Nernia's POV
The world could crumble outside the window and she wouldn't care.
Not when Kaelen was looking at her like that.
Not when her heart was still racing from the kiss.
Not when her body was pulled to him like gravity had chosen him to be her axis.
He didn't speak. He just leaned down, gently swept her off her feet, and carried her down the marble corridor like she was made of stardust and fire — too rare to be touched by the world, too fierce to ever be caged again.
Her arms wrapped around his neck, and she felt his heartbeat pounding against her side — wild and unrestrained.
He pushed open the door to his chambers and stepped inside. The room was dim, moonlight pouring across the dark stone floor, the fire crackling low. The bed stood untouched for days, as if waiting for her return.
Kaelen gently placed her on the edge of the mattress, kneeling before her, his hands on her knees.
"I need to know," he said, his voice a whisper of thunder. "Are you sure?"
She reached up, cupped his face, and nodded slowly. "There's no part of me that doesn't want this."
Kaelen stood, and then his lips were on hers again — softer this time, reverent. Like she was something he'd prayed for and didn't believe he could truly have.
His fingers traced the curve of her spine as he laid her back on the bed, their kisses deepening. The world blurred into nothing as clothes were shed with trembling hands and quiet gasps, their hearts finally free to touch where words had failed.
Every brush of his skin against hers was a vow.
Every whispered name from her lips was a promise.
He moved over her like a man starved for warmth, like the war hadn't taken everything from him — because she was here now, and she was giving him something no sword ever could: peace.
Their bodies fit together like a long-forgotten song finding its final verse. Kaelen moved slowly, tenderly at first, then deeper, needier — each motion more vulnerable than the last. And when they both shattered in each other's arms, it wasn't just passion.
It was memory.
It was destiny.
It was love reborn.
Later, when her head rested on his chest, their legs tangled and their hands still entwined, he whispered into her hair, "I never believed I could be this happy."
Nernia smiled into his skin. "Then we'll have to make sure it never ends."
And in the hush of night, as they drifted into sleep, it felt like time had finally surrendered — just for them.