We stopped in a quiet courtyard. I pulled her close, resting my chin on her head. "You already are, Lydia. You have been for a long time. I see how hard you're working. How much you've grown."
She hugged me tighter. "Then let me keep growing. Let me protect you the way you protect all of us."
That night, she came to me alone. Not for frenzied passion, but for something gentler. We lay together in my chambers, bodies intertwined without urgency. She traced the lines of my chest and whispered her fears — of being left behind as my power expanded, of not being enough for the battles ahead. I held her through it, reassuring her with words and touch until she fell asleep feeling safe.
---
Vale's development was more layered.
