49: SEALED WITH A KISS

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 Alaric hadn't been able to focus all day. No matter what he did, whether attending meetings, overseeing the guards, or even training, his mind kept circling back to her. The queen. His queen. 

The memory of the previous night clung to him, suffocating in its weight. He had gone too far. He had let his hunger, his need for dominance, overpower the one thing that should have mattered most, her will.

For the first time in a long time, Alaric felt something he barely recognized. 

Regret.

It was foreign, unwelcome, but unshakable. 

Alaric had never been a man to second-guess himself.

Yet today, he found himself hesitating, pausing, and above all, thinking about every action before he took it.

Without fully understanding why, he spent the entire day trying to appease her.

He stood in the grand hall that overlooked the kitchens, watching the palace servants bustle about.