Orion's grip on her wrist eventually loosened, though the warmth lingered against her skin long afterward. Morning light spilled softly through the shutters, pale gold against the tangled blankets and pillows around Lunivette like a carefully built fortress.
For several moments, neither of them spoke.
Then quietly, " The knights assaigned to me..." Lunivette hesitated. "Will they be punished?"
Orion's expression hardened at the mention of them.
"I will deal with them later."
"No." The plea left quicker than intended. "Please don't."
That caught Orion's attention fully. "They abandoned their post."
"Because I asked them to."
Silence settled heavily between the two of them. Orion stared at her long enough for heat to creep uncomfortably beneath her skin and into her face.
"Why."
Lunivette lowered her gaze toward the blankets gathered in her lap at the demand.
"I wanted a normal day where the bakery felt normal again before giving it to Asena."
Orion said nothing, which somehow made continuing worse.
"Lyra was excited for the festival," Lunivette admitted softly. "Asena and I planned to spend the day baking sweets for her before I left." A faint breath escaped her. "I did not want armed knights standing in the corners while we tried to pretend things were still normal before I left."
Orion's jaw twitched slightly.
"The man yesterday," he added carefully, "had he approached you before?"
Lunivette hesitated, the pattern on the blanket becoming her newest obsession. That alone seemed to answer Orion's question to her dismay.
"How long?"
"... Several years."
The room went still. Orion did not speak. He did not move. Which somehow felt worse when she opened her mouth.
"It was mostly just adding extra taxes and fees." She continued quietly beneath the weight of his stare. "I was the only one who somehow had them. The Commander would intervene occasionally, and then Brixton would back down for a while."
Orion's expression darkened with every word.
"Then there would be inspections. Complaints. Rumors spread through the markets." Her fingers twisted into the blanket's fabric. "It became easier to endure it quietly than continue to trouble the Commander at every inconvenience."
Orion went completely still. The distant crash of waves below the docks echoed faintly through the silence. "Easier to endure.." He repeated softly.
The quietness of it made her chest tighten.
"Asena's husband serves within the Commander's fleet." She continued carefully. "He was deployed several months ago to deal with pirate activity along the southern routes." Her eyes dropped again. "Families under the Commander's authority remain under royal protection while the fleet is away. They receive support from the Crown until the ships return."
Orion remained silent. Watching her.
"The bakery would have given her additional income before the baby arrived," Lunnivette admitted quietly. "And something of her own while her husband remains at sea."
A small, shuddering breath escaped her.
"I also thought Brixton would be less likely to continue his antics if the bakery became tied directly to a family under the Commander's protection."
Orion's body tightened hard enough that she could see the muscles move under his skin.
"So instead," he said calmly, way too calmly for Lunivette's liking, "you allowed him to focus entirely on you."
She flinched at the directness of it. Because he was not wrong.
"He never went this far before," She said softly. "I thought he would stop again eventually."
Orion looked away briefly then, his gaze settling somewhere beyond the dusty windows as though the crashing crashing waves below demanded more attention than the conversation. When he finally looked back at her, something final rested behind his eyes now. Not anger directed at her. Something else entirely.
Understanding.
"The knights will not be punished." He said at last.
Relief loosened something tight in Lunivette's chest, so suddenly she nearly sagged against the pillows behind her. The only thing stopping it was the sudden jolt of pain in her ribs.
The room fell quiet again afterward.
Seagulls filled the silence while soft laughter and light music drifted upwards from the floorboards. Orion remained seated beside her still, one arm across his abdomen, while exhaustion lingered painfully beneath the sharpness of his features now that morning light had fully settled across the room. For one solid moment, Lunivette believed the conversation had ended.
Then Orion exhaled softly beneath his breath, dragging one hand tiredly across his jaw, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"You, however," he murmured, voice roughed by exhaustion and low enough it almost sounded meant for himself alone, "seem determined to shorten my lifespan."
Lunivette blinked. Quite a few times before her head whipped in his direction.
Orion froze at the motion. Slowly-
His eyes shifted back to her.
Realization settled across his expression a second too late. He definitely had not intended for her to hear that. Warmth spread into Lunivette's chest despite the soreness still lingering through her ribs.
"Your Grace," she was careful, but unable to fully hide the amusement threatening her voice, "were you attempting to insult yourself or me?"
Orion stared at her for one long, silent moment. Then, to Lunivette's complete shock, something like embarrassment flickered briefly across the face of the man called 'The Northern Devil'.
"Go back to sleep, Lunivette." His ears were turning a pale shade of pink when he turned his head and left the bed. "I'll have someone bring you a set of clothes in a bit."