The night was thick with tension, the kind that hung heavy in the air and made every breath feel labored. Aerin stood on the grounds of the forest, her eyes scanning the dark horizon. Mara had left her after their training to research in her books. She had muttered something about a royal lineage that could shape any magic, any source, to whatever they wanted. Her family.

She scanned her surroundings, an ache building in her chest. She could still feel the sting of betrayal, Elden’s words echoing in her mind. The memory of his confession, his hidden allegiance to the king, was a wound that refused to heal.

“Stay vigilant,” she murmured to herself, trying to focus on the task at hand. Her magic felt raw and painful. The lack of control made her tired, so she closed her eyes. It spoke to her. Not in words, it just felt like a small caress of her body. It wanted to say something. She shut her eyes harder, focusing. Her magic roiled trying to break free. Then silence.

She sighed as she sat on an old tree trunk. The tall grass around her, covering her feet. Her head fell back as she looked up at the sky. How could he have stabbed her in the back like this? The king was relentless, he would stop at nothing. If he wanted her dead and Elden wouldn’t do it? Someone else would. Her thoughts started to spiral.

A rustling in the shadows caught her attention. She stood and turned, her magic crackling to life in her hands, ready to strike. But instead of an enemy, she saw a figure emerge from the darkness. A tall male, walking too slow to mean any harm. Her hands closed in on her dagger at her side.

The air was cold with the scent of pine and dew, but it was the familiar figure sitting at the far end of the clearing that made Aerin freeze in her tracks.

Kael Dravenfell.

She hadn’t seen him in years, not since she was a small girl, barely more than a shadow slipping through the halls of her childhood home. But there he was, looking every bit the warrior she’d imagined him to become. His dark, curly hair fell messily over his forehead, a stark contrast to the sharpness of his face and the intensity in his dark eyes. He was taller now, broader, with an air of confidence and purpose that made it impossible not to notice him.

Aerin’s heart skipped a beat as their eyes met, a flicker of recognition passing between them. Kael.

His movements were fluid and commanding as he strode to her. He crossed the clearing in a few strides, his eyes never leaving hers. “Aerin,” he said, his voice deep and smooth, carrying the weight of their shared past and the years between them.

“Kael,” Aerin managed, her voice barely above a whisper. The years had been kind to him—too kind, she thought bitterly, considering the darkness she had walked through to get here.

Kael’s lips quirked into a small, knowing smile. “It’s been a long time.”

Aerin nodded, her mind racing to catch up. “I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

“Fate works in strange ways,” he replied, his gaze flicking to the edge of Yaveria.

Kael stood still, letting the silence stretch between them. His presence felt larger than life, dominating the space around him. Aerin could feel her pulse quicken, not out of fear, but from the sheer weight of him being there—so close, so real. His dark, penetrating eyes searched hers, as if trying to sift through the years of separation and find the girl he once knew.

He moved closer, and Aerin noticed the way he carried himself, a slow, deliberate confidence in every step. His shoulders were broad under the worn leather of his coat, and the moonlight cast shadows across the sharp angles of his face. His breath was steady, controlled, and each exhale seemed to mingle with the mist hanging in the cold night air.

Aerin’s fingers twitched at her sides, her body tensing despite herself. Her magic stirred within her, a faint buzz under her skin, but she held it back, suppressing the urge to let it flare out. She didn’t trust it—just as she wasn’t sure if she could trust him.

Kael’s eyes didn’t leave hers. His eyes was intense, but there was no rush, no impatience in his movements. He watched her as if he had all the time in the world, as if he knew something she didn’t. His chest rose and fell with an almost inaudible calm, as if he was utterly at ease in her presence. But Aerin knew better. She could see the tension in the set of his jaw, the tightness in his stance. He wasn’t as unaffected as he seemed.

The years had changed him—his face was more weathered now, a faint scar trailing down his cheek, disappearing down his neck. His hair, once unruly in her memory, now framed his face in thick, careless curls. The light breeze shifted the strands, brushing them across his forehead. He reached up, his hand moving with a kind of rough grace, pushing the hair back, his eyes never leaving hers. She had never forgotten him, she had known him a long time ago. A life she barely remembered, but she never forgot about him.

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He looked at her like he could see right through her, like he could read the doubts, the anger, the mistrust swirling inside her mind. Aerin’s breath caught in her throat. He had no right to look at her like that—like he had any idea of what she had been through. Elden’s betrayal was still twisting inside her like a jagged knife. She had given herself to him, she had trusted him. The memory flashed over her eyes leaving a faint mist over them.

The silence between them crackled with unspoken words. Aerin wanted to say something, anything to break the tension that wrapped around them like a living thing. But her throat tightened, and all she could do was take in the sight of him.

Kael shifted slightly, his hand falling back to his side, fingers brushing against the hilt of the sword strapped to his waist. He glanced down for a fraction of a second, as if considering his next move, before lifting his eyes back to hers. His lips parted, as if he was about to speak, but he hesitated. A slow breath escaped him, a hint of frustration tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"You’ve changed," he finally said, his voice a low rumble, more a statement than a question.

Aerin swallowed hard, her mouth suddenly dry. "So have you." She didn’t know why the words felt like an accusation. Maybe because he stood there, so calm, so put together, while she felt like she was barely holding herself together.

Kael took another step forward, closing the gap between them until they were only a few feet apart. The warmth of his body reached her despite the cool night air, and she could hear the faintest hitch in his breathing now, a sign that he wasn’t entirely unaffected either. His eyes flicked to her hands, where her magic had briefly sparked before. His lips twitched, almost imperceptibly, as if he was remembering something.

"You’ve grown stronger," he murmured, and his eyes lingered on her for a moment longer before shifting, scanning the treeline as if searching for hidden dangers. Or perhaps just trying to gather his thoughts.

Aerin didn’t reply. She couldn’t. Not with him standing so close, not with the memories of the girl she had been flashing through her mind—memories of a simpler time, before the betrayals, before the deaths, the killing, before the power that now hummed within her.

He was watching her again, his eyes dark and unreadable, yet somehow filled with something familiar. Recognition.

She wanted to look away, to turn and run, but something kept her rooted to the spot. Perhaps it was the weight of their shared past, or the magnetic pull of the man before her. She could feel her heart racing, her blood roaring in her ears, and yet... she didn’t move.

Kael tilted his head, just slightly, a slow exhale escaping his lips. “I didn’t expect to find you here.”

Aerin’s gaze sharpened. "You didn’t find me," she replied softly, though her voice carried a hardness that even she could hear. "You never looked."

The air between them thickened, the tension almost suffocating. Kael’s expression flickered, a brief flash of something in his eyes before his mask of calm returned. He nodded, once, accepting her words without argument, and that simple gesture made her chest ache with something she couldn’t name.

This wasn’t the reunion she had imagined. But nothing about her life had gone as planned.

As he looked at her, the memories, the pain surfaced.

Aerin’s chest tightened as she looked at him, the man who had once been her closest friend, the one who should have been there when her world shattered. Her voice felt stuck in her throat, as if the words she wanted to say had been trapped there for years, festering like an open wound.

"Where were you?" Her voice came out hoarse, barely more than a whisper. Her hands trembled at her sides, her magic sparking faintly as the raw emotions surged up, refusing to be pushed back any longer.

Kael stilled, his brows furrowing, but he didn’t respond. His silence only made the ache in her chest worse.

"You weren't there, Kael," she continued, her voice breaking, the sorrow she had carried for so long finally coming to the surface. "When everything fell apart—when my family was murdered, when I had no one left—I waited for you. I waited, and you never came."

Her throat tightened painfully, and she felt the sting of tears burning her eyes, though she refused to let them fall. She wouldn’t give him that. Not after all this time. Not after he had left her alone in the darkest moment of her life.

"We were children together," Aerin whispered, her voice trembling. "Do you remember? Playing in the courtyards, fighting with those ridiculous wooden swords, making promises that we’d always protect each other? I counted on you, Kael. I thought—" Her breath hitched, and she had to stop, her chest heaving as she tried to steady herself. "I thought I mattered enough to you that you would come. But you didn’t."

Her magic flickered at her fingertips, a faint shimmer of energy she struggled to contain, but she didn’t care. Let it rage, let it burn—it was nothing compared to the pain she felt inside.

Kael’s face was still, but his eyes… His eyes held a depth of sorrow she hadn’t expected to see. But it wasn’t enough. Nothing he could feel would ever be enough to match the grief that had hollowed her out, the emptiness that had consumed her when her family was taken from her.

"You didn’t just leave me," she said, her voice sharper now, each word cutting like a blade. "You abandoned me. Your family. You were supposed to be there, Kael. You were supposed to—" Her voice cracked, and she turned away, pressing a hand to her forehead, her breath ragged as the memories rushed back, overwhelming her.

The courtyards where they had laughed, the sound of his laughter echoing in her ears as they chased each other under the sun. The moments when she had looked at him with complete trust, believing that no matter what happened, he would always stand by her side.

But when the darkness came, when the blood was spilled, he wasn’t there. He had vanished from her life like a ghost, leaving her to face the horrors alone.

"I missed you," she whispered, her voice barely audible now, as if saying the words aloud made them too real. "All my life, Kael, I missed you. And I kept telling myself that maybe—maybe you didn’t know. Maybe you were too far away, too trapped by something I couldn’t understand. But deep down, I knew. You weren’t there because you chose not to be."

She finally looked back at him, her eyes wet but defiant. "I was alone. You could have been there. But you weren’t."

The silence between them was heavy, suffocating, and Aerin could feel her heart pounding in her chest, her entire body trembling as the weight of her confession hung in the air. She had kept these feelings buried for so long, locked away in the darkest corners of her mind. But now, standing before him, the man who had once been her world, she could no longer hold it in.

Kael's face was unreadable, but there was something in his eyes—a flicker of regret, of guilt—that made her heart twist painfully. But it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough to undo the years of suffering, of loneliness.

"I needed you," she whispered, her voice breaking one last time. "And you weren’t there.”