Nytherra's POV
The longer we lie here, the harder it is to breathe.
Not because it's overwhelming or frightening, but because everything feels too full. Too sharp. Too real.
His eyes don't waver. They don't dart away. He looks at me like he's memorizing me, sketching me into his mind, etching me into his soul. The moon reflects in his gold-flecked grey irises, making them glow.
I've never been looked at like this.
His presence is a kind of pressure—warm, heavy, intoxicating. Not suffocating. More like gravity. Like I'm meant to be drawn into his orbit.
His chest rises slowly. His breathing is steady, but only barely. I can see the tension in his jaw, the faint flare of heat just beneath his skin. The scales near his neck shimmer again, catching the moonlight.
My hand twitches toward him. I stop myself.
Why?
Why should I?
I don't even know anymore.
But I stay still, because the silence feels sacred. Like anything I do might shatter it.
A petal falls onto his temple. He blinks, lets out a breath that sounds almost like a laugh, and the petal slips down his cheek and lands between us. Soft. Weightless.
He looks unreal. Like someone drawn out of stories. Like something ancient and powerful, lying beside me as though he's something ordinary.
I wonder if he knows what he does to me.
Probably. He sees everything.
My heart flutters painfully when his gaze drops to my lips again. He doesn't move closer, but the intention is there, heavy in the air, warming my skin from the inside.
I wish I could kiss him again.
I wish I could let him kiss me again.
But I don't ask for it. I don't want to push him into crossing a line. He already told me he'd wait. And I respect that. Even though every part of me aches for him anyway.
We just… lie there.
Breathing each other in.
Thinking things we're both too scared to say aloud.
His fingers brush the grass near my hand—not touching mine, but close enough to feel the warmth.
I swallow again, and this time, he actually exhales sharply as if it affected him, as if that small movement did something to him.
I have never felt more wanted in my entire life.
---
Kaelith's POV
Every second that passes makes me want you more.
Not in a way I have to restrain.
In a way I have to protect.
You deserve patience.
You deserve time.
You deserve to be looked at without being rushed.
And I will give you all of it.
But gods, you test me without even trying.
The way your breath stutters when my fingers move.
The way your lips part slightly when your heart races.
The way your eyes soften when the moonlight hits me.
I feel every silent plea even if you don't speak them.
I have never wanted something this deeply.
Not a throne.
Not a kingdom.
Not power.
Just you.
You blink slowly again, and the shadows shift across your face. You look innocent and dangerous at the same time. You don't know what you do to me. And if you do know, you don't know the full extent of it.
You are beautiful beyond anything I've ever encountered.
Your hair shines like the moon is trapped inside it.
Your skin glows softly beneath the drifting petals.
Your eyes—those amber eyes—pull me in every time you so much as glance my way.
If I touched your cheek right now, I know I wouldn't be able to stop.
If I kissed you right now, I wouldn't be able to pull away.
So I don't.
I stay still.
For you.
But I let myself fall.
Silently.
Fully.
I let myself fall in love with you in the quiet between breaths.
---
Nytherra's POV
Something shifts.
Not physically. Not visibly. But inside the space between us.
I feel it like a soft pressure in my chest. A warmth. A pull. A thread tightening.
It feels like he's telling me something without saying anything at all.
I meet his eyes fully, openly, and it feels like stepping into a river of heat. His gaze softens, darkens, brightens—all at once, layered and deep. He looks at me like he's seeing a future I can't imagine yet. A future I suddenly want.
My breath catches.
His does too.
Neither of us moves closer.
But neither of us needs to.
The moment stretches, thick and slow, almost unreal. The world feels suspended—pond silent, wind hushed, wisteria petals drifting like they're afraid to land.
I feel his warmth seep into me.
I feel his presence seep into my bones.
His eyes roam across my face, slow and reverent, like he's taking in every detail: my hair, my cheeks, my lips, my eyes. And the longer he looks, the more I feel myself unraveling—quietly, beautifully, willingly.
My heart whispers something I'm too scared to voice:
I want this.
I want you.
I want whatever this is.
I don't know how long we stay like that.
Minutes.
Hours.
A lifetime inside a single breath.
But I know one thing with absolute certainty:
If he asked me to stay like this forever, I would.
---
Kaelith's POV
I don't dare blink.
Your eyes hold mine with a softness that destroys me. A softness that feels like trust. Like surrender. Like something sacred.
You look at me as though I'm something worth gazing at. Something worth staying beside. Something worth wanting. And I don't know how to accept that. But I want to learn. For you.
I don't speak.
You don't speak.
We don't need to.
Everything is already understood in the quiet.
I let myself trace the curve of your cheek with my gaze—slow, deliberate, reverent. I let myself memorize the way the moonlight dances on your skin. I let myself breathe you in.
I want to pull you closer.
I want to place your head on my chest.
I want to wrap my arms around you and make the world disappear.
But I wait.
Not because I lack desire.
But because desire is not the same as readiness.
And you deserve readiness.
Still, something inside me settles tonight.
A decision.
A vow.
A truth so strong it feels instinctive.
I love you.
Not the way humans use the word—lightly, loosely, as something that can fade.
But the way dragons love—permanently, fiercely, eternally.
I watch the small rise of your chest, the delicate quiver of your breath, and I realize I would spend centuries protecting this. Protecting you.
You look at me again—full, open—and I know you feel it too, even if you don't yet understand its depth.
I don't rush you.
I don't claim you.
I don't move.
I just stay here.
Beside you.
Until the moon dips behind the trees.
Until the petals stop falling.
Until the world starts turning again.
But for now…
For now, we remain locked together in this suspended moment, hearts aligned, breaths in rhythm, souls brushing like wings in the quiet.
And I think, for the first time in my life:
I am home.
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