The chamber did not exhale when the trial ended. It held its breath.
Cassian did not leave immediately after her admission. He did not release her the second she whispered yes. That would have turned the moment into spectacle instead of statement. Instead, he stayed where he was, hand in her hair, gaze locked on hers, as if daring the bond to falter under scrutiny.
It didn't. It burned hotter.
Sable could feel it in every nerve ending. The mark at her throat pulsed in a rhythm that felt too intimate to survive under observation. Her skin flushed visibly now, heat spreading across her collarbones and down into the dip between her breasts. Her ribs still ached with each breath, but the pain was layered beneath something stronger, something that made her body lean forward even when her mind insisted she stand her ground.
