Gray light filtered through the windows of the royal bedchamber.
Elias woke up first.
The wine had burned off, leaving behind headache and clarity in his mind. He lay perfectly still, careful not to move his head.
Beside him, he could hear Cassian's breathing.
Cassian wasn't holding him, but he wasn't distant either; he was simply there… occupying the bed he had nearly abandoned.
Elias studied the silhouette of the man beside him. The man who had promised him a marriage before war, then returned to announce another.
And then, he had come back to Elias anyway.
Elias didn't feel warmth. If anything he felt cold.
He realized that he could not win Cassian emotionally.
If I cannot win him emotionally, Elias thought, his eyes tracking the dust motes in the grey light, then I must win him politically.
Thus another decision was made.
