Borrowed Time.

Winter's POV

For a long while after Derrick left, I remained exactly where he had left me.

The corridor had long since emptied. The guards had resumed their patrols, servants passed one another with trays balanced expertly in their hands, and somewhere in the gardens beyond the palace walls I could hear children laughing without a care in the world.

Life had resumed.

Mine hadn't.

I leaned lightly against the stone railing overlooking the courtyard, watching the afternoon sun spill across the training grounds below. Wolves sparred in pairs while older warriors barked corrections from the sidelines. Somewhere farther away, a stable hand chased after an escaped horse amid a chorus of amused laughter.

Everything looked... normal.

It felt strange.

The world had nearly fallen apart only hours ago, and yet it refused to acknowledge it.

Perhaps Mother had been right.

The world did not stop simply because one heart was confused.

I closed my eyes.

Immediately, Derrick's voice returned to me.

His quiet smile when he had spoken about Sabrina.

The tiredness hidden beneath his calm expression.

The way he had looked at me—not as though I were fragile, but as though seeing me safe was enough to lift a weight from his shoulders.

Without meaning to, I smiled.

I had missed him.

The realization came so naturally that I almost laughed at myself.

Of course I had.

He had been gone on and off for days, thrown into yet another political crisis while I remained here.

I missed the quiet conversations we used to have.

I missed the strange comfort of simply existing in the same room as him while we both occupied ourselves with entirely different things.

I missed...

...him.

The smile disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Because another memory forced its way to the surface.

Keon.

The forest.

His hands.

His voice.

The warmth that seemed to exist nowhere else except when he was close.

My chest tightened painfully.

How could I miss one person while thinking about another?

How was that fair?

A wave of guilt settled heavily over my shoulders.

Derrick had done nothing wrong.

If anything, he had been patient with me from the very beginning. He had never demanded affection from me. Never expected me to become someone I wasn't. He had given me space whenever I needed it and stood beside me whenever I didn't know how to stand on my own.

He deserved honesty.

Instead...

I carried secrets.

Secrets I hadn't asked for.

Secrets I didn't even know how to explain to myself, let alone to someone else.

I rested both hands against the cool stone railing and lowered my head.

"I wish this were simpler," I whispered to no one.

The breeze carried the words away before I could take them back.

I didn't hear footsteps behind me.

I didn't hear the door open.

I didn't hear anyone approach.

Which was why I startled violently when warm lips brushed the side of my neck.

A soft gasp escaped me as I spun around.

"Derrick!"

He stepped back immediately, surprise flashing across his face before it melted into concern.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly, lifting both hands in surrender. "I called your name twice."

"You did?"

His eyebrows rose.

"You didn't hear me?"

Heat rushed into my cheeks.

"I... no."

A quiet chuckle escaped him.

"I gathered as much."

He studied me for a moment before his expression softened.

"You were somewhere very far away."

"I suppose I was."

He reached out, brushing an escaped strand of hair behind my ear with effortless familiarity.

"I didn't mean to frighten you."

"You succeeded."

"I'll try harder not to next time."

Despite everything swirling inside me, I found myself smiling.

"You make it sound like frightening me is part of your routine."

"It wasn't."

He tilted his head thoughtfully.

"But judging by your reaction..."

A tiny smile tugged at his lips.

"...perhaps it should become one."

I laughed before I could stop myself.

The sound surprised both of us.

For just a second, neither of us spoke.

He was looking at me.

Not intensely.

Not searchingly.

Simply... appreciating the moment.

"I've missed hearing that," he admitted quietly.

The words settled somewhere deep inside my chest.

I looked away first.

"I didn't realize I'd stopped."

"I did."

Silence settled comfortably between us as we began walking back toward his chambers together.

Neither of us felt the need to fill every second with conversation.

Somehow...

Walking beside Derrick had always been enough.

When we reached his room, however, my earlier amusement disappeared almost instantly.

The table beside the windows had vanished beneath what could only be described as a mountain of parchment.

Letters.

Official reports.

Border requests.

Tax records.

Military dispatches.

Maps.

Several scrolls had already begun threatening to roll onto the floor.

I blinked.

"...They're multiplying."

Derrick stopped beside me before following my gaze.

His shoulders visibly slumped.

"I was hoping they'd disappear while I was gone."

"They didn't."

"So I see."

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.

"It isn't funny."

"It absolutely is."

He looked at me with mock offence.

"My suffering amuses you."

"Just a little."

"I leave for several days to stop a political uprising..."

He gestured dramatically toward the overflowing desk.

"...and this is how my kingdom repays me."

"The servants brought them shortly after you left earlier," I explained. "They said they were urgent."

"I'm sure they did."

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"The fascinating thing about leadership is that everyone believes their problem is the urgent one."

I smiled as I watched him stare at the paperwork as though it had personally betrayed him.

"I take it ruling isn't as glamorous as stories make it sound."

He gave me a look.

"The stories conveniently leave out the endless meetings."

"And the reports?"

"And the reports."

"The arguments?"

"So many arguments."

"The paperwork?"

He sighed dramatically, pointing at the seemingly ever growing pile.

"Especially the paperwork."

A laugh escaped me again.

"I've missed this too."

He looked at me.

"The paperwork?"

"You complaining about it."

For a heartbeat, all he did was smile.

Then he shook his head with quiet amusement.

"I walked right into that one."

He crossed the room, gathering several stacks into something resembling order.

"I'll finish these before sunset."

I stared at the towering pile.

"All of them?"

"I'd rather not spend tomorrow buried alive."

"That seems... optimistic."

"It is."

He looked at me over one shoulder.

"But optimism is one of the few things leadership allows me to have."

He reached for the first report, already uncapping a bottle of ink as though preparing himself for battle.

I watched him for a moment.

Then, without saying anything, I walked to the opposite side of the table.

I picked up one stack.

Sorted it by seal.

Then another.

Grouped them according to department.

When I reached for a third pile...

"...Winter?"

I looked up.

"You don't have to help."

"I know."

"You should be resting."

"I have rested."

"You were attacked."

I freeze for a second. Keon must have told him. I smiled gently.

"And you look like you're about to declare war on a pile of parchment."

For the first time since returning...

Derrick laughed.

A genuine, tired laugh that filled the room with something warm enough to make even the endless paperwork seem a little less overwhelming.