Chapter 93
Tharx had commanded armies. He had stormed enemy strongholds, reduced entire civilizations to ash beneath the might of his rule. He had stared death in the face and had never flinched.
But this-this was different.
This was his daughter.
Seraphina was so small. So impossibly fragile that it left him unmoored in a way nothing else ever had.
He had known war, strategy, conquest. He had shaped the fate of entire worlds with his hands.
And yet, he did not know how to hold his own child.
It frustrated him in ways he did not fully understand.
In the first days, he kept his distance. He did not ignore her-no, that would be impossible. His golden eyes tracked her every movement, every small sound she made, as if memorizing each delicate breath.
But he hesitated.
He hesitated because this was not a battle he knew how to fight.
He could cut down traitors without a second thought, he could see the weakness in his enemies before they even knew it themselves.
But what was he supposed to do when his daughter whimpered in her sleep, stirring restlessly in her mother's arms?
What was he supposed to do when Aeliana hummed soft lullabies to soothe her, when she ran gentle fingers over the child's downy-soft hair?
What was he supposed to do when Seraphina turned her head toward him, when those tiny, unfocused eyes sought him out as if recognizing something in him that he could not name?
Aeliana noticed.
She always did.
She said nothing at first. She let him watch, let him linger just on the edges of it all, waiting for him to take the step on his own.
But he didn't.
And finally, one evening, she could bear it no longer.
"Do you intend to keep watching her from a distance forever?"
Tharx blinked, startled by the directness of the question.
Aeliana sat up in bed, Seraphina cradled against her chest, her gaze unwavering.
He didn't answer immediately.
But he didn't look away, either.
Aeliana tilted her head slightly. "You do not have to be afraid of her, Tharx."
He scowled. "I am not afraid."
She smirked at that. "No?"
He exhaled, his hands curling into fists at his sides. She was right.
Of course she was.
He was afraid.
Not of the child itself-but of what she represented.
Of what she had already changed within him.
Aeliana sighed, shifting slightly. "Come here."
Tharx hesitated for only a fraction of a second before stepping forward, standing at the edge of the bed, towering over them both.
Aeliana reached for his hand. He let her take it without resistance, though his muscles were tense beneath her touch.
Slowly, deliberately, she placed his hand over Seraphina's small body, pressing his palm flat against the tiny rise and fall of her breathing.
The warmth of her seeped into his skin.
Tharx stilled.
Aeliana watched him carefully, her voice quieter now.
"I do not know how to do this," he admitted.
A rare confession.
A raw one.
Aeliana smiled softly. Not mocking. Not amused. Just understanding.
"Then we will learn together."
Tharx exhaled slowly.
He had never been good at letting himself be vulnerable.
But Aeliana had a way of stripping him down to the very marrow of who he was, of seeing past the warlord, past the emperor, past the armor he had worn for so long.
He looked down at his daughter.
So small.
So new.
And yet, so powerful.
She had already changed everything.
The first time Tharx held Seraphina alone, Aeliana had stepped out of the room for only a moment.
It had not been intentional.
She had not been trying to force anything.
But when she returned, she stopped in the doorway.
Because there he was.
Seated in the chair beside their bed, Seraphina tucked carefully into the cradle of his arms.
He was utterly still, his golden eyes watching her with a kind of intensity Aeliana had only ever seen in battle.
Not because he was afraid.
Not anymore.
But because he was memorizing her.
Aeliana leaned against the doorway, crossing her arms. "She does not bite, you know."
Tharx didn't even glance up. "She has no teeth yet."
Aeliana smirked. "Perhaps that is the only reason you are not afraid of her anymore."
Tharx finally looked at her then, his expression unreadable.
But Aeliana saw it.
That flicker of something unguarded.
Something he had never allowed himself to feel before.
"You are insufferable," he muttered.
Aeliana stepped closer, settling beside him. "And yet, you love me anyway."
His lips tugged upward slightly. "A terrible affliction."
Aeliana leaned her head against his shoulder, watching Seraphina's tiny fingers twitch in sleep.
"She is perfect," she murmured.
Tharx's gaze softened.
"She is ours."
Aeliana smiled.
Yes.
She was.
Tharx had never handled anything fragile before.
He had only ever known weapons, warships, the bones of an empire built beneath his rule.
And yet, he adapted.
Aeliana watched it happen, night by night, moment by moment.
The way his hands, which had once been used only to wield destruction, became something else entirely.
The way he held Seraphina so effortlessly now, as if she had always belonged there.
The way he learned her cues, the way he knew what each cry meant, even when Aeliana was still figuring it out herself.
It surprised her.
And yet, it didn't.
Tharx had never done anything halfway.
When he set his mind to something, he mastered it.
Even fatherhood.
Even this strange, unfamiliar world of tenderness that had once been so foreign to him.
And Aeliana loved him for it.
More than she ever had before.
One evening, as Seraphina dozed between them, Aeliana reached for Tharx's hand beneath the furs.
He glanced at her, golden eyes flickering in the dim candlelight.
"What is it?" he murmured.
Aeliana hesitated.
Then, she smiled.
"You are a good father."
His expression didn't change.
But his grip on her hand tightened.
He didn't say anything.
Didn't need to.
Because Aeliana already knew.
Already saw everything he couldn't put into words.
And for the first time in his life-
So did he.