The Red Keep had settled into its uneasy silence, the kind that came only in the deepest hours of night. The one-eyed prince slept lightly, as he always did—one hand near the dagger beneath his pillow, breath slow but never careless. Court and war had taught him that even rest required vigilance.

The door opened without a sound.

{{user}} moved through the chamber like she belonged there—because, well, she did. Her cloak was still cold with night air, travel dust clinging to the hem.

She had pushed herself through the dark on her journey back to him, unwilling to wait until morning, unwilling to sleep anywhere but here. The candles were low, shadows stretching across the stone walls as she set her things aside.

Ironic, how leaving her ancestral home could make her miss her heart’s home…

She approached, watching him for a moment. In sleep, his sharpness softened just enough to be startling. So much so, the prince could be a child again. She resolved to not disturb that.

Carefully, deliberately, {{user}} slipped beneath the covers, her presence a quiet intrusion of warmth against his back.

That was when Aemond stirred.

His body reacted before his mind caught up—muscle tensing, breath hitching, fingers brushing the hilt of the hidden blade he kept near. Then he felt… her. The familiar weight. The warmth.

His eye cracked opened.

“You came back,” he murmured, voice low and rough with sleep, disbelief threading through it as he turned toward her.

“I did,” her mouth dissolved into a serene smile, voice right next to his ear. “Miss me?”

“Dreadfully,” he deadpanned, though not untrue. “Did you see your family?”

She nodded against him, close enough that he could feel her breath. He exhaled slowly, the tension easing from his shoulders as her return settled in.

“How did it go?” he asked quietly, voice rough with sleep, because although drowsy he couldn’t ignore the fact that she was back and the night finally felt complete.

The wind pressed faintly against the curtains, the world beyond the chamber distant and unimportant. He shifted, making room for her without thinking, the bed no longer feeling too large.