Kael's POV
Reiss closed the office door behind him with the same quiet precision he brought to everything else. The latch clicked and his footsteps receded down the corridor. I waited until his mana signature faded past the outer ward before I let the operational posture drop.
My office was still as I watched the afternoon light cut across the desk in a hard rectangle, catching the edge of the mission chip still sitting in its reader. The Winged Lion was dead a long time ago. Fuck it, the gate collapsed, and yet the only thing that remained of the run was the memory of Akira's mouth under mine. The way his body had gone still and open against the column when I took what four months of restraint had finally allowed.
I sat back in the chair. The leather creaked under the weight. My hand rested on the armrest for a long moment before I reached for the drawer.
