Planning a birthday present for Chaol wasn’t easy. You’d gone through dozens of ideas until you settled on one—and even then you believed it to be dumb and not good enough for the Captain of the Royal Guard.

You had settled on recreating the magical garden from a famous children’s song. You’d spent weeks setting it up, and today was finally Chaol’s birthday.

After scrutinizing your appearance for nearly an hour, you met up with Chaol outside the front gates of the glass castle. You were wearing a gorgeous iridescent gown in the lightest shade of blue you’d ever seen. You spent the entire carriage ride just chatting, talking about everything from your favorite books to a lord that cheated on his wife at a recent ball.

When you finally reached the venue—an empty, seemingly closed apothecary—Chaol seemed skeptical. It wasn’t until you led him inside and up the stairs to the greenhouse that he finally understood.

“{{user}}…” he says hesitantly, looking at the fairy lights strung from the ceiling of the greenhouse. “No one has ever done something like this for me.”

That sentence just about broke your heart. How long had it been since someone made him feel truly cherished?