The fading light pierces through the branches,
golden and soft.
They are still in the clearing, alone.
The whole world fades away around them.
Kael still looks at her as if she were something... sacred.
A danger.
A temptation.
And an answer he didn't want to find.
He is still close, too close.
His forehead against hers, their breath mingling.
"Lunaya...
Do you understand what you're doing to me?"
His voice is hoarse, warm, like a fire licking at her skin.
"I could lose myself."
She slides her fingers down his neck.
He trembles.
"Are you really losing yourself?" she whispers.
He laughs softly, a broken sound.
"Not like that.
Not... gently.
I'm talking about the other kind of loss.
The kind where I don't think anymore.
Where I don't listen to anything anymore.
Where I take you in my arms and..."
He stops short.
Too honest.
Too dangerous.
Lunaya places a hand on his chest,
right where his heart is beating too fast.
"What if I don't want you to stop?"
Kael closes his eyes.
A powerful shiver runs through his entire body.
He leans a little closer to her.
"Heart...
Don't say that.
I'm serious.
I'm... on the edge."
She leans slightly toward him, their lips just inches apart.
"So, Kael...
Tell me to stop.
Look at me and say it."
He opens his eyes.
Golden.
Burning.
"I can't," he admits in a trembling voice.
Lunaya's fingers slip into his hair.
He sighs, almost painfully.
Their foreheads press closer together.
Their noses brush against each other.
His warm breath descends on her mouth.
Lunaya feels her own heart racing.
"See? she whispers.
You're not losing me.
You're finding me."
Kael almost moans, a low,
deep sound that he immediately stifles.
"Lunaya...
You're driving me crazy."
She smiles slowly.
"You're the one who called me ''Heart''
I'm just responding."
He runs a hesitant, trembling hand over her hip.
He doesn't pull.
He doesn't impose himself.
He asks.
And his breath breaks:
"Tell me to stop.
Or I won't be able to hold back any longer."
Lunaya brings her mouth close to his.
They brush against each other.
Not a kiss yet.
A shared breath.
A burning sensation.
"I don't want you to stop."
Kael tilts his head back, overwhelmed.
"By the Moons...
Heart... don't say that..."
She takes his hand.
Pulls him toward her.
Kael's body stiffens... before relaxing completely.
He slides his forehead into her neck, breathing deeply.
An intimate gesture.
Instinctive.
Animalistic.
Devastating.
"Can you feel that? he whispers against her skin.
What you're doing to me?"
She shivers when his lips brush her collarbone,
barely, like a breath.
"Yes."
He presses himself against her, completely,
as if trying to soak it all in.
Not to possess her.
To exist with her.
His voice is strangled:
"Give me a moment...
Just...
this."
She slides her arms around him,
her fingers against his back.
"Take all the time you need."
He begins to tremble slightly.
Not with desire.
Not with longing.
With relief.
"I...
I didn't want you to be afraid of me."
She pulls back just enough to be able to look him in the eyes.
"Kael.
I've never been afraid of you."
He looks at her, silent, still breathing quickly.
His thumb brushes her jawline.
He moves closer, slowly.
Very slowly.
Their lips almost touch, barely a breath, a warmth,
a shiver that runs through them both.
Kael whispers:
"If I kiss you now...
I won't stop."
Lunaya replies, her voice low and burning:
"Then kiss me when you're ready to not stop."
He closes his eyes.
His forehead falls against hers.
He laughs softly, broken, happy, lost.
"Heart...
You're going to destroy me."
She hugs him.
He finally embraces her too.
Not a kiss.
Not yet.
An intimate moment.
Strong.
Vibrant.
A moment when two hearts align for the first time.
And that moment... is more powerful than a kiss.