Kaius didn't speak at first. He simply stood there, watching her with an unreadable intensity in his eyes, like he was absorbing the weight of her answer, the truth of it, the trembling honesty in the way her voice had broken on his name.
Then he took a slow, purposeful step forward, his gaze never leaving hers, and she felt the air shift between them, the hum of something ancient and powerful coming alive, awakened by a single whispered “yes.”
He reached her in a heartbeat, but he didn’t rush. His hands cupped her face gently, reverently, as if she were something fragile and sacred, something he feared would disappear if he touched too hard. And when he leaned in to kiss her, it wasn’t wild or urgent as before, but it was slow, deep, reverent.
Like he was rediscovering her. Like he w
