CASSIAN’S POV 
I unlocked the heavy door to the royal wing with a quiet click, the wood swinging open into a hallway that still smelled faintly of smoke and damp plaster. Down in the cells, Garrick’s venomous words had been loud and full of desperate pride, but up here, the silence of the palace felt heavy. The blood on his own father's hands. I pushed the thought deep down into the dark, forcing my jaw to unwind as I reached Zaria’s room. I turned the brass handle as quietly as I could and stepped inside.
She wasn't sleeping. She was sitting by the large arched window, wrapped in a thick fur blanket, her profile caught in the pale moonlight. She was just staring out at the ruined courtyard below, looking so quiet against the massive stone frame that it made my chest ache. The fierce, unyielding girl who had stood her ground against a horde of rogues hours ago had faded, leaving behind an exhausted human carrying a weight she never should have been handed in the first place.
The protective instinct in my chest flared up, hot and immediate.
"Zaria," I said softly, not wanting to startle her.
She turned her head, her gray eyes tired but clear as she watched me walk across the room. "Cassian. I thought you were still down with the guards."
"The perimeter is secure," I murmured, closing the distance between us. I noticed the small, dark jar of healing salve sitting untouched on her nightstand. I sat down on the edge of the mattress near her chair and picked it up, twisting the lid off. "You haven't put this on yet."
She didn't answer, her eyes tracking my movements as I dipped my fingers into the cool, clean-smelling balm. I reached out, my hand completely enveloping her forearm as I pulled her gently toward me.
I kept my touch incredibly light, entirely devoid of the brute force I’d used to tear through the corridor earlier. With slow, steady strokes, I began smoothing the balm over the raw scratches and purple bruises lining her skin. Every time she flinched, I paused, my thumb tracing a smooth circle over her wrist until her breathing steadied again.
Zaria watched my hands, her expression guarded. There was a strange, heavy distance in her eyes that hadn't been there before I left for the dungeons.
"Cassian," she whispered, her voice barely carrying over the sound of the wind outside.
"Hmm?" I didn't look up, carefully working the cream over a shallow cut near her knuckles.
"Why do you keep doing this?"
I stopped, my fingers resting against her pulse point. I could feel her heart racing, a rapid, fluttering rhythm beneath her skin.
"The salve?" I asked softly, finally looking up.
"No," she said, her eyes shifting to meet mine, holding a deep, painful vulnerability that cut right through me. "Everything. The Council. Threatening the other Alphas. Running across the continent until your wolf almost tore itself apart. Helen told me what happened. You're risking your crown, your kingdom, your entire life... for a human girl who brought a war to your doorstep. Why?"
The mention of Helen made my jaw tighten for a split second, but I forced it to relax. I set the jar down on the bed, turning my body fully toward her. I reached up, my hand trembling just a fraction as I cupped the side of her face, my thumb brushing over her cheekbone.
"Because my life was nothing but cold duty and shadows until you walked through my gates, Zaria," I said, my voice dropping into a rough, honest register. I didn't care about the laws we broke, and I didn't care about the packs currently whispering threats across the border. "Before you, I lived for the crown, and I fully expected to die for it. That was it. I don't care about the danger. I don't care about the ruin. You are the only real peace I have ever known in my life, and I will burn the entire continent to the ground before I let anyone take that away from me."
Zaria’s breath hitched, her silver-gray eyes widening as the raw weight of the words hung in the quiet space between us. The distance in her expression shattered, replaced by a sudden, fierce heat that seemed to draw the very air out of the room.
I could see the way that her body reacted to the words that just left my mouth. She was already falling for me and that was evident and I was falling for her too. I wanted to make sure that she doesn't have to worry, I want to show her that's he can trust me completely with herself.
I leaned in closer, my gaze dropping to her mouth. She didn't pull away. Instead, she leaned forward just an inch, her fingers tangling slightly in the fabric of my shirt as the distance between us shrunk to nothing. The air became thick, entirely charged with a heavy, aching tension that had been building since the moment I crashed through that ceiling to find her alive.
Our breaths mingled in the cold air, our lips so close they were almost brushing, the rest of the world completely fading into the dark—
A soft, frantic knock rattled the heavy wood of the door.
"King Cassian?" Camilla’s voice came through the crack, hushed and breathless. "Forgive me, sire... but Maya just woke up. She's completely panicked, and she’s desperately calling for Zaria."