The grand halls of the Vale estate were silent now, save for the occasional soft laughter of the servants cleaning up after the family's late return.
The night air was cool and fragrant, filled with the distant scent of the gardens Aren had promised to complete for his granddaughters.Above, the stars stretched endlessly, silver and cold against the black sky.
Aren stood on the wide marble balcony outside their bedchamber, a glass of wine forgotten in his hand.He leaned lightly against the stone railing, his black hair stirred by the night breeze, his golden eyes reflecting the starlight like twin lanterns in the dark.
He should have felt victorious.He should have felt satisfied.
Instead, an ache gnawed quietly at the edges of his soul.
The world — the foolish, fragile world — was forcing him back toward the path he had abandoned.Aren had hoped, prayed even, that after a lifetime of bloodshed, he could finally live simply as a man.As a husband.As a father.As a grandfather.
But fate, it seemed, would not let him go so easily.
The soft click of the door behind him was the only warning he had before Selene joined him.
She wore a simple silk robe, her raven hair loose and flowing like a dark river down her back.Her violet eyes, timeless and beautiful, found his immediately.
Without a word, she walked to his side and slipped her hand into his.
Aren squeezed it gently.
"You should be sleeping," he said quietly, his voice roughened by emotions he rarely allowed himself to feel.
Selene smiled faintly."You weren't there to hold me."
Aren chuckled softly — a low, rumbling sound — and pulled her gently against him.
For a long moment, they simply stood there.The great Aren Vale — Sovereign of the Battlefield, Silent Sword, strongest of all humans — and his beloved, fragile-looking wife, leaning into each other beneath a sea of stars.
Finally, Selene spoke, her voice barely more than a breath.
"Will you have to leave us again?"
Aren closed his eyes.
"No," he whispered."Not unless they tear me from this place by force."
Selene tightened her grip on him.
"But you'll fight again," she said. Not a question — a knowing statement."You'll protect... even if it means bleeding again."
He opened his eyes, staring out at the vastness of the night.
"I won't let them touch you," he said."Or the children.Or anyone carrying the name Vale.I don't care if it's gods or monsters.I don't care if I have to burn the heavens themselves."
There was no rage in his voice.
Just an unbreakable truth.
Selene leaned her head against his chest, feeling the steady thrum of his heartbeat beneath her palm.
"You shouldn't have to carry it alone," she whispered.
Aren chuckled again, soft and bitter.
"I was born carrying burdens, Selene," he said. "It's easier when it's something that matters."
He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head.
"For once... it's not about duty.It's not about pride.It's just about you.And them.And this home you built for me."
Tears pricked Selene's eyes, but she blinked them away, her hand curling tightly into the fabric of his coat.
"You promised me peace," she said teasingly, trying to lighten the weight between them.
Aren smiled — a real, tired, tender smile.
"I'll build it for you," he said. "Stone by stone.Fight by fight.Promise by promise.Even if it takes me to the ends of the stars."
They stood there for a long time, wrapped in silence, wrapped in each other.
The world could rage.The heavens could fall.The empire could burn.
But for now — beneath this endless sky — there was only this:
Aren Vale and Selene Vale.
And the promise that nothing — not gods, not angels, not even fate itself — would ever tear them apart.