The tension crackled like lightning between them.
His breath warmed her skin, his presence both a balm and a storm. Seraphine didn't know whether to run or to reach for him.
But the ache in her heart pulsed again, and this time it whispered not fear-
- but longing.
The throne room was cast in moonlight.Valen's head rested gently on her lap, as if it were the most sacred place he could find in all the realms. Seraphine's hand hovered uncertainly above his hair, fingers trembling - not from fear, but from the storm within.
She didn't remember him, not truly.
But her heart did.
There was something in the way he breathed her name like a prayer, like a man who had wandered through fire and frost just to speak it once more.
"Valen, " She murmured, almost to herself.
He looked up at her, his eyes gleaming with restrained hunger and something softer, deeper - devotion carved into bone. "Say it again. "He whispered.
Her lips parted, " Valen. "
He closed his eyes, " For centuries, your name was the only thing that kept me from breaking. And now, you're here. Flesh, blood, soul. Do you feel it ,Serenyth? The echo of what we were? "
Her hand finally sank into his dark hair, fingers caressing gently through it. The sensation hit her like a crashing wave - warmth, grief, love, ache. Her vision blurred, and behind her closed lids , flashes returned:
- A memory of her sitting on the same throne, with Valen curled at her feel like a knight who worshiped his queen.
- Laughter carried in the wind, whispered promises.
- And her lips on his forehead, telling him , "Even if the stars forget us, I will remember you with my soul. "
Tears slipped down her cheek, "I've so many questions, "she murmured, her voice trembling. " But one won't leave me... "
Valen lifted his gaze to hers and wiped her tears off gently.
"Why didn't you come for me? "She asked,her throat tightening. "If I meant so much, why now? Why not before? "
The silence between them thickened, full of untold feelings and memories she couldn't yet name.
"I couldn't , "he said softly, " Serenyth... after you left me... I was no longer myself. "
Valen drew a shaky breath, as though the words themselves would break him.
"I didn't just mourn you, Serenyth, "he said, his voice breaking, " I destroyed everything in my path."
Seraphine's eyes widened.
"My rage knew no end. Kingdoms fell under my command. I turned the rivers red.Your name became a curse I whispered with every breath. I wanted the whole world to burn because you were no longer in it. "
He looked down at his blood stained hands, as if he could still see the ash clinging to his skin. "And it almost did. "
"But then he come to me - the dragon God, old as the stars.He said I had become a force that would tear the realms apart. That my grief had made me a monster. "
Seraphine leaned in , captivated by the storm inside him.
"He offered me only one mercy. He said, " She will return , but not in your time. You must pay for your sins. I now put you to centuries of sleep, no better than death. And, if fate allows, her soul will call you back. "
Valen's eyes glistened. "So I did. I let him put me into the eternal slumber. I let time swallow me whole, because the only thing worse than living without you... was destroying what you once loved."
Seraphine's breath hitched. Her fingers hovered above the mark on her collabone that had only stopped glowing moments ago.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to feel, " She whispered, torn between longing and something deeper. "But a part of me... remembers. "
Valen slowly leaned forward, " Then let that part of you guide you back to me. "
Tears continued to slip down her cheek, "What is happening to me? "
"You are remembering, " he said, lifting himself slowly. "Not through magic. Not through pain. But through us. "
Their faces were close now. Too close. Seraphine's breath caught as his fingers brushed down her jaw.
"I vowed I'd destroy you, " he murmured. "I knelt instead. "
And in that moment, Seraphine leaned in.
Not because she remembered the past, but because the present ached too beautifully to deny.
Valen's breath mingled with hers, the space between them fragile, trembling.
"I've waited lifetimes, " he whispered against her lips, " But I'd wait again.... if you told me to. "
Seraphine didn't speak.Her heart was a drumbeat of confusion and yearning, but her body moved with certainty. She closed the distance - slowly, like time itself held its breath for them.
When their lips met, the room ceased to exist.
It wasn't gentle. It was desperate and slow and filled with all the things neither of them could say.
Memories pulsed beneath her skin, the mark on her collarbone glowing faintly, humming between them in the dark.
And as the kiss deepened - the pieces of her soul , shattered across centuries, began to return.
Valen pulled her closer, his hand cradling the back of her neck, as if to make sure this wasn't a dream. His lips trembled against hers when he whispered, " You're really here. "
She exhaled shakily, " I don't know why I know you... but I do. "
The kiss spoke of lifetimes lost and found again.
And the night wrapped it's arms around them, sealing their reunion in stars and silence.