The moment Liara closed her eyes, the world shifted.
She was no longer in Cassian's arms. No longer wrapped in warmth or peace. The air here was cold—thick with the scent of metal and rain. The dream-realm again. But it was different this time. Closer. Sharper.
The shadows no longer veiled him.
She stood on a bridge of obsidian stone, suspended in a void lit by threads of starlight. Beneath her bare feet, runes pulsed in time with her heartbeat.
And at the far end of the bridge, he waited.
Him.
No longer a figure half-lost in fog, no longer just a glint of silver hair and haunting eyes. He stepped into the starlight fully now—tall, sculpted like a statue carved from forgotten memory, his eyes the color of storms over firelit water.
Power coiled around him like a second skin. His presence pressed against her chest, her mind, her very soul—demanding to be recognized.
"You've crossed deeper," he said, voice low, velvet wrapped in danger. "I felt you."
Liara's breath hitched. "How… how do you know me?"
Kael took a step forward. The bridge trembled.
"Because you called to me. Even when you didn't mean to."
He was close now. Close enough that she could feel the static in the air, the way her skin ached near him—hungering, remembering.
"I know your soul," he whispered. "Even if your heart hasn't caught up yet."
She stared at him, torn between awe and resistance. "I was with someone tonight."
His expression didn't falter—but his eyes darkened.
"And yet… you're here."
Kael reached up and touched her face—fingers brushing her temple, then her lips.
Her knees almost buckled at the contact. It wasn't like Cassian's steady warmth or Aeron's fierce protection. Kael's touch burned—ancient, inevitable, like the return of a missing half.
"You are bound to the seal," he said, voice tightening. "But part of you… was once bound to me."
"I don't understand," she whispered.
He leaned in, his breath brushing her ear.
"You will."
And then he kissed her.
Not gently.
Not carefully.
But like someone tasting memory itself—desperate, defiant, destined.
The kiss sent a shockwave through the bridge. The runes ignited. Liara gasped against his mouth, her hands rising of their own will to clutch at him, to pull him closer—
Then the world fractured.
She awoke in a cold sweat, Cassian still asleep beside her.
But Kael's fire still burned on her lips.
And for the first time, she didn't want it to fade.