The word hung in the air between them like a promise. Lia’s cheeks flushed deeper, and for a mont, neither of them moved.
The lamplight seed to dim everything else around them, creating a private world where only they existed.
"Anything," she whispered back, her voice barely audible but carrying absolute certainty.
Ren reached up slowly, giving her every chance to pull away. His fingers traced along her jawline, gentle but deliberate.
Her skin was warm despite the cold air, and he could feel the slight tremor that ran through her at his touch.
"You’re sure?" he asked, his thumb brushing across her cheek.
Instead of answering with words, Lia rose up on her tiptoes, closing the remaining distance between them.
Their lips t in a kiss that was soft at first, tentative, almost questioning. Then her hands found the front of his shirt, pulling him closer, and the kiss deepened.
The kiss wasn’t rushed. It wasn’t wild or desperate. It was slow, deliberate, like two pieces of a puzzle finally deciding to fit.
Lia’s lips brushed his with the gentleness of a prayer, and Ren, despite all his sharpness, all his calculations, lted into it.
His hands moved instinctively—one coming to coil around her neck, thumb grazing her jaw, the other wrapping around her waist and pulling her closer.
She tasted like tea and sothing sweet beneath it, like a mory of sothing warm on a cold day.
And when she breathed his na against his lips, everything else—the arena, the loss, the future—fell away.
When they finally broke apart, both were breathing a little harder. Lia’s eyes sparkled with mischief and sothing deeper.
"For soone who just got thoroughly beaten in combat," she said, her voice playful, "you certainly know how to make a recovery."
Ren chuckled, his forehead resting against hers. "Maybe I was saving my best techniques for after the fight."
"Oh really?" Lia’s eyebrows arched in amusent. "And what other techniques are you hiding?"
"Wouldn’t you like to know?" He grinned, taking her hand as they started walking again toward the dormitories. "Though I should warn you, so of them require more... private training grounds."
"Is that so?" She squeezed his hand, her thumb tracing circles on his palm. "Lucky for you, I’m an excellent training partner. Very dedicated to... thorough practice sessions."
The flirtation continued as they walked, their voices low and warm in the quiet pathways.
By the ti they reached the dormitory building, the tension between them had transford from desperate attraction to sothing comfortable and sweet, like they’d been doing this dance for years instead of minutes.
At the door leading to their room, Ren paused. "My bed?" he asked simply.
Lia nodded, her expression shifting to sothing more serious but no less warm. "I’d like that."
Ren held himself back from fist bumping the skies and screaming at the top of his voice.
Patience, boy!
His bed was small but organized, with two pillows and fluffy sheets. It was sparse but sohow welcoming, very much like Ren himself.
Lia settled onto his bed without invitation, drawing her legs up and watching as he moved around the small space. There was sothing natural about her presence there, like she belonged.
"Co here," she said softly, patting the space beside her.
Ren joined her, and they sat close together, her shoulder pressed against his. For a few minutes, they just existed in comfortable silence, processing everything that had happened.
"Lia," Ren said finally, his voice gentle but serious. "Can I ask you sothing?"
She turned to face him, sensing the shift in his tone. "Of course."
"During the curse siege... sothing happened to you. You changed." His silver eyes searched her face.
"The way you fought, especially when you... when you destroyed that shapeshifting curse. There was so much anger, so much vengeance. I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind."
Lia’s expression grew distant, and she was quiet for a long mont. When she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.
"I was an orphan," she began. "Living on the streets, scavenging, stealing when I had to. I thought that was all there was for ."
She paused, gathering herself. "Then one day, this old man found . He was kind, gentle. He took to the surface, gave a ho, put in school. His na was Henrik."
Ren remained silent, sensing she needed to tell this story in her own way.
"He was barely a carver, not much power, and he was already old when he found . But he taught everything - how to read, how to be strong, how to believe in myself. He was... he was the only family I ever had."
Her voice began to shake slightly. "One day I ca ho from school, calling his na like I always did. He was sitting in his chair in the living room, and I was so happy to see him. I ran over and started telling him about my day, about the physical exercises we’d practiced."
Lia’s hands clenched into fists in her lap. "But sothing was wrong. He wasn’t responding the way he should. His eyes were... empty. Glassy. And there was this sll, this awful sweet sll of decay."
Ren felt his stomach tighten as he realized where this was going.
"I asked him our code phrase," she continued, her voice breaking slightly. "Sothing we’d always done, just a silly thing between us.
"But he couldn’t answer. Because he wasn’t Henrik anymore. He’d been dead for hours, maybe all day, and that thing was just... wearing him. Puppeting his body."
Ren listened to Lia’s voice as if each word she spoke was a needle threading through his chest. The room felt quieter with every sentence; quieter and heavier.
But even as she told her story, even as his chest tightened at the horror of it, another part of his mind was working at full capacity.
’Okay. This is a trauma reveal. High-stakes emotional vulnerability. Respond with empathy, not logic. No jokes. Definitely no jokes. Hold hand? Wait—no. Too soon. Or maybe not soon enough?’
He shifted slightly, trying to gauge the optimal mont for physical contact based on the cadence of her voice and the tremble in her fingers.
When she ntioned the curse puppeting Henrik’s body, sothing cold stabbed into Ren’s gut.
Tears began to form in her eyes, but her voice grew harder. "Although the curse was probably planning to eat too, for so reason, it didn’t do anything to .
"It seed to be waiting, patient, using his body to lure close. When I figured it out and tried to run, it dropped the pretense.
"Started chasing with his face, his voice, telling how much it was going to enjoy consuming the way it had consud him."
"Lia..." Ren reached for her hand.
’That’s it. Maintain eye contact. Nod occasionally. Validate. Empathize. Look invested, not pitiful.’
’You’re not a therapist, you’re... you’re a future lifelong emotional support partner. Crap, that sounded way too intense. Just breathe. She’s not reading your thoughts!’
But Lia was speaking again, and the images she painted were brutal.
"I almost didn’t make it," she whispered. "It caught right at the door. But then Miranda Frostweave appeared - Mirabella’s older sister. She killed it easily, saved . But I had to see... I had to see what was left of Henrik after it was done feeding."
Ren swallowed thickly, already cataloging every word. Every detail. Because even though he wanted to comfort her now, he also wanted to understand her better, deeply, truly.
He wanted to morize the architecture of her pain so that he would never, ever, trample over it unknowingly.
A few tears finally spilled over, tracking down her cheeks. "So when I saw that shapeshifter during the siege, pretending to be soone else, using soone’s appearance to hurt people... all I could think about was Henrik’s face. His kind, gentle face being used by sothing evil."
Ren pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her as she trembled slightly. "I’m so sorry," he murmured against her hair. "I’m so sorry you had to go through that."
"I beat it to death," she said, her voice muffled against his chest. "I kept hitting it even after it stopped moving because I wanted to make sure it could never use anyone’s face again."
He expected her to collapse, but she didn’t. Her voice, muffled and fierce against his chest, was still that sa fla.
"I beat it to death," she said. "I kept hitting it even after it stopped moving because I wanted to make sure it could never use anyone’s face again."
Ren tilted her chin up gently. His hand cupped her cheek.
’Now. Complint. Ground her strength in sothing aningful. Relate it to Henrik. Acknowledge her pain but remind her she’s more than it. That should do the trick... probably.’
"He would be proud of you," Ren said softly. "Henrik. He’d be proud of the woman you beca, of how you protected other people from what happened to both of you."
Tears welled again, but she smiled. And that smile hit Ren harder than any rune, any attack. Because it was a smile through pain. A smile earned. A smile entrusted.
"You think so?"
"I know so."
This ti when he kissed her, it wasn’t careful or calculated. It was slow and sure, but unfiltered.
A kiss not born from strategy, but from understanding. It was a silent contract. That she was seen. That her pain mattered. That her scars didn’t make her less, but more. It tasted of salt, but felt like warmth.
His mind, always so busy, went almost silent during that kiss.
’...Okay. Emotional bond has reached an estimated 67.4% increase. Affection reciprocity confird. Oxytocin levels likely elevated. Damn it. Stop calculating. Just...’
When they broke apart, Lia nestled against his shoulder, her breathing softening. They sat there for long, quiet minutes. No more planning, no more strategy.
Eventually, Ren stirred and broke the silence with a mischievous glint in his eyes. But in truth, it was just a smokescreen, because he still couldn’t calm his racing heart.
"I should probably shower," he said, running a hand through his hair. "I’m still covered in arena dust and frost."
He stood, paused, then glanced down at her—expression one part daring, one part amused, and another part internally screaming into a pillow.
"Wanna shower together?"
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