Maria forze seeing the exhausted look in his eyes.
Cassian stepped closer still.
"So many nights I sat beside a dying fire in foreign lands… wondering why the only person who ever understood me had suddenly vanished from my life."
His voice dropped almost to a whisper.
"I believed you had forgotten me."
Maria shook her head slowly.
"I wrote to you every day."
Cassian's mouth curved into a bitter smile.
"And I wrote to you every night princess."
The revelation hung between them like a blade.
Something cruel had separated them.
Something deliberate.
But neither of them spoke of it.
Instead the silence grew deeper.
Maria looked away again.
"You should return to the carriage, Prince Cassian."
Her voice was quiet now.
"This conversation has gone far enough."
Cassian's hand suddenly caught her wrist.
The movement was firm but not harsh.
"You still run away when things become difficult."
Maria turned sharply.
"I am not running."
"You are."
His gaze burned into hers.
"You always have."
Maria's eyes flashed with anger.
"And what of you?"
Her voice rose.
"You left me behind without a single word and now you dare accuse me of cowardice?"
Cassian's grip tightened slightly.
"I left because I feared losing you."
The confession stunned her into silence.
"I knew if I saw your face before the war…"
His voice faltered.
"I would never have found the strength to leave."
Maria's breath caught.
"I love you maria" he spoke in a broken voice
For a long moment neither of them moved.
The forest seemed to hold its breath with them.
Cassian slowly lifted his hand to her cheek.
Maria should have stepped away.
She should have reminded herself of the pain he had caused.
But she did neither.
His touch was warm against her cold skin.
Too familiar.
Too dangerous.
"You were never meant to stand so far from me," he murmured softly.
Maria's heart pounded violently in her chest.
"You speak as though nothing has changed."
Cassian leaned closer.
"Nothing that matters."
Maria could feel his breath now.
Warm.
Unsteady.
"You once promised," he said quietly, "that no matter how cruel the world became… you would remain beside me."
Maria whispered back,
"And you promised you would never leave."
Their eyes met.
For a moment the world seemed to narrow into the small space between them.
Years of longing.
Anger.
Fear.
Love that neither of them had managed to bury.
All of it rose to the surface at once.
Cassian's voice dropped to a whisper.
"Tell me to leave, Maria."
She did not answer.
"Tell me to walk away and I will."
Her lips parted slightly.
But no words came.
Cassian searched her eyes one last time.
Then the fragile restraint between them finally shattered.
He pulled her toward him.
Maria gasped softly as his lips met hers beneath the shadowed trees.
The kiss was not gentle.
It carried the weight of two years of longing and unanswered questions.
Maria's hands instinctively grasped the front of his coat as though the earth itself might fall away beneath her feet.
The forest wind stirred around them.
The leaves whispered overhead.
And for a moment the world beyond the dark trees ceased to exist.