Page 72 of Crowned

The words hit me harder than I expected. I swallow, remembering. The other world. The quiet moments stolen between battles, between uncertainty and impossible choices. The way we’d lain beneath an unfamiliar sky, tracing constellations with our fingertips, whispering about a future we weren’t sure we’d get to have.

I exhale softly. “I wasn’t sure you’d remember.”

His gaze darkens, his expression softening. “I remembereverythingabout you.”

My fingers graze the edge of the table, my throat suddenly tight. “It feels like a lifetime ago.”

“It was.” He steps closer, the warmth of him chasing away the chill in the air. “But not everything has to stay in the past.”

His words wrap around me, gentle yet unshakable, and I realise how much Imissedthis. Not just Vance, butus. The quiet intimacy. The way he’s always understood me, even when I couldn’t understand myself.

I look up at him, at the way the lanterns cast golden light across his sharp cheekbones, the deep blue of his eyes dark and endless in the night. “Vance…”

He reaches for me, his fingers brushing my wrist, his touch careful, reverent. “I know things are different now. But that doesn’t change what we had – what wehave.”

I don’t realise I’m trembling until he pulls me in, his arms strong and unyielding. I press my forehead against his chest, breathing him in, letting the warmth of him seep into my bones.

“We never really got to justbe,” I murmur. “Not then. Not now.”

Vance tilts my chin up, his thumb tracing the curve of my jaw. “Then let’s start now.”

I don’t hesitate. I lift onto my toes, closing the space between us. His lips meet mine in a kiss that’s slow and lingering, tasting of longing and memories and something deeper – something unshaken by time or distance.

His hands slide up my back, steady and sure, pulling me closer as he deepens the kiss. I melt against him, my fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt. It’s not urgent, not desperate. It’s steady, patient. A promise that even after everything, we are stillhere.

When we finally part, his forehead rests against mine, his breath warm against my lips.

“I missed you,” I whisper.

His grip tightens around me, his voice rough with emotion. “You have no idea.”

The words hang between us, thick with meaning, with all the moments unsaid, the time we lost. I look up into his eyes, where the shadows of the past still linger, but are softened by something else – something warmer, somethingreal.

He brushes his thumb over my lips, as if committing the feel of me to memory, and I wonder if he’s trying to capture every fleeting second. I know I am.

Vance leans in, his lips ghosting over my temple, sending a shiver down my spine. “We both needed this, Malia. Torememberwhat we were, what wecouldbe.”

His words linger in the air, and I close my eyes, absorbing them, letting the warmth of his presence settle into my heart. Everything about him is familiar, grounding, and in this moment, I realise just how much I’ve craved this. Cravedhim.

I pull back slightly, looking at the quiet, starlit world around us. “I was so focused on what was ahead, I forgot to live for the moments we already have.”

Vance’s lips curve into a smile, his gaze tender. “It’s easy to forget, when you’ve been carrying the weight of a thousand things.”

I reach up, brushing my fingers through the dark waves of his hair, a silent gesture that speaks volumes. I feel the years of connection between us, the unspoken bond that never fully broke, no matter what worlds or lives we found ourselves in.

“You’re right,” I whisper, my voice almost lost in the wind. “And I don’t want to be alone anymore. Not with you.”

He captures my wrist, pulling me close once more, his lips brushing against my forehead in a soft kiss, like he’s sealing the promise of all the unspoken things.

“I’m right here, Malia,” he murmurs. “And I’ll be here for as long as you’ll let me.”

The weight of his words settles in my chest, a comforting weight, like an anchor in the storm of everything I’ve faced. It’s not about what’s ahead anymore – it’s about what’snow, in this moment, with him.

He pulls back just enough to look at me, his expression soft but with that familiar spark in his eyes. “You want to stay here a little longer?”

I nod, my hand slipping into his. “I’d like that.”

And so we stand there, together, beneath the stars. Time feels like it’s stretched out, allowing us this peace, this moment where everything else fades away, and it’s justus. No expectations, no past or future to worry about. Just a connection that runs deeper than I ever allowed myself to admit.

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