Tuf felt like a fool.
He had truly messed up.
He stepped toward Luna once more, arms reaching to hold her, but she resisted, pushing him away with trembling hands.
"Kitten, please…" his voice cracked with desperation, a contrast to the usual playful tone he carried. There was no teasing now. No grin. Just raw, aching sincerity. "Don't push me away."
And just like that, Luna broke.
The sobs she'd kept buried for far too long finally escaped her lips as she let herself collapse into his arms, her body shaking with grief and exhaustion. She clung to him like he was the only thing tethering her to sanity, because maybe he was.
There had once been a time when they could love each other freely. A time when they didn't have to hide, didn't have to pretend. A time before titles and responsibilities and the weight of eternity crushed the fragile things they held sacred. It was a simple life.
Luna still remembered it all as if it were yesterday.
But deep down, she couldn't help but wonder, had he forgotten? Had he, like the rest of their siblings, moved on from the pain they once shared? From their father's sorrow? From the silence of that cursed cylinder?
She looked up at him, her chest aching. Her brother. Her secret. Her greatest sin and her greatest love.
"I can't keep watching him break, cub," she whispered, voice wrecked with anguish. "I can't stand there and let him suffer through another century. It's unbearable. I don't know how he manages to live through the pain. But I can't… not anymore. It'll drive me mad."
"I'm sorry," Tuf murmured, pressing gentle kisses to her forehead, her eyes, her lips, anywhere his mouth could reach to soothe the storm inside her. He pulled her into a deeper embrace, holding her like he'd never let go. "I'm sorry I messed everything up. I'll fix it. I swear I'll fix it."
He wiped away her tears with trembling fingers, overwhelmed by the sight of her crying, his Luna, the one woman he would raze the world for. And this, this heartbreak on her face, was his fault.
He had done this.
Because of Naelira.
He knew Luna would never be replaced. No one could ever rival her place in his heart. Not even the loyal, unwavering Naelira. But in his effort to repay that loyalty, he had wounded the only person who truly mattered.
And he couldn't bear it.
Not if her pain was the price.
Because this woman, this fierce, aching goddess in his arms, was the only one he had ever truly loved. The only one he would ever love. Just like their mother had been to their father, Luna was the thread of his very soul.
For her, Tuf would play every role.
The monster. The manipulator. The villain. The fool.
He would be anything, everything, if it meant she would never cry like this again.
He kissed her once more, lips brushing hers with a tenderness that begged for forgiveness.
But she didn't respond.
And that silence… was agony.
He had just shattered her heart by protecting someone else.
And gods, he regretted it more than anything he'd ever done.
He rested his forehead against hers, breathing her in, his voice a whisper soaked in anguish. "Kitten, please. Don't shut me out. Give me a chance to fix the mess I made…"
His eyes locked with hers, dark, stormy, pleading.
"I love you."
And with just those three words, Luna's walls crumbled.
The pain, the ache, the sight of him standing between her and another woman, gone. Just like that. He still loved her.
That was all she needed to breathe again.
When he kissed her this time, she responded, fiercely, desperately. She deepened the kiss, clinging to him as if trying to breathe him in.
And in that moment, she forgave him.
Maybe not everything.
But enough.
"I love you too," she whispered between kisses, her voice trembling… but her heart slowly stitching itself back together, thread by aching thread.
Gently, Tuf lifted Luna into his arms and carried her back to the bed.
And once more, they became one.
But this time, Tuf was different.
This time, he was soft. Gentle. Reverent.
His every kiss, every touch, every slow, deep thrust was a silent vow. A declaration of love. A quiet apology whispered not in words, but in the way he cradled her body like she was something sacred. Something he could never afford to lose again.
He murmured, "I'm sorry," against her skin as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. "I'm sorry," with each breath against her lips. A prayer. A promise. That he would never hurt her like that again.
And they whispered "I love you" to each other like confessions. Words that lived only within these four walls, within this room that belonged to them and them alone. The one place in the world where they were allowed to be more than blood. More than duty.
Just them.
Just love.
"Cub…" Luna called him softly, her voice breaking with pleasure. Tuf was moving inside her, slow and deep. She cradled his face in her hands, moaning against his lips, then kissed him again, biting gently as her legs tightened around him.
"Will you be mad… hahhh… if I tell you… I'm jealous of her?"
Tuf froze mid-thrust.
"You're jealous?" he asked, stunned. "Of Naelira?"
He pulled back just enough to look into her eyes. "Why would you be?"
"Because she gets to spend every day with you… Because she can love you openly… and I can't." Her voice cracked. And for the third time that night, tears spilled from Luna's eyes.
Tuf's heart shattered.
He had dreamed of this. Wished for it, foolishly. That one day she'd show a hint of jealousy for the women who tried to touch pieces of him that would never belong to them.
That even just once, she would show she couldn't stand seeing him with another. But now, looking into her eyes and seeing that pain, that longing, he hated it.
He despised it.
"Kitten, no." He kissed her tears away, hand cradling her cheek as he moved gently inside her again. "You don't have to be jealous of anyone. She's important to me because she's one of my people, because she's been loyal. But she's not you. She'll never be you. No one will ever take your place."
He leaned down, brushing his lips against hers.
"Oh gods, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for making you feel that way."
"You're still mine, right?" Luna asked in a broken whisper, her black and golden eyes searching his.
Tuf didn't hesitate. Not even for a breath.
"Of course I am," he said. "I'm only yours. Always yours. Forever yours."
And Luna smiled, soft and relieved.
The ugly feeling that had burrowed into her chest vanished with those words. That shameful jealousy she had never dared speak of… finally melted away.
Tuf would sleep with countless women. He'd play, he'd tease, he'd entertain. But his heart, that dark, dangerous, beautiful heart, had always been hers.
Just as hers had always been his.
Because they belonged to each other in ways no one else could ever understand. And they always would.
"Don't be jealous of her… or of anyone else, okay, kitten?" Tuf whispered, kissing her deeply again.
"But I thought you wanted me to be jealous," Luna teased softly, the corner of her mouth curling into a smirk.
"I did," he murmured against her lips. "But I'm taking it back. I don't like it. Not one damn bit."
Then she deepened the kiss, and with a wicked smile, wrapped her legs tighter around him, pulling him deeper, grounding them both in the pleasure that only they could give each other.
He groaned against her mouth, moving slow, then faster. Promising things no words could hold.
And as he worshiped her all over again, Tuf made a silent vow to himself.
'Never again.
Never again will I let her feel like she's not enough.
Because she's everything.'
And she was.
She is.
His Luna.
His moon.
His forever.