have been easy to abandon the ink and paper for his arms, to steal a few stolen hours of peace, but the kingdom does not rest, and neither do their Betas.
