Luna. Chapter 100

(Lyra's POV)

"Let me help," I said, joining them at the sink. The domestic scene was too appealing to observe from the sidelines.

Elena immediately handed me her dish towel with a satisfied smile. "Perfect timing. I need to check on Victor and make sure he's actually resting instead of trying to work from his laptop."

She bustled out of the kitchen, leaving Kael and me alone with the remaining dishes and the comfortable silence of shared domestic responsibility. We fell into an easy rhythm - him washing, me drying, both of us working together with the kind of natural coordination that came from years of knowing each other's movements and habits.

It felt remarkably normal. Like the kind of ordinary married couple activity I'd imagined we might have someday, back when we were young and planning a future together.

"Thank you," he said quietly after we'd worked in comfortable silence for several minutes.

"For what? You're doing all the washing."

"For everything. For letting me help with Asher. For not shutting me out when things got dangerous. For including me in your family's crisis instead of handling it alone." He handed me a clean glass, his fingers brushing mine as he passed it over. "For giving me a chance to be part of this again."

The sincerity in his voice made my throat tight with emotion. "You never stopped being part of this family, Kael. Even when I was angry, even when I didn't want to admit it, even when I was telling myself I'd moved on completely."

"I know I hurt you. I know I made choices that cost us years we can't get back, time with Asher that I'll never be able to reclaim."

"You did."

"But I want you to know that I'll spend every day for the rest of my life trying to make up for those mistakes. I'll be here for you and Asher in whatever way you'll let me." He paused, his voice dropping to something barely above a whisper. "Always."

The word hung between us, weighted with promise and possibility and hope. It felt like a vow, like the kind of commitment that transcended ordinary relationships and moved into the territory of soul-deep bonds.

"Always is a long time," I said softly, not trusting myself to look at him directly.

"Not long enough."

I turned to face him then, dish towel forgotten in my hands, and saw that he was completely serious. His expression was open and vulnerable in a way I hadn't seen since we were very young, before life and mistakes and supernatural politics had complicated everything between us.

"Kael..."

"I'm not asking for anything you're not ready to give," he said quickly. "I'm just telling you that I'm here. That I want to be here. For as long as you'll have me, in whatever capacity you'll accept."

The kitchen seemed to shrink around us, the ordinary domestic space suddenly charged with tension and possibility. We were standing close enough that I could see the flecks of gold in his dark eyes, could smell the familiar scent that was uniquely his and that still made my heart race after all these years.

"What if I'm never ready?" I asked, the question emerging before I could stop it. The fear I'd been carrying for months, the worry that too much damage had been done for us to ever find our way back to each other.

He was quiet for a long moment, considering the question with the seriousness it deserved rather than offering empty reassurances.

"Then I'd accept that," he said finally. "I'd step back and let you find happiness with someone else if that's what it took for you to have the life you deserve."

The thought of him with someone else hit me like a physical blow, sharp and unexpected. "You'd marry someone else?"

"If that's what it took for you to be happy? If you needed me out of your life completely for you to move on and build something with someone who could give you what I failed to give you?" He met my eyes directly. "Yeah. I'd marry someone else."

"Kael."

"But Lyra?" He set down the plate he'd been washing and turned to face me fully, giving me his complete attention. "I need you to understand something that I should have told you years ago."