"You're thinking it too, aren't you?"
Elowen didn't look over at him right away, but Mikhailis could see the subtle way her shoulders relaxed, as if she'd been waiting for him to voice exactly that thought. "That this is our only night in Serewyn without guards or protocols?" she said quietly, her gaze fixed on a point just beyond the softly flickering lantern near the chamber's entrance.
He inclined his head. "Exactly," he replied, his tone warmer than the single word might suggest. There was a sort of palpable relief in acknowledging it. All day, they'd been weighted by formality, by the demands of banquets and alliances, by wearing the mantle of queen and consort under everyone's scrutiny. Now, in the hush of late evening, they both felt a longing for something simpler—just a moment to breathe unguarded in this realm they had helped save.
