Bab 205: Vigil by the Bedside.

The room was cloaked in a heavy silence, broken only by the rhythmic rise and fall of Eirik's shallow breaths.

Prince Kaelix sat beside the bed, his hand gently clasping Eirik's cold fingers. Shadows formed from the flickering candlelight played across his face, tracing the exhaustion etched into his features.

His eyes, red-rimmed and weary, were fixed solely on Eirik, his expression filled with unyielding love and a sorrow so profound it seemed to settle over him like a second skin.

Kaelix hadn't slept for two days now. He barely ate, only taking a sip of water when his strength threatened to fail him entirely. His entire world had shrunk to the confines of this room, to the man lying unconscious before him.

Eirik, his beloved husband, the one he had promised to protect, to cherish. And he had failed. The knowledge of that failure weighed on him, an ache that pulsed with every heartbeat.