Chapter 321: I love you
(This Chapter contains their POVs, this time on purpose)
Kael’s POV
I drifted in and out of sleep, the edges of my mind hazy, but something anchored me.
A touch. Gentle. Soft. Fingers threading lightly through my hair.
And then,
A voice.
Her voice.
Low. Fragile. So quiet I almost believed it belonged to the dream I was having.
"I love you, Kael."
The words slipped into my half-conscious mind and shattered everything. My breath caught in my throat. For a moment, I thought I’d imagined it, because I’d kill to make it reality. I’d sell my soul, burn my kingdom, bleed my fists dry just to hear her say those words and mean them.
But then the voice carried on, whispering apologies, broken confessions—words blurred into nothing, because my whole body was locked on those first three.
I love you.
God. Did she really say it? Or had I finally lost my grip on what was real and what was the torment of my own head?
The haze snapped when I woke fully. My lashes parted heavy, my chest tight, and the first thing I saw was her.
Aria. Awake. Her hand resting lightly on my face.
Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of mine open, surprise flickering across her face like she’d been caught. And in that moment, staring at her, I felt the ground tilt beneath me.
Was it real?
Had I heard right?
Or was it just another cruel dream I’d wake from alone?
Her hand froze on me.
I blinked at her, my mind still fogged with sleep, but my chest was caving in with the weight of what I thought I heard. My pulse thundered in my ears, begging me to say something, anything—yet I couldn’t.
What if it hadn’t been real?
What if I’d only dreamed it?
If I asked, and she looked at me with those tired, hollow eyes and told me no, she hadn’t said a damn thing... I think that would destroy me more than the silence ever could.
So I stared for a moment, my mind still catching up. And she stared back, her lips parting like she wanted to speak but wasn’t sure if she should.
But then her hand slipped from my face.
It was such a small thing. Just a shift of her fingers, the loss of warmth against my skin. But it tore through me like someone had ripped open my chest with bare hands.
No.
Not again.
Not after I swore I heard her whisper those words, words I’ve been starving for, words I’ve buried under every cruel thing I ever spat at her. If I let her pull away now, if I let her take them back with her silence, I’d go fucking insane.
"Aria," I rasped, but it came out broken, strangled, like my throat had been cut.
She wouldn’t meet my eyes, like she was already retreating into herself again, curling into that shell of grief where I couldn’t reach her. And I... I couldn’t take it.
I caught her wrist before she could hide from me completely, my grip trembling, desperate. Her pulse jumped under my thumb, and it felt like proof she was still here, still mine somehow, even if she didn’t want to be.
"Say it again." The words ripped out of me, hoarse, almost a growl. My chest was heaving, my lungs refusing to work right.
Her eyes widened, her breath hitched.
I leaned closer, my forehead almost brushing hers, my voice shaking with the kind of pleading I’d never allowed myself to give another soul. "Please, Aria. Say it again. Don’t—don’t leave me wondering if I dreamed it. Don’t fucking do that to me. I’ll go insane."
I searched her face like a man drowning, clawing for air. "Tell me you said it. Tell me I didn’t make it up in my head."
ARIA
My heart stopped.
He heard me.
The second his eyes locked on mine, I knew. The way his voice cracked, the way his fingers clung to me like I was the only thing anchoring him to this world—he’d heard every word.
My chest pounded so violently it was hard to breathe, like my heart was trying to break free from my ribs and escape. I didn’t know whether to run, to cry, to laugh hysterically. A part of me wished I could vanish, rewind time, swallow those words back down. Because now they were real. Exposed.
This wasn’t even my first time saying those words to a man and yet I was suddenly back in middle school trying to confess to my school crush.
I tried to pull away... instinct, fear, the weight of everything I’d hidden crashing down on me. But he caught my hand before I could. His grip wasn’t rough, but it shook, trembling with something that made my throat tighten.
Then he pleaded.
His voice... God. I’d never heard Kael sound like that before. Not angry, not cold, not commanding—just broken. Just desperate. Like if I didn’t give him this, he’d shatter right here in front of me.
"Please, Aria."
I saw it in his eyes, the kind of torment that mirrored my own. It was pouring out of him, in his trembling hands, his uneven breathing, the way he leaned into me like I was oxygen and he’d been suffocating all his life.
And suddenly I knew. He deserved to hear it. He deserved to know the truth I’d been burying under fear, regret, and grief.
My throat burned, my chest squeezed, but I let it out. No whispers this time. No hiding.
"I love you," I said it again, my voice breaking, my whole body trembling with it.
His green eyes widened, and I pressed on before fear could silence me again.
"I love you, Kael. So much I can hardly breathe."
The words hung between us, raw and naked, tearing me apart even as they mended something deep inside me.
For a second, he didn’t move.
He just stared at me. Those dark eyes fixed on mine like I’d cracked his ribs open and shoved my heart into his hands.
The silence stretched, heavy, unbearable. The weight of everything I’d just said came crashing back down on me, and panic clawed its way up my throat. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Why was he just staring at me like that?
My mouth parted, ready to scream at him, to demand he say something... anything... before the silence destroyed me.
But I never got the chance.
Because his lips crashed down on mine, fierce and starving, like he’d been holding himself back for years and finally broke. There was no hesitation, just raw, brutal need.
His weight caged me into the mattress, his hands gripping like he was terrified I’d slip away if he didn’t anchor me. His breath was ragged, almost frantic, and I could taste the wreckage of everything between us in the way he kissed me... like punishment, like apology, like salvation.
It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t tender. It was Kael tearing himself open against my mouth, pouring every unsaid word, every sleepless night, every ounce of torment into me. And God help me, I gave it all back, because there was no choice, because I’d already fallen, and he was dragging me down with him.
KAEL
For a second, I swore I’d imagined it. My mind refused to believe it, because hearing those words ’I love you’ from her lips was like being handed oxygen after years of drowning. I had to remind myself this wasn’t a dream, wasn’t another cruel trick of my head. This was real. She said it. She loves me. Aria loves me.
Before I even realized what I was doing, I was on her, pouncing like a man starved, crushing my mouth to hers. Those lips. The same ones that just gave me the only words I’ve ever truly needed in my life.
My chest burned, my heart roared like it was trying to tear out of me, and when she threaded her fingers through my hair, I swear I nearly lost it completely. Every emotion I’d been shoving down for months surged all at once, grief, guilt, hunger, love so violent it scared me. I loved her. God, I loved her too much.
When I finally tore back, gasping, I saw her face blurred through tears. Tears. Mine. I hadn’t even realized until she cupped my face and whispered it like a prayer while she wiped my face with her thumb, "Kael... you’re crying."
I pressed a shaking kiss into her palm, gripping it like it was the only thing tethering me to the earth. My voice cracked when I rasped, "You don’t know... you don’t fucking know how long I’ve been waiting to hear those words from you."
Her eyes widened, lips parting, but before she could speak, she whispered an apology, broken and soft. "I’m sorry... I was a coward."
I shook my head, my own voice just as ruined. "So was I." My thumb brushed her cheek, catching the tear sliding down. "So fucking scared."
And then I reached for lips again... slower this time, reverent, like she was made of something holy. I broke it, teasing her lips with mine, and let the words spill raw and unrestrained between every breath. "I love you Aria." A kiss. "I love you." Another. Again and again, until my voice was hoarse and her quiet sobs were muffled against my mouth. "I love you so much."
And when she choked out I love you too between our kisses, her words soaked into me like blood to open wounds... painful, healing, everything all at once.
I didn’t stop kissing her. I couldn’t. Because for the first time in my life, I finally had the one thing I never thought I’d get, her.