She opened her mouth. Closed it. Why now? Why is it always too late?
Why did she still long to run to him? To feel the echo of the bond they’d lost? To believe this version of him was one that could have love her truly, if only he hadn’t been so blinded by duty and fear?
She could feel Alarik’s magic in the air behind her. A quiet pulse. A tether she hadn’t expected.
She sucked in a sharp breath.
Because Kael still waited on his knees.
Offering her his exposed heart.
Maris stepped forward.
One breath. Two.
Then her hand lifted, slow and deliberate.
Her fingers grazed Kael’s chin, tilting it up, just as she had done with Alarik days ago in the Hollow.
But this time, there was no triumph in the touch. No smirk. No power play.
Only quiet ache.
“You look at me like you still know me,” she whispered, searching his silver eyes. “But you never did, Kael. Not really.”
His jaw tensed beneath her fingertips.
“I thought I did,” he said, voice low and frayed. “I thought if I kept you close, if I protected you — it would be enough.”
“It wasn’t protection,” she murmured. “It was possession. You saw my fear. You kissed my pain.”
“I was wrong,” he said simply. “And I’m sorry.”
She blinked. The words landed unexpected and unarmored.
“I should’ve told you what you were, as soon as I knew.” he said, rising slowly from his knees. He stood tall now, but not imposing. Not like before. Just… bare. Her breath caught. Her chest tightened.
“I love you,” he said, “You could burn down the world and I,” His voice broke for a moment. “I would still kneel in the ashes if it meant you’d look at me the way you once did.”
Maris swallowed hard, her vision blurring.
“But I won’t beg,” Kael continued, softer now. “I won’t command. I won’t bribe you with rings or thrones.”
He took a step closer, just one.
“I just want you to choose,” he said. “Not for me.”
His eyes flicked, just briefly, toward the back of the room, where Alarik stood cloaked in silence. "Not for him."
“But for you, Maris.”
–Alarik–
He should’ve been prepared.
He’d told himself a thousand times, she owes you nothing. Her past was not erased by one kiss, one night, one dream.
And yet…
