"Speaking of ours..." Luna settled more comfortably against him. "With your advancement to seventy-eighth stage and eighty-one Laws, your resource requirements are going to be astronomical. The Soul-Sword technique should sell for enough to sustain you for years, but combined with Aldric's legacy..." She grinned. "We're going to be incredibly wealthy."
"We?" Nova teased. "I thought you were already wealthy as Sect Leader."
"Our wealth," Luna clarified. "What's mine is yours. What's yours is mine. That's how this works, isn't it?"
"I suppose it is." Nova pulled her closer. "Though having a powerful girlfriend does have its advantages."
Luna laughed, the sound bright and happy. "Girlfriend. I like that title." She kissed his neck. "Much better than Sect Leader."
They spent the next hour simply enjoying each other's company—talking, laughing, stealing kisses, completely at ease in a way neither had experienced before.
Luna told him about her childhood, about the trauma that had made her swear off men. Nova shared memories from Earth, from his past lives that had begun surfacing during his awakening. She wasn't surprised as many people awakened their past live memories. They discussed cultivation philosophy, debated technique modifications, and made plans for the future.
It felt natural. Right. Like two pieces finally fitting together.
"I should probably make an official announcement," Luna said eventually, though she made no move to leave the bed. "About you being my Personal Disciple. The sect needs to know."
"Will anyone question it?"
"No one would dare investigate my Personal Disciple," Luna said with quiet confidence. "Not with me now at Mahayana. The title carries my protection. You'll be untouchable."
She traced patterns on his chest absently. "Though I'll need to introduce you to the Elder Council eventually. And Seraphine will definitely have questions."
"We'll handle it," Nova assured her.
Luna looked up at him, her violet eyes full of warmth. "We. I like that word too."
They kissed again, soft and sweet, and Nova felt the rightness of it settle into his bones.
He'd spent three centuries as a forgotten servant. He'd waited lifetime after lifetime for a golden finger that never came. He'd suffered and struggled and nearly died countless times.
But somehow, impossibly, he'd ended up here. In the arms of one of the strongest cultivators on the continent, who looked at him with genuine love in her eyes.
"Nova," Luna whispered against his lips, her voice suddenly thick with emotion. "I'm sorry."
Nova pulled back slightly, confused. "Sorry? For what?"
Luna's eyes glistened with unshed tears. "For three hundred years. For treating you like you weren't there. For the times I was unfair. For..." Her voice cracked. "For watching you be bullied and doing nothing. For treating you as invisible, as less than human."
She pressed her forehead against his chest, unable to meet his eyes. "You served me faithfully for three centuries, and I barely saw you. I let others mistreat you. I scolded you over dust in corners and threatened you for the smallest mistakes. You were suffering right in front of me, dying slowly, and I didn't care enough to even notice."
Her hands clutched at his robes. "I was cruel. Not actively, but through indifference, which might be worse. You deserved so much better than what I gave you. And I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
The tears fell now, sliding down her perfect cheeks. Luna Ophelia, Early Mahayana cultivator, one of the strongest beings on the continent, crying over guilt that had clearly been building for days.
"Please," she whispered. "Please forgive me. I know I don't deserve it, but—"
Nova silenced her with a kiss. Soft, gentle, full of understanding.
When he pulled back, he cupped her face in his hands, wiping away her tears with his thumbs.
"Luna," he said quietly. "I forgive you. Completely. Without reservation."
"But I—"
"I forgive you," Nova repeated firmly. "Yes, those three centuries were hard. Yes, there were times I felt invisible, times I was hurt and you didn't intervene. But do you know what I also remember?"
He stroked her cheek gently. "I remember that you never actually struck me, even when other masters beat their servants regularly. I remember that you gave me a place in your palace when I could have been left in the outer grounds with disciples who would have made my life hell. I remember small moments of consideration—extra food during harsh winters, turning a blind eye when I rested longer than I should have."
Luna shook her head. "That's not enough to—"
"And more importantly," Nova continued, "I remember that when I was dying, when I had nothing left to offer, you gave me a chance. You could have let me die quietly. Instead, you gave me resources, a technique, an opportunity. You saved my life, Luna. Whether you intended to or not, you saved me."
He kissed her forehead. "The past is done. We can't change it. But we have now. We have this. And I choose to build a future with you, not dwell on what was."
"You really forgive me?" Luna's voice was small, vulnerable in a way he'd never heard before.
"I really do," Nova promised. "The past brought us here. I wouldn't change it even if I could, because it led to this moment. To us."
Luna let out a sob of relief and threw her arms around him, holding him tight. "Thank you. Thank you for being kinder than I deserve."
"We both deserve this," Nova murmured into her hair. "We both deserve happiness. Let's just take it, okay?"
Luna nodded against his chest, and they held each other as her tears slowly subsided. When she finally pulled back, her eyes were red but lighter somehow, as if a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
"I love you," she said, the words raw and honest. "I know it's fast, I know it's complicated, but I love you."
"I love you too," Nova replied, and meant it with everything he was.
Nova held her close, breathing in her scent—lotus blossoms and winter frost. "Thank you for seeing me. For three hundred years I was invisible. But you saw me."
"I see you now," Luna corrected. "And I'm never looking away again."
They stayed like that, wrapped in each other, as the morning light grew stronger. Outside, the sect would be waking, disciples beginning their training, elders attending to their duties.
But in the Lotus Palace, in Luna's private chambers, two people who'd found each other against all odds simply enjoyed being together.
The complications would come later. The political maneuvering, the sect dynamics, the careful navigation of their relationship around Seraphine and others.
For now, there was just this. Just them.
And it was enough.
More than enough.
It was everything.
Eventually, they did have to leave the bed. Luna needed to make the official announcement, and Nova needed to move his few possessions from his old quarters to the Lotus Palace.
But they did it together, hands occasionally brushing, stealing glances and smiles like teenagers experiencing first love.
As Nova gathered his meager belongings from the small cabin outside the palace—really just a few robes and personal items—he couldn't help but smile at the absurdity of it all.
Three hundred years in this tiny room. And now he was moving into the Lotus Palace itself. Into Luna's personal space. Into her life.
The path of cultivation was long and full of complications.
But at least now, he wasn't walking it alone.
He had Luna. Powerful, possessive, surprisingly vulnerable Luna, who'd given him her heart as surely as she'd given him cultivation advancement.
And somehow, that meant more than all the power in the world.
Nova picked up his things, took one last look at the cabin that had been his prison and sanctuary, and walked toward the Lotus Palace.
Toward home.
Toward her.
And for the first time in three centuries—in countless lifetimes—Nova Solis felt like he belonged somewhere.
The real journey was just beginning.
But he was ready for it.