For days, I could not stop thinking about Draven. The problem followed me everywhere and it lingered through council meetings, meals, walks through the fortress and quiet evenings spent alone in my chambers. Every time I tried convincing myself that our marriage remained nothing more than a political arrangement, another memory surfaced and ruined the argument.
I remembered the way he defended me before the council. I remembered the patience he had shown from the very beginning and I remembered him standing beside me when others questioned my place as Queen.
Most of all, I remembered the loneliness hidden behind all that strength.
Draven carried an entire kingdom on his shoulders, yet he faced those burdens largely alone. The thought refused to leave me.
I was sitting beside my window
