The morning after Valerick's leaving felt like the silence after a storm, but the "Iron Drunkenness" of the Northern sediments had faded, leaving a strange emptiness that tingled in Soren's chest. The air in the King's bedchamber was thick with an intimacy that was both scary and beautiful.
Soren was sitting up against a pile of silver-threaded pillows, his silver hair flowing like moonlight on snow. His senses were going crazy. It was the sensory overload the royal physician had warned him about.
The Royal Physician had told him that when he was four months pregnant, his senses would be much more alert. Usually, this was a good sign, as this pregnancy was a "forced" situation, bringing things into reality that shouldn't exist.
From early morning, he could hear the panicked flapping of hummingbirds in the garden three floors below, he could smell the faint metallic scent of the iron hairpins in his own hair, and most importantly, he could hear Lucian clearer than usual.
