I smooth her hair back. “We rebuild. We cross. We don’t lose him—not if I can stand.”
She shakes her head softly. “I’m scared.”
I kiss her temple, breath ragged. “So am I. But not enough to walk away.”
Her hands grip my arms. The obelisk’s glow pulses like a heartbeat. Within its coils, lights wink awake. The chamber quivers. The glyphs flare as though the ruin recognizes us both.
She pulls back slightly, eyes meeting mine. “I want him to know you. To see your strength. To know what love is before the war broke the world.”
I swallow thick. “He will.”
She breathes deeply, trembling. “Thank you for not hating me.”
I press my lips to her forehead. The ruin hums around us, alive with possibility and danger.
In that moment, nothing is certain except us and the fragile hope in her eyes.
And I know—whatever comes next, we face it together.
“Jaela,” I say.
She lifts her head slowly.
I take one step. Then another. “How old is he?”
Her eyes flutter. Like she’s bracing for impact.
“One year,” she says, voice barely above a whisper. “Six months and nine days.”
I do the math in my head. I stagger.
“That’s…” My voice cracks. “That’s when you left. That’s when you told me you were gone for good.”
She nods once. “I was already pregnant.”
My knees almost go out from under me. I grab the wall. My mind’s a thunderclap. “And you didn’t tell me.”
“No.”
I laugh. A sharp, broken thing. “You went halfway across the system, had my son, and let me rot thinking we were done.”
She flinches. Her voice shakes. “I didn’t know if you were alive. You were captured. The Alliance made sure nobody could contact you. I thought…” She swallows. “I thought I had to protect him. From them. From you. From the world.”
My jaw clenches. I step closer, fists curling.
“You thought I’d be a threat to him?” I growl.
She lifts her face, eyes wet. “I thought you’d never see him. And if you did, you’d hate me for the way it happened.”
“Idohate you,” I snarl. “Right now, in this second, I could tear this whole ruin apart trying not to. Because I stillloveyou.”
The words fall like a blade.
Jaela chokes on her breath. “Kyldak…”
“No. You don’t get to say my name like that after what you did.”
Tears fall freely now, trailing down her cheeks.
