Dinner was over, but the echo of laughter still lingered in the air.Selene stood, thanking Karn's parents for the meal, and Lyra immediately shouted, "Don't forget to take him with you — he's house-trained now!"
Karn groaned. "Lyra—"But Selene only smiled and slipped her hand into his. "Come on. Walk me to the garden."
The Kael garden wasn't ordinary. Moonlight spilled across silver-leafed trees and flowers that glowed faintly in the dark. The air smelled of jasmine and something older, something almost magical.
They walked slowly, hand brushing against hand, until Selene finally stopped beneath the old sun-scarred oak.
"Karn…" Her voice was softer now, stripped of the teasing from earlier. "Your family… they're amazing. Loud, impossible, but… amazing."
"They're a pain," Karn muttered, though there was a smile hiding in his words. "But… yeah. They're mine."
Selene tilted her head, looking at him in a way that made him feel like she was peeling away every defense he'd built. "You don't realize it, do you? How you look at them. You act like they're chaos, but you'd fight the whole world for them."
Karn glanced away. "That's just… what you do for family."
"And for the one you choose to be your family?" she asked quietly.
His chest tightened. "Selene…"
She stepped closer, so close the moonlight caught in her hair like threads of gold. "I know you have… parts of your life you don't talk about. Scars you keep hidden. But Karn… you don't have to hide them from me."
He swallowed, feeling the weight of her words sink deep. "You say that now. You don't know the half of it."
"Then show me," she whispered. "Piece by piece. I'm not going anywhere."
For a moment, they just stood there — no teasing, no laughter, only the sound of night and the faint rush of the wind.
Karn's hand moved almost on its own, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "You're… dangerous, Selene."
She smiled faintly. "And you're mine."
They stayed like that until Lyra's voice shattered the moment from the balcony above."HEY, ROMEO! MOM SAYS DON'T STAY OUT TOO LATE!"
Karn groaned. Selene laughed. And together, they walked back inside, both knowing that something had shifted — something deeper than either of them was ready to admit out loud.