Chapter 130 King's Secret Ch2

• She shouldn’t be here. Not now — not with dawn close enough that the palace walls glow pale with creeping sun. But her feet carry her anyway, barefoot over velvet runners, slipping past guards who bow their heads and pretend they don’t see the King’s shadow haunting his private wing.
• His doors are unlatched — always for her, only for her — and when she pushes inside, the heavy wood sighs shut behind her like a secret swallowing the hall.
• He’s awake. She knows before she sees him — the scent of wine, ink, his restless pacing. He’s by the hearth in nothing but loose trousers, hair wild from fingers dragged through it too many times. The crown sits abandoned on his desk, the silk of his royal robe spilled half-off his shoulders.