(Ruby's POV)
The sun woke me.
Not the gray, filtered light of the past few days, but real sunlight – golden and warm, streaming through the curtains and falling across the bed in wide stripes. I blinked against it, disoriented for a moment. The ceiling above me was unfamiliar. The sheets beneath me were soft, smoother than the ones in my old room.
Then I remembered.
The master suite. Nicholas's room. Our room now.
I turned my head. Nicholas was still asleep beside me, his face turned toward the window, his dark hair catching the light. His chest rose and fell slowly. His lips were slightly parted.
I watched him for a while.
There was no urgency this morning. No fire to escape. No enemy at the gates. No press conference to prepare for. Just the two of us, in a bed that was finally ours, with nothing to do but exist.
I could have stayed there all day. But my body was restless, unused to stillness. And the sunlight was too beautiful to waste.
