The heavy silence that usually followed a grand imperial arrival didn't last long, quickly fracturing into a hundred hushed, frantic whispers. Cherion kept his posture flawlessly straight, his fingers resting lightly against Zarius's sleeve as they stood near the edge of the grand ballroom. But the moment his eyes locked onto the approaching figures of Gillian and Iryna, a sudden, weird prickle of discomfort tightened in his chest.
Instinctively, Cherion's mental walls shot straight up.
Right, Iryna.
Somehow, everything felt completely different tonight. Maybe because Zarius's name had officially been tossed around as a candidate to marry Princess Iryna for the Auzelian and Solaric peace treaty. Even though Cherion logically understood that Iryna hadn't engineered the political plot and likely had no say in it, seeing her again with that heavy knowledge hanging between them made a small, defensive part of him feel the immediate urge to guard his territory.
