Page 127 of The Crown’s Temptation

To me...

I knew the rhythm of his breathing.

He was on the floor.

Sitting with his back against the wall directly across from where I stood, his knees drawn up, his head leaning back. His hair was loose. He had not shaved in days. There was a bed in the room and yet he was on the floor in the middle of the night.

His eyes were open and fixed on the ceiling.

I stepped closer. “My love,” I said.

He looked down from the ceiling.

He saw my hand first. Then he looked up and found my face and went very still.

His hands were trembling.

He did not move for a long time. Just looked at me, then turned his face away. When he turned back his eyes were wet.

He still did not speak. I did not push him.

“Asha bear,” he said finally.

“Colsar.”

"You're alive.” His voice came out rough and low.

"I'm alive," I said.

We stared at each other through the ward, our faces as close as possible without risking the harm they said occurred when you forced yourself through thresholds not meant for you.

"The children," I said quietly.

He exhaled. "Safe. Both of them."

I waited.

"Fiorakis started crawling last week. She decided she wanted to do it and then she did it. No warning. Saurin turned around and she was halfway across the room."

I laughed. It came out wrong and I did not care. "And Ari?"

"Watching her." His mouth moved. "As though deciding whether or not crawling would be a worthwhile thing to try."

I pressed harder against the ward. "Are you sleeping?"

He looked at the floor briefly. "Some."

"Colsar."

"I sleep when I need to."

I looked at him sitting on the floor next to the tunnel and saw the blankets strewn there instead of in the bed six feet away and said nothing.

"Are you eating?" I said.

"Yes."

"Are you actually eating or are you saying yes so I stop asking?"