"I want to be," I admitted.
"But I'm not sure I remember how. Everything's been in survival mode for so long that I've forgotten what it's like to just... be with you. Not plotting or planning or preparing, but just being."
Kael moved to sit beside me.
"I miss that too. Miss the simplicity of how things used to be. Before crowns and responsibilities and impossible choices."
"Can we get it back?" I asked.
"Or is it gone forever?"
"I don't know," he said honestly.
"But I'd like to try. Later, we took Alaric home. After we deal with Seraphine. After the immediate crises are resolved—I'd like to try to find our way back to each other."
"And if we can't?"
"Then we'll build something new," he said, taking my hand.
"We're not the same people we were five years ago. Or even five mont
