She notices immediately. “Voltar?”
“May I?” I ask, voice rough.
She swallows and nods.
I rest my hand there, barely any pressure, like I’m touching something holy. Her skin is warm under my palm, alive in a waythat makes my chest ache. I don’t know what I expected to feel—movement, power, destiny—but what I feel instead is possibility.
She inhales sharply.
“Oh,” she whispers.
Tears spill from her eyes without warning, sliding into her hairline, and panic spikes in my chest.
“Hey—hey,” I murmur, lifting my hand. “Did I hurt you?”
“No,” she says quickly, shaking her head. “No, it’s just—stars, Voltar, I didn’t think it would feel like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like…” She laughs through tears. “Like everything all at once.”
Something breaks open in me.
I lean down and press my lips to that spot, a kiss so gentle it feels like a promise instead of a touch. I linger there, breathing her in, grounding myself in the reality of it.
“I’ll protect both of you,” I say quietly.
She lets out a shaky breath.
“Always,” I add. “Even from me.”
Her hands fist in the sheets.
She pulls me down by the shoulders, forehead to forehead, eyes fierce despite the tears. “Then don’t leave again.”
The words aren’t a demand.
They’re a plea.
I nod, throat tight. “I won’t.”
She kisses me like she needs it to be true, and I meet her there, pouring every ounce of certainty I have into the way I hold her. The way I stay. The way I don’t rush this, don’t take, don’t disappear into instinct.
We move together in a rhythm that feels ancient and new all at once, urgency braided with reverence. Every touch is deliberate. Every breath shared. Time stretches and blurs, notbecause we’re trying to escape it, but because we’re finally letting it exist around us.
At some point, the city outside quiets.
At some point, the lights fade.
At some point, dawn begins to think about happening.
We don’t sleep.
We lie together, skin warm, breaths syncing, my arm wrapped around her like a shield I don’t intend to lower. She curls into my chest, one hand resting over my heart like she’s counting the beats, making sure I’m real.
I press my chin to the top of her head and listen to the world breathe.
For the first time in my life, I don’t feel like I’m waiting for the next order.
