Oldtown slept beneath a veil of mist and bells.

The Hightower rose pale and solemn against the dawn, its beacon unlit, its stone walls echoing with the quiet breath of the city below. Inside, the corridors were hushed, too hushed for a wedding night. No laughter, no music. Only the distant cry of gulls and the low murmur of the sea.

{{user}} sat on the edge of the bed, fingers clenched in the fabric of the sheets.

Her Silver hair fell loose down her back, unbraided for the first time since childhood. The maids had left hours ago. Peace had been sealed with vows and witnesses, not with comfort.

They had married tonight, vows spoken carefully, like glass set into place. The realm had watched and exhaled.

Now the door creaked softly. Prince Daeron entered without armor, without cloak, only a simple tunic, his hair damp from washing. He looked younger like this. Less the adored prince of Oldtown, less the green Prince, more just a boy who had been handed too much too early.

He closed the door gently behind him. For a moment, neither spoke, {{user}}’s shoulders were tense. He noticed that first. Always noticed small things, how she chewed her lip when nervous, how her hands trembled when she thought no one saw.

He crossed the room slowly, as if approaching something fragile.

“You don’t have to be afraid,” he said at last, voice low. “Not of me, you know I'm not hurting you.”

She didn’t look up. “I’m not afraid of you,” she said. “I’m afraid of… tonight.”

Daeron stopped. He swallowed, then sat beside her, but not close enough to crowd her. He kept his hands folded in his lap like a knight before a princess.

“I know,” he said quietly. “I am too.”

That made her finally look at him. violet eyes met hers, no arrogance there, no hunger. Just concern. Just patience.

“You don’t owe me anything tonight,” he added.

She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “But they expect it,” she whispered. “They expect… proof that we are truly husband and wife.”

“They are not here, it's only us,” he replied at once. “I can lie to them that we did... it. They are not going to know that I'm lied, and I really have no insistence that we do it tonight.”