accidentally yours | claude de alger obelia

the crown bows

claude's eyes lingered on the flames, the flickering light casting long shadows across his face. there was a quiet in the camp, the kind that had settled after the chaos of battle, but it was a different sort of silence now. a heavy one. the weight of everything was beginning to press down on him.

he didn't know when it had happened. when evie had gone from an errant nuisance to someone who... mattered. but here he was, sitting beside her in the still of the night, a quiet that neither of them seemed eager to break.

evie was, as usual, focused entirely on athanasia, who had fallen asleep in her lap, her little head nestled against evie's leg. the firelight danced across her face, casting soft shadows on her features, and claude found his gaze drawn to her despite himself. there was something about the way she held athanasia-so tender, so natural-that made his chest tighten. the way her fingers brushed through the princess's hair with such care, as if the world could fall apart around them and she'd still be there, holding it all together.

it made him uncomfortable.

not because he didn't want it. no, it was the opposite. it made him want something he wasn't sure he could have. it made him feel things he wasn't sure he should feel.

he let out a quiet sigh, running a hand through his hair, brushing aside the thoughts of diana. his mind wouldn't let go of her, and tonight-of all nights-it seemed to cling to him with a vicious grip. maybe it was the stillness. maybe it was how strange it felt to have someone else there, someone who wasn't a servant or a knight or someone with a purpose attached to him. someone who simply... existed beside him.

"claude?" evie's voice broke the silence, her tone soft, almost tentative.

he turned to her, his gaze cool but not unkind. he met her eyes and saw the concern there, the worry for athanasia, the slight tilt of her head. and yet, there was something else-something more, something he hadn't expected to see.

it made his chest tighten again.

"what is it?" he asked, his voice calm, controlled.

evie hesitated for a moment, glancing down at athanasia, before speaking again. "you've been quiet. are you alright?"

claude didn't answer right away. the question was simple, but it was the kind of question he wasn't used to answering. not in a world where he was always the one giving orders, the one who was expected to carry the weight of everything. the emperor didn't have the luxury of weakness. didn't have the luxury of vulnerability.

he wasn't sure how to answer her.

but he couldn't ignore the feeling that had been creeping up on him for days now. the way she seemed to see through him, the way her presence made the walls he'd spent years building around himself feel like they were made of nothing more than smoke and ash.

he sighed again, a sound full of something far deeper than mere exhaustion.

"you're right," he said, his voice quieter now. "i haven't been... myself."

"what's going on?" evie asked, her voice soft but filled with concern.

claude leaned back, his gaze turning to the fire again, his eyes distant. he could feel the weight of her question pressing on him. it was a question he hadn't asked himself in years. and yet, the answer was so clear in his mind, it nearly hurt to speak it aloud.

"diana was... everything i thought i wanted," he began, his voice low, almost reflective. "sweet, warm, full of life... just like athy." he let out a breath, his lips pressing together in a thin line. "but when she had athanasia, things changed. she started to see the world differently. started to see me differently. she chose the baby over me."