The walk from his office to her room wasn't far enough to clear his head, and maybe that was what he needed. Valric's words still echoed in his mind and he needed them.
Leoric didn't know how he was going to be honest with Rhosyn without telling her all of their plans and secrets. Which might just make her hate him more... Optimism was Valric's thing, Leoric took his mother's pragmatism.
Sir Caerwyn stood posted outside her bedroom door like usual. He heard him approaching long before he saw him, Leoric knew. He also knew that he burnt some bridges a little too quickly when he last lost his temper.
He came to a stop in front of the knight, seeing the stress of the past few days compile behind his eyes, heavy and dark. They all needed to stop fighting each other.
"How is she?" Leoric asked.
Caerwyn didn't need to speak, the answer was written in the way he struggled to fully stand straight.
"Quiet, Your Grace."
Leoric nodded his thanks, but he didn't move. Couldn't push past anything other than staring at her door and wondering if he could bring himself to knock.
"You should get some rest, Sir Caerwyn." He took a step toward the door.
Caerwyn opened his mouth to object, but the words didn't come. He looked knackered and couldn't fight it anymore. With a nod of his own, he hesitated and then stepped away.
It wasn't until the knight's footsteps had faded down the hall and silence choked the hallways again, did Leoric knock on Rhosyn's door.
When her voice didn't come and no movement shifted, he knocked again. "Rhosyn?" he called through the wood, but there was no reply.
He twisted the door knob and pushed the door open slowly.
"Rhosyn... It's me."
He stepped into the room, feeling like he didn't truly belong. The space breathed Rhosyn, chamomile sweetening the space and he took another step deeper. Her soft snoring pulled him closer to the bed where she laid, sprawled across the duvet still wearing her dress, her hair scattered across her pillow and she looked so peaceful.
He perched on the edge of the bed and she hummed, curling closer to his warmth.
Valric's words crept through his doubt and Leoric found himself reaching out. His fingers barely skimmed the constellation of her freckles, brushing a strand of hair from her face. But it was the way she leaned into his palm, like it was home and his heart sang despite himself.
Tears dampened her cheek and a lump formed in his throat. Sometimes she made it hard to believe that anything could break her. That she was just so delicate...
Rhosyn hummed, her lips tugging upward, a rare and beautiful sight. Her breathing came more deliberate and he'd had her wake up in his arms enough to know she was stirring from sleep. He missed those days.
It was the calm before the storm. One moment, she almost purred in his hand. The next, her eyes flashed open and she was up, only pausing a breath away from him.
Her gaze explored his face and he saw the thoughts that slipped behind sleepy eyes. A mixture of curiosity overshadowed by wariness. She wasn't afraid of him—never had been. What she was afraid of, was what he made her feel. That, and how she hurt when their positions got in the way.
She saw herself as a clause, and he couldn't tell her otherwise, because then he'd have to tell her why.
Honesty.
Maybe that was what Valric was gifting him—his blessing to let her in. Leoric just hoped he wasn't too late.
For a long moment, they just stared at each other, counting breaths like people counted wishes. Then Rhosyn's hand seized his and pulled it away from her face. But she didn't let it go.
"Did you intercept all my letters?" her voice came small, but in the silence it boomed.
"Yes," the truth fell from his mouth heavy, regret a hard thing to swallow down.
But his hand sat in hers still and something breathed hope into his chest.
She swallowed. "Did you deliver any of them?"
"All but the Crown Prince's."
Leoric free hand reached up slowly, slipping into his jacket and pulling out the letters carrying her handwriting and a lot of doubt. Her eyes snagged on them immediately, identifying them instantly and claiming the sealed one curiously.
He saw regret in her eyes. But that was probably from writing down her thoughts in the first place, spelling out a weakness, and he hated that she was right.
Those words were personal, her heart laid out on parchment and he hated that they were written for the Crown Prince. That even after terrifying her to the point of tears, she still distrusted Leoric more.
He treated her like an enemy, a spy... A hostage. And she became one.
"I'm sorry," he breathed, his thumb sliding across the back of her hand and seeing how her grip tightened in response.
Only when her eyes returned to his did he see her soften. He felt it too.
"We need to stop treating each other as enemies," Leoric said, and seeing something harden in her eyes again.
Of course.
"You want honesty?"
And he could see how she burned for it, held her breath for lack of it.
His hand held hers more sure. "I already knew that your uncle ordered the killing of my family, Rhosyn," he said the words softly, as if it would sap the sting from them. "You're safe from me—I mean it."
Her eyes explored his, searching for the legal clause that was the loop-hole.
"Both of us have a common enemy now and I won't lose."
Rhosyn's gaze dropped back to the letters and he could hear her thoughts—at least Edrien was safe. But she was wrong. He said he was going to be honest with her, and so he would be.
"There's one more thing…"
Her eyes went wide, a foretelling of fear creeping in.
"The Vow of Loyalty I made to the crown prince won't hold any weight," he explained. "There's a law of vows; verbal ones being the lowest, blood pacts a step higher, and finally those of blood—family—or even to yourself."
He tracked the understanding in her eyes, the way she breathed each lungful of air deliberately and itched to claw her fingers. Her little tick when she was anxious or unsure.
"When we married, we became of one soul in the eyes of God, which makes our vows of the highest rank. No other vow could challenge that, and so as long as protecting you is protecting me, my vow to the prince won't come into effect."
They were counting breaths again, and if it wasn't for the tension in the air, Leoric could get used to this. Anything to breath her in. Have her eyes study him unflinchingly and seeing the interest flirt within her.
But silence had a way of shattering. It was a delicate thing, very much like her.
"So, the deal was always in your favour?" Rhosyn asked, mostly to herself.
He hated how it made her sound like a clause again, and yet, she wasn't wrong.
What would've Valric done? Probably not flirt with the opposition, become all too hooked and invested, and then married to that whole uncertainty in the first place. Surprisingly, out of the two of them, Valric was the sensible one. Who would've guessed?
"Rhosyn," Leoric breathed her name like a wish and hung on the way she followed his lips.
They sat in that moment, heartbeats as weights and breaths their measurement. He couldn't dispel the heat he felt for her, the way he hung on her lips and clung to her hand. He needed to give her the key to his world, his mind... heart. If he wanted her to trust him. And he so badly wanted her to trust him.
"How about we go out tomorrow?" he offered. "Our people are eager to meet you."
Rhosyn's eyes glimmered with interest and a lightness warmed her features. Being locked up didn't suit her. She shone brightest when unleashed and with a challenge to entertain her.