But a faint, almost disbelieving smile ghosts across his mouth.Gods, he loves her.The thought lands heavy and immovable in his chest, lodging there like an undying force—not fleeting, nothing he can outrun or out-strategize, but something that will follow him into every choice he makes from here.
Into every lifetime.
His hand slides to the back of her neck, anchoring her there as he finally swallows the distance between them.
His lips find hers, tender, soft, tentative. Like this is foreign for both of them. Not restraint breaking momentarily like they’ve had before, but a choice.A choice to let the truth win for once.
The kiss is not rushed. Not desperate. It unfolds slowly, deliberately, like he is learning her instead of taking her. Like this moment deserves to be witnessed, not consumed.
Seren meets him in it without hesitation—no fear, no confusion. Just want and desire and a woman making a choice for herself.
Her fingers curl into his shirt, holding him there just as firmly as he holds her, equal in every sense of the word. There is no asking between them. No uncertainty. Only the quiet, undeniable truth of what exists here, in this space, between these two people who have chosen this moment with open eyes.
The world beyond the room disappears. There is no war. No kingdoms. No gods waiting to reclaim their power. Only breath, warmth, the steady rhythm of two bodies finding something real in the midst of everything breaking around them.
He maps her like memory; like he knows he will have to carry her rather than keep her. And Seren—Seren takes what is hers. Not tentatively. Not fearfully. She lets herself feel it allwithout apology, without restraint, because for the first time in her life, no one is deciding this for her.
Her tongue sweeps in, demanding, claiming, hungry. Claiming the feast he’s owed her since the beginning.
Teddy breaks the kiss, his hands cupping her face like she’s the most sacred thing he’s ever held.
He takes one step back. And his hands find the hem of his tunic. He pulls it over his head, shucking it to the side.
His silver ring hangs from his neck on a chain, and for a heartbeat, Seren and Teddy stare at each other. A thousand words passing between them.
He moves to loop the chain over his head, to remove Tali from between them.
“Don’t,” Seren murmurs.
His hands still.
“You don’t have to erase the past for this to exist,” she says.
He nods, leaving the ring that burns against his chest like a reminder of the vow he can’t undo. Doesn’t even know if he wants to.
But he’s snapped from his thoughts by Seren’s hungry eyes, drinking him in.
She bites her bottom lip.
Those beautiful, perfect lips.
The self-control he’s spent decades mastering feels dangerously close to snapping apart around her.
Her honey-brown eyes rake over him, taking in every muscle he’s trained relentlessly, every inch of bare flesh he never thought he’d expose again.
She closes the gap between them, her fingers tracing the hard lines of his abdomen. Tracing up the valley that splits through the middle, until her hand splays across his honed chest.
“I’ve never done this, Teddy. But I don’t want to be treated like I’m breakable. I want you to show me what we could be… what we could have if things were different,” she murmurs softly, though there’s nothing but certainty in her voice.
His breath catches, his chest tightening as he takes her in—really takes her in.
“If you’re asking me for this…” his forehead brushes hers, breath warm against her lips, “I’m going to give it to you properly.”
A beat.
Her breath hitches.
“Not carefully. Not halfway.”
