Lysa had found a mont of quiet, at the palace gardens at twilight, away from council chambers and watchful eyes.
The air carried the sweet scent of night jasmine and the faint, earthy aroma of damp soil after a brief afternoon shower.
She sat on a stone bench near the central fountain, her new attendant’s uniform still feeling slightly too formal against her skin. The promotion to Seren’s personal attendant had lifted her from the servant quarters to a comfortable room in the noble wing, but it had also brought a strange kind of loneliness. The other attendants treated her with a mix of deference and resentnt. The servants she had once worked beside now looked at her with a mixture of awe and suspicion. She was no longer one of them, but she wasn’t quite one of the nobilities either.
A soft crunch of boots on gravel made her look up. Captain Rowan approached, his royal guard uniform neat but slightly rumpled from a long day of duty. He was a tall wolf with warm brown fur along his forearms and kind amber eyes that still carried the shadow of the recent war. He stopped a respectful distance away, holding a small bouquet of white night-blooming jasmine he had clearly picked along the path.
"Lady Lysa," he said, his voice a little uncertain. "I hope I’m not intruding. I saw you from the patrol route and... well, I thought you might like these. They bloom only at dusk. Like you... quiet, but impossible to ignore once you notice them."
Lysa felt her cheeks warm. She accepted the flowers, bringing them to her nose. The scent was delicate and sweet. "Thank you, Captain. And please... just Lysa. The ’Lady’ still feels like soone else’s na."
Rowan rubbed the back of his neck, a surprisingly boyish gesture for a seasoned guard. "Old habits. I spent years thinking humans were... well, lesser. Background noise in the palace. Then I saw you on the plains, organizing water carriers, helping the healers, refusing to run when the fighting got close. You stayed when you didn’t have to. That changed how I see things."
Lysa looked down at the flowers, turning them slowly in her hands. "I stayed because Seren is my friend. She was kind when no one else was. When I was just another servant scrubbing floors, she shared her bread and listened when I was scared. I couldn’t abandon her when things got dangerous. That’s not loyalty, that’s basic decency."
Rowan sat on the bench beside her, keeping a respectful distance. "It’s more than that. Most humans would have stayed hidden. You didn’t. You helped carry wounded wolves twice your size. You organized the volunteers when the healing tents were overwheld. I watched you. You were steady when everyone else was panicking. That’s not just decency. That’s strength."
Lysa smiled faintly, but there was a touch of sadness in it. "Strength that cos with a price. My old friends in the kitchens look at differently now. So are happy for . Others think I’ve forgotten where I ca from. They whisper that I’m playing at being a lady while they still scrub the sa floors."
Rowan’s expression grew serious. "I used to be one of those wolves who looked down on humans. I thought we were superior, stronger, longer-lived, chosen by the Moon. The war changed that. I saw humans standing shoulder to shoulder with us, fighting for the sa kingdom. And I saw you; small, human, no fangs or claws, refusing to run. It made realize how wrong I was. Strength isn’t just about claws. It’s about the heart."
Lysa turned to face him fully, her eyes searching his. "And now? Do you still see as lesser?"
"Never," Rowan said imdiately, his voice low and earnest. "I see you as Lysa. Brave, kind, and far stronger than I gave humans credit for. I... I find myself thinking about you more than I should. Wondering if you’d let walk with you again. Maybe even dance with you at the harvest festival next month. If that’s not too forward."
Lysa’s heart skipped. The romance was tentative, gentle, nothing like the intense, world-shaking mating bond Seren shared with the triplets. It felt human scale: two people finding each other amid chaos, learning to see past old prejudices.
"I’d like that," she said softly. "But I’m still adjusting to this new life. The title, the expectations, the way people look at now. Sotis I miss the simplicity of the kitchens. At least there I knew exactly who I was."
Rowan nodded, understanding in his eyes. "I know the feeling. After the plains, I keep waking up expecting to hear battle horns. The quiet feels strange. But maybe we can figure out the new normal together. No pressure. Just... walks. Conversations. Seeing where it goes."
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, the fountain’s gentle splash filling the space between them. Lysa felt a warmth she hadn’t allowed herself to feel in a long ti; not the desperate intensity of war, but sothing softer, steadier. A spark.
Seren found them later, walking the garden path with Kael at her side. She smiled when she saw Lysa and Rowan sitting close but not touching, the bouquet of jasmine resting between them.
"Am I interrupting?" Seren asked, her voice warm with teasing.
Lysa stood quickly, cheeks pink. "No, Your Majesty. We were just... talking."
Kael’s deep chuckle rumbled. "Talking. Right. The guard captain has been finding excuses to patrol this garden every evening for a week. I thought he was scouting for threats. Turns out the threat is a certain attendant with a kind heart."
Rowan straightened, looking slightly embarrassed but not ashad. "Your Majesty. I... it’s not like that. Well, it is, but respectfully. Lysa is... special."
Seren’s smile widened. "She is. And she deserves soone who sees that. Take care with her heart, Captain. It’s one of the best I know."
Rowan bowed his head. "I will, Your Majesty. I promise."
As they parted ways... Lysa and Rowan continuing their walk, Seren and Kael heading back toward the palace, Seren leaned into Kael’s side.
"It’s nice to see sothing gentle amid all the politics," she murmured. "Lysa deserves a quiet kind of happiness. Not the storm we live in."
Kael’s arm tightened around her. "We all do. But storms make the quiet monts sweeter. And you, little wolf, have brought more light into my life than I ever thought possible."
In the distance, Lysa’s soft laughter floated back on the evening breeze as Rowan said sothing that made her blush.
The romance was tentative. Human-scale. Grounded in small kindnesses and shared monts rather than world-shaking destiny.
But in its own way, it was just as powerful... a quiet reminder that not every bond needed to be forged in ritual and war. So grew slowly, steadily, like night jasmine blooming under lantern light.
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