"Oh, heavens," a countess murmured behind the hand-painted frame of her fan, her eyes wide as she nudged her friend. "Just look at that."
"Indeed," a young baron agreed, leaning in close to catch the drifting gossip. "To display such affection so openly in the middle of the imperial court... it is entirely shameless. Or perhaps simply the wild, unrefined nature of the North."
Neither Zarius nor Cherion paid the slightest bit of attention to the buzzing crowd around them. The judgmental glances and the suffocating etiquette of the high nobility seemed to slide right off their shoulders, entirely unable to pierce the private space they had carved out for themselves amidst the glittering chandeliers.
Zarius looked down at Cherion, his eyes softening into an expression of rare, heavy indulgence that he reserved exclusively for the younger man. A low, rumbling sigh escaped his chest as he took Cherion's hand in his own.
