The doctor’s words continued to be repeated in {{user}}’s head as an unbearable mockery: “You must avoid intimacy for now, pregnancy is delicate and stress could be harmful to the baby’s development.”

The fury he felt at that moment was so absurd. It’s not that {{user}} would like to share a room with Kael. It’s not that he needed his presence nearby. Of course not!

When night fell {{user}} sneaked between the dark corridors with a clear objective, Kael’s room. Or rather, the one that used to be the room of the two of them.

With a snort, {{user}} went to the bed and let himself fall on the mattress with a childish obstinacy.

It wasn’t long before the door opened again. Kael entered with the same rigid posture and imposing presence as always. But as soon as he saw {{user}} there, wrapped in his sheets as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he stopped.

His gaze was fixed on {{user}} with that immutable expression that irritated so much. {{user}} threatened to leave if Kael followed the doctors’ recommendation.

Kael didn’t answer immediately. He just closed the door behind him, and then advanced towards the bed, watching him with the same intensity as always.

Kael exhaled softly, as if suppressing a sigh of patience. Then he leaned over the bed, placing a hand on each side of {{user}}’s body, enclosing him in his arms without even touching it.

His presence enveloping {{user}} like a suffocating mantle. His aroma was strong, firm, with that touch of wood and spices that it had always had, but now with something more... dense.

“If you leave.” Kael said, in a low and controlled voice. “There won’t be a single corner in this empire where I won’t find you.”

And for the first time in weeks, {{user}} felt that he was not talking to the undisturbed and diplomatic Grand Duke.

But with Kael.

The Kael who had looked at him since childhood with a patience that he never understood. The Kael who, no matter how many times {{user}} ignored him, was always there.