“Tell me to stop,” Alex murmured.
“I don’t want you to stop,” Erin breathed.
So Alex kissed her.
It was slow, deep, warm despite the cold. Erin’s mouth opened under hers with a soft, needy sound that Alex felt all the way to her bones.
God, she had missed this. Missed the taste of her. Missed the way Erin kissed like she was trying to memorise something she feared losing. Missed the strength in Erin’s hands as they gripped Alex’s coat, drawing her in.
The kiss burned hot in the frozen air—months of longing compressed into a single moment.
When they finally broke apart, foreheads touching, both breathing hard, Alex felt like something inside her had reconnected.
Erin’s voice was barely a whisper. “I needed that.”
“Me too,” Alex said. “More than you’ll ever know.”
Erin laughed softly, breath fogging the air between them. “This is ridiculous.”
“What part?” Alex asked.
“All of it,” Erin said. “The snow. The dogs. The emotional monologue by a river. This feels like a BBC Christmas special.”
“Don’t ruin it,” Alex murmured, but she was smiling.
Erin pressed another small kiss to Alex’s mouth. “I won’t.”
They stayed like that for a long moment—holding each other in the falling snow, the dogs resting quietly around them, the castle a distant silhouette behind the trees.
Alex felt warmth return to her chest—slow, fragile, but real.
A flicker of hope.
“What now?” Erin asked softly.
Alex took her hand. “Now we walk back. Slowly. And when we go inside… we fight for our minutes. Together. Every chance we get.”
Erin nodded, squeezing her hand. “Together.”
They turned back toward the castle, the dogs bounding in joyful circles around them.
For the first time since arriving, Alex felt like she could breathe again.
Like snow had stopped settling on her shoulders.
Like the weight she carried—Queen, mother, partner, symbol, caretaker—felt a little lighter because Erin was walking beside her, not behind her.
The storm hadn’t ended.
The chaos hadn’t settled.
But something inside her had shifted.
Erin had kissed her back in the snow.
And it felt like the beginning of finding their way home to each other again.
10
