Chapter 989 – A Shared Quiet
The night over the Hollow was calm — the faint hum of the Stellar Engine pulsing through the walls like a distant heartbeat. Moonlight filtered through the crystal panes of Kael's chambers, spilling silver across the floor and tracing the outlines of three figures gathered on the broad, low bed.
Kael sat back against the carved headboard, his armor long removed, hair loose around his shoulders. Lyria rested beside him, her head on his chest, fingers tracing slow, absent shapes along the scars that mapped his body. Eris lay nearby, propped on one elbow, eyes fixed on the two of them with a look Kael couldn't quite name — soft curiosity mixed with quiet awe.
"You're staring again," Lyria said without lifting her head, her voice faintly amused.
Eris blinked, startled from her thoughts. "I am… still learning how to look without studying."
Kael's lips twitched. "You're doing fine."
Lyria smiled faintly and reached out her free hand, the one not resting over Kael's heart. "Then learn this, too." She took Eris's hand gently and guided it to rest where hers was — over the steady, rhythmic beat beneath Kael's ribs.
Eris froze for a moment, then relaxed as the warmth of living pulse seeped into her fingers. "It's… steady."
"That's Kael," Lyria said softly. "Even when the world falls apart."
Kael gave a quiet, almost embarrassed laugh. "Don't make me sound better than I am."
Lyria tilted her head, smirking. "You're only proving my point."
Eris looked between them, studying the ease of their banter, the unspoken bond that seemed to hum between every word. "This," she said at last, "is what I wished to understand. Comfort. Trust."
Kael's gaze softened. "You're already a part of it, Eris."
The spirit-turned-woman looked down at her hand still over his heart. "Then this is… what love feels like?"
"Part of it," Lyria murmured. "Love has many faces. Sometimes it's this—quiet. Sometimes it's laughter. Sometimes it's pain. But this…" She smiled faintly. "This is one of the good parts."
Eris nodded slowly, as if memorizing the words. "Then I wish to remember it."
"Then you will," Kael said simply.
The silence that followed was not empty — it was warm, wrapped around them like a blanket. Lyria shifted closer, resting her head again on Kael's shoulder. Eris hesitated for a breath, then moved too, laying beside them both, her presence careful but sincere.
Kael's arm extended almost instinctively, drawing both women into the circle of his warmth. For a long while, no one spoke. The world outside their chamber could have vanished for all they cared.
Eris felt the rise and fall of his breathing, the steady weight of Lyria's arm against her own. She closed her eyes and, for the first time, allowed herself to simply feel.
Lyria's voice came softly through the quiet: "You're part of us now, Eris. Whatever comes next, we face it together."
Kael murmured in agreement, his voice low and sure. "Together."
Eris's lips curved into a small, genuine smile — one that reached her eyes. "Together," she echoed, the word tasting new and bright in her mouth.
The night stretched on, peaceful and still, and for the first time in their long and tangled paths, the three of them found something rare.
Rest.