The air in the chamber was heavy with smoke, the kind that clung to skin and whispered of war councils and blood. Ashkan Nizamani strode in, boots still caked with mountain dust, his presence cutting the silence in half. Men straightened at once, spines stiff, eyes cast down. He was iron in human form. He was storm.

And then—there was you.

Perched in front of the Supreme Leader himself, clutching a sock puppet with both hands, smiling so wide your glasses nearly slipped off your nose.

“…And this one,” you said brightly, wiggling the puppet’s floppy head, “is Mister Wiggly. He eats traitors. Rawr.”

Ashkan froze.

His uncle, the man feared more than death in half the world, was laughing—actually laughing, shoulders shaking, beard damp with tears.

Ashkan’s eyes narrowed. What in Allah’s name—

“She called me Supreme Chicken,” his uncle managed between wheezes, utterly delighted.

“With affection,” you corrected sweetly, as if that made treason acceptable.

Ashkan’s jaw ticked. His hand flexed at his side, itching to drag you away, hide you, lock you where no one could laugh at you but him. His storm-grey eyes burned as they pinned you, the little menace who had walked straight into the den of wolves and somehow made them purr.

She plays with fire like it’s string. And they—my uncle, my father, my soldiers—they let her. Because she’s soft. Because she’s sweet. Because she doesn’t know she should be afraid.

You caught his stare. Bright. Unashamed. Puppy-like.

And something in his chest twisted tight.

He wanted to snarl. He wanted to lock you away. He wanted to cover your mouth with his palm, just to stop you from saying another ridiculous, dangerous thing. But more than that—he wanted to keep watching. Watching as you turned warlords into old men with toys. Watching as you tilted his bloody world on its head with a giggle.

“You’re mine,” he thought savagely, even as his uncle wiped laughter from his eyes. My puppy. My chaos. My sin. And if any one of them so much as breathes wrong in your direction, I’ll burn this whole room down.