Chapter 24: The First Kiss
Three days later, Helaena told me a storm was coming.
"The sky will weep, and the weirwood will witness."
I'd learned not to dismiss her prophecies. "When?"
"Tonight."
The first drops fell as evening turned to night. By the time I reached the godswood, rain hammered the stone paths, turning the garden into a maze of wet shadows and thunder.
She was already there.
Standing beneath the weirwood, soaked through, staring up at the lightning-split sky like she was reading messages in the clouds.
I ran to her, pulled off my cloak, held it over both of us.
"You're going to catch a fever," I said.
"The dreams showed this. The storm. You. Me." She turned to me, face pale in the lightning flashes. "Fire and blood and you standing in the center, burning but not consumed."
"I won't burn. I promise."
"How can you promise that?"
"Because I'm preparing for it. The dragon fire training. The resistances. All of it." I pulled her closer, sheltering her from the rain. "I won't burn because I refuse to leave you alone in this nightmare."
Thunder crashed overhead. She flinched against me.
"I'm so tired," she whispered. "Everyone thinks I'm mad. My mother pities me. Aegon despises me. Even Rhaenyra looks at me like I'm broken." Her voice cracked. "My children are the only reason I wake each morning."
"You're not mad."
"Everyone says—"
"They're wrong." I tilted her chin up, made her look at me. "You're not mad. You see things others don't. Patterns they miss. Futures they can't imagine. That's not madness. That's sight."
"You truly believe that?"
"I know it."
Her hand came up, touching my face. Tracing the scar on my forehead from when I'd crashed into that beam in the undercroft.
"Why do you care? Really care? You could have any position, any reward. Why stay with someone broken?"
"Because you're not broken. And because—"
I didn't finish with words.
I closed the distance and kissed her.
Gentle. Hesitant. Asking permission with every heartbeat.
She froze. One perfect, terrifying moment where I thought I'd made a catastrophic mistake.
Then she kissed back.
Fierce. Desperate. Like she was drowning and I was air. Her hands fisted in my shirt, pulling me closer. The cloak fell, forgotten, and rain soaked us both.
Thunder shook the sky. Lightning illuminated us in stark white flashes.
When we finally broke apart, she was crying.
"I didn't know," she gasped. "I didn't know it could feel like this."
I wiped her tears, mixing with rain. "Like what?"
"Like being seen. Like being chosen. Like—" Her voice broke. "Like I matter."
"You matter to me. More than anything."
She kissed me again. Slower this time. Deliberate. Claiming.
The storm raged around us, but we were the center of our own world. Just two people, standing beneath an ancient tree, choosing each other despite every reason not to.
When we finally separated, breathing hard, reality crashed back.
"This is dangerous," she whispered. "If anyone finds out—"
"I know."
"They'll kill you. Adultery with a princess. With the future queen."
"I know."
"Then why—"
"Because some things are worth the risk."
She looked at me. Really looked. Seeing past the guard, past the fighter, down to whatever core remained of Marcus Cole beneath Ulf's skin.
"I love you," she said. Simple. Direct. "I don't know when it happened. But I do."
The words should have terrified me. Instead, they felt like truth clicking into place.
"I love you too."
We held each other as the storm began to fade, thunder growing distant, rain becoming drizzle.
Eventually, she pulled back. "We need to return. Separately. If anyone sees—"
"I know." I kissed her forehead. "You go first. I'll wait ten minutes."
"Tomorrow? In the godswood?"
"Always."
She smiled through her tears. Then she left, walking through the rain-wet garden toward the Keep.
I stayed beneath the weirwood, watching her disappear into the darkness.
My quarters. Alone. Soaked through.
I stripped off my wet clothes, changed into dry ones, and sat on the bed.
I just kissed a married princess. The future queen. In a kingdom that executes men for far less.
My hand came up, touching my lips. Still feeling the ghost of her mouth on mine.
I'd do it again. Right now. Without hesitation.
The line between protection and love had blurred and vanished somewhere along the way. I'd started this wanting to prevent a tragedy. Save her children. Change one small piece of the timeline.
Now?
Now I loved her. Genuinely, completely, stupidly loved a woman I could never openly claim.
The danger was immense. If Aegon found out, he'd have me killed. If Otto found out, he'd use it against her. If the court found out, her reputation would be destroyed and I'd be executed for treason.
But as I lay back, staring at the ceiling, feeling the echo of her kiss—
I knew I'd crossed that line willingly. And I'd cross it again and again.
For her. For Helaena. For the chance to give her something real in a world that had given her nothing but pain and dismissal.
The Dance would come. The dragons would burn. The realm would fracture.
But for tonight, in this moment, I'd given her something no one else had: the feeling of being seen, chosen, and loved.
That was worth any price.
Even if that price was my life.
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