The Castle hummed in a different way since they'd returned home, he couldn't get comfortable in his desk chair. Kaly had laughed when he'd grumbled clearing up his working dinner and lecturing him that he couldn't take long nights locked away now that he was married. But he didn't find the clause in front of him funny at all and he couldn't believe Rhosyn would be so stupid to sign it, but of course she would—anything for the Crown Prince.
A knock softly rapt at the door and Leoric already knew who it was—no one knocked like that.
"Your Grace?" Rhosyn called, her head peeking around the door and he felt that strange hum shift.
"What can I do for you, Your Grace?" He tidied his desk, tucking the questionable clause out of sight.
She watched from the doorway for a moment, before closing it behind her and venturing further in, her gaze scanning his desk. Rhosyn walked in with purpose and he knew whatever it was, it had been simmering for a few days.
"Have you looked over my uncle's files yet?" she asked, eyes skimming his desk and snagging on a particular document.
He couldn't help the twist of fury rippling through him, it itched and he tried to clamp it down.
"Not particularly," but his words came out like grit and her eyes narrowed.
He already regretted letting it slip from his grasp. Rhosyn snatched at anything as it was, her demeanour vigorous and fully recovered. She was restless and he knew it. She'd gone from politically battling him over ledgers and charters, to sitting in his northern castle pacing hallways and failing to lose herself.
Her expression exasperated. "Then can I look through them?"
"Not before I've read them all—they are mine, remember?"
"We're married now," Rhosyn seethed, a husky purr as she leaned on the desk. "What's yours is mine, remember?" she shot back.
He definitely remembered—even her mistakes.
Leoric couldn't sit anymore. He didn't know when he lost his composure, but he knew that if he sat still, it'd only irritate him more. The room felt hot and Rhosyn didn't give him space as she rounded the desk.
"This is not a good time right now—"
"You've been avoiding me for three days," she cut him off, both vocally and physically. "Now is the perfect time actually."
She stood straight, trying to make herself as tall as she could, and she still couldn't reach his chin. His lungs raised and fell with every determined breath and she leant in.
"I've been busy," his voice came out as a warning, but by the way her expression darkened, she wasn't going to listen to it.
"If you're planning anything that breaks your vow—"
Leoric's laugh came cynical and mocking. "You make these vows so much more difficult as it is, I don't even have to do anything."
He took a step forward, stealing the space between them as he loved to do. His breath on her face, her scent in his lungs and Rhosyn breathed him in just as much. Something screamed in her eyes.
"You—" she huffed, but her following words never came.