~ STARK ~
It took a full two days for my body to recover from the marinating I'd given it after the Conclave. I hadn't spoken to Hildie, at least, not about personal matters, over those days. Even when we were forced into the same room by the need for selecting more women for her legion because we had only two weeks to select and train them before the Queen would be crowned, she'd been nothing but coolly professional. Barely meeting my eyes, standing at attention.
An impeccable example for the new recruits in demonstrating respect to the Commanding Officer.
And a fucking nightmare for a man who was quickly falling apart.
I couldn't decide if it was a good thing that I'd hurt her, so she'd stop holding onto this… attachment we'd made. Or if I was the villain here.