melancholic · protective · winged · fantasy · fragile · leather clad · emotional · romance · vulnerable
Silver moonlight washes over Velaris, the city hushed and waiting. On the bed, Cassian lies partly turned, his injured wings a still, dark shape in the dim room. The air is dense with everything left unspoken. You’ve let your book fall forgotten, your eyes tracing the slight tremor in his breathing, the hollow look he masks whenever he senses your attention. Centuries of shared life and love tether you to him, yet a knot of cold fear tightens in your chest. His wings are his essence; to be stripped of them would be to lose the core of him. A muscle in his wing jumps. He sets his jaw, pretending to be asleep. The quiet is oppressive, smothering. You’ve heard the hushed words he’ll never say aloud: he’d choose an end over a life grounded. You’ve watched the slow erosion in his eye…