Asenane leaned against the window sill with the cool night air brushing through her black and white shadowy hair. The world outside was nothing like the sleepy, broom-filled ghost town they'd walked through earlier.
Lanterns glowed like scattered stars fallen to street level. Music drifted between the crooked houses. People laughed, danced and shouted greetings across rooftops. Children zoomed through the air on brooms. Elders polished enchanted bristles that hovered obediently around them.
Broomshaven wasn't strange anymore. It was weirdly beautiful. It was a town whose daylight curse didn't dim their spirit. If anything, it made their nights brighter, louder and freer. This place lived upside-down and somehow it still worked.
She finally stepped back and quietly shut the window.
Inside, Vastarael was sitting at the edge of the bed. His fingers were working carefully over the complex glowing runic array floating above his palm, his Seventh Star Control Mystic Circle. Rings of sapphire light rotated around each other, intersecting lines, Xinoraci Runes and geometric shapes refining the flow of his Divinity.
He touched one rune and a spark flared. He touched another and the runic circle twisted violently. Then a sudden burst of searing heat flashed. He jerked back, hissing as his fingers burned black at the tips before instantly repairing themselves. The skin knit together almost too quickly for the pain to fade. Asenane immediately rushed over.
"Veneri, are you okay?"
He dropped back onto the bed with a frustrated groan. "No. Not even close."
The Mystic Circle flickered out, dissolving like shattered glass into the air. He covered his eyes with his forearm.
"I've been stuck at the Seventh Star for six years. And every time I get close to pushing the Eighth Star open, it rejects me, burns me then kicks me back to square one. I actually become a real mage at the eighth instead of… whatever struggling thing I am right now."
Asenane sat beside him. "Is there anything I can help with?"
"No."
It came out sharper than he intended.
"Okay," she said quietly, but the hurt slipped through anyway.
Vastarael cursed under his breath, dropping his arm from his face.
"Asenane, why did you choose to be my beloved?"
Her eyes widened like he stabbed her through the heart not because she was hurt, but because she had not been expecting that question at all. He pushed himself upright, his expression serious in a way Asenane rarely saw outside battlefield strategy.
"I mean it. I know why Adelasta chose me. I know why Elyonari did. Narisva... well, she bullied me into it, but that's her version of affection."
Asenane almost laughed at that.
"But you and I… we didn't have history. Before the Obsidian Runic Tower, we did not meet and yet you dedicated your life and soul to me. And Shimmer was part of it, I know that, but I still want to understand why."
Asenane inhaled shakily.
"You're right. We don't have the history the others do. To you… it probably feels like a forced engagement. It wasn't about duty or desperation or trying to win status. I chose you because… you felt like the right choice, Veneri. Like something inside me recognized you long before my mind did."
She swallowed hard.
"And I know to you, that means nothing. Because if I'm honest… it probably feels like I'm just—"
Vastarael's eyes widened as he leaned forward in alarm.
"Asenane, don't—"
She beat him to it.
"—a concubine compared to the others."
Silence dropped like a stone between them. Vastarael sat up straight so quickly the bed creaked.
"No, Asenane, absolutely not. You're not some ornament in my life. Don't ever think that. Who gave you that thought? What did my mother say to you?"
Asenane shook her head with a sad laugh. "Nothing cruel. Nothing wrong. She just… made me realize how little I've built with you compared to the others. And I want to change that. I'm not letting myself stay in the background. I want us to have memories. Something... real."
Vastarael exhaled slowly. He rubbed his face, then spoke more gently:
"I don't like rushing things. Not with emotions. When I adopted Shimmer and Runner, I didn't push either of them. I waited."
He looked towards the door.
"Shimmer was frozen in grief for three centuries after seeing you die. And Runner lost everything in The Island of Peony. She saw her parents die and escaped. I couldn't miraculously fix their pain. I couldn't force them to trust me. So I just took them with me, step by step, on adventures through the Fallen Bridge."
He smiled faintly.
"We fought monsters together, got lost together and sang terribly together. And somewhere in all of that chaos, they started to open up. And now they're nearly adults."
He turned back to her.
"That's how I do things, Asenane. I care about you. I like you. I'm not pushing you away but I'm not going to fake a lifelong connection overnight. We'll build it at our pace."
Asenane looked at him for a long moment then her shoulders finally relaxed.
"I brought the girls because it's been ages, you know? It's like since we spent time together. They're almost grown now. Their second birthday… I haven't even decided when that's supposed to be. Time's weird when immortality keeps reminding you how far times passes by."
Asenane watched him with a sinking heart. He looked so vulnerable like this. To her, he was a man overwhelmed by destiny, power, responsibility and the constant shadow of sacrifice. He never got a moment for himself unless someone forced it on him. He was scared to admit he wanted to exist for his daughters, not die for the world.
He finally looked up at her.
"And I'm not happy you feel like you're some background character in my life. I let the girls come along because I wanted time with them, yeah, but also..."
He reached up. His hand cupped her cheek so gently she almost didn't feel it at first. His thumb brushed along her skin with a reverence so natural it made her lips part just slightly.
"This is also because I wanted you here. Not because of duty or history or some ancient contract we don't even remember making. Just you."
Before she could respond, he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"We don't have to rush. We've got time. More time than almost anyone in this world. As long as nothing dangerous happens because of my Bane or my Destiny and I have to sacrifice—"
Her hand snapped over his mouth so fast he didn't even finish the sentence.
"No. Don't say that again. Not even as a joke, Veneri."
"..."
"You have a suicidal personality and you know it. You flirt with death and we don't like it. And none of us, none of your beloveds, none of your daughters or of your family are going to let you speak your own end into existence. If you ever talk like that again, I swear on Mintherenia's roots I will—"
She cut herself off with a sharp inhale. And that was when Vastarael slowly dragged his tongue across the palm covering his mouth. He just sat there with a smug little glint in his eyes.
"Seriously?"
He chuckled as he gently moved her hand away.
"Had to break the tension somehow. I won't say it again. But… if it comes to that, I won't hesitate."
"Vastarael—"
She didn't get to finish, because she leaned in, heart pounding, ready to kiss him properly, ready to close the gap...
Knock knock knock.
They both froze.
"Ugh, no way," Asenane muttered under her breath.
From the other side of the door:
"Dad? Mom? Can we go outside and explore? Pleeeease?"
Shimmer yelled. Runner's voice then chimed in.
"And can you guys come with us? The town looks super fun at night!"
Vastarael closed his eyes like a man taking a mortal wound.
"We'll be down in a few minutes," he called back, tone perfectly even despite the clear heartbreak of interrupted intimacy.
"Okay! Hurry!" Shimmer said before their footsteps pattered away.
Asenane stared at the floor with the exhausted disappointment of a woman robbed of a kiss she waited eight millennia for. Vastarael sighed heavily, rubbing his face with both hands.
"Well. There goes the moment."
She shot him a look somewhere between a pout and murderous intent. He chuckled again, softer this time. He brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear.
"We should go. The mood's kind of dead now."
"Yeah," she mumbled, crossing her arms. "Thanks to your daughters."
"Our daughter. Shimmer is the extrovert of the two. Runner doesn't like moving around to explore."
"Not the point."
He leaned forward and pressed one last, grounding kiss to her temple.
"That thing my mother said, whatever she planted in your mind, it's going to twist you all a bit. I can feel it. Believe me, I know how she's like when she gives someone advice or showing ones flaws. And it's going to change everything about you."
He stood up, offering her his hand.
"Asenane, we'll figure it out. The history we don't have? We'll make it. We'll build it. So don't rush."
She took his hand. He pulled her to her feet. And together, they walked to the door to join their daughters.