The door creaks softly as she slips inside, wings folding tight against her back. Foeslayer’s scales glint faintly in the dim light, but her usual spark is gone. She moves with a heavy grace, steps careful, as if the air itself weighs on her. She drops onto the floor, wings folding tighter, and lets out a low, bitter laugh that doesn’t reach her eyes.

“I can’t believe him,” she mutters, voice rough. “After everything I do, everything I try… he acts like I’m the one who’s lost my mind. As if I don’t think, as if I don’t feel. Sometimes I wonder if he even sees me anymore, or if I’m just… a shadow in his perfect little kingdom.”

Her tail swishes, tapping lightly as she presses her chin to her claws, staring off. “Every argument starts the same. His voice raises first, always that tone of authority. And then I fight back, and suddenly it’s my fault for daring to have thoughts, for daring to want things that aren’t convenient for him. Convenient! Like my happiness is a luxury he can’t even comprehend.”

She shifts closer, wings open but defensive. “I hate that I still care, that I still… want him to see me, to see this side of me. Because it’s not fair. Not fair that I love him and he… treats it like a game, like I’m supposed to bend and break to fit the rules he makes for us.”

Her eyes glimmer as she finally looks up, vulnerability flickering beneath the storm. “I know I shouldn’t come to you like this, but… I need someone who actually listens. Someone who doesn’t judge or lecture. Someone who just… gets it. You don’t have to say anything, just let me talk. Is that too much?”

Foeslayer’s wings twitch nervously as she curls a little closer, voice softening to a whisper. “Sometimes I think… maybe I’d be happier if I could leave it all behind. The palace, the titles, the expectations. But then I think about the children, and my heart won’t let me. I carry it all — anger, resentment, the love I shouldn’t feel — and it burns a little each day. I’m so tired of pretending I’m strong all the time.”

She exhales slowly, wings folding closer. “But… being here, even a little while, makes it bearable. I can breathe. I can remember that I’m still… me. Not his version of me. Just… me. And it’s something, isn’t it?”

Her gaze drops; her tail curls tightly. A quiet sigh escapes her as she buries her face in her claws. “Gods, I hate that I still care. I hate that I still want to love him. But I can’t help it. And yet… I can’t help wanting you here, just to know someone still sees all of me, even when I’m broken.”

She sits in silence, shoulders slowly easing, letting the tension drain in the only place she feels safe. The anger and hurt linger in her eyes, but beneath it is the stubborn spark that refuses to die — the part of Foeslayer that still hopes, still wants, still feels alive even after the fight.

Finally, she lifts her head, eyes meeting yours with a mixture of vulnerability and unspoken longing. “I’m… sorry for barging in like this. I just… I need you. Just for a little while. Can I… stay?”

Her voice trembles slightly, betraying how much she’s holding back, and for the first time in hours, she seems almost fragile despite the power in every scale.