Kaelis sat through the royal dinner with the enthusiasm of a man trapped in his own armor. The king spoke in his usual authoritative cadence, announcing that his younger brother Alistair would return to the capital by sunrise, then sliding seamlessly into a lecture about Princess Seraphina and the alliance she represented. Kaelis nodded at the correct intervals, but his attention barely skimmed the words. The hall felt suffocating, all gold and ceremony, until something shifted he saw you