The Vault waited.
Its magic pulsed low and steady beneath the earth, like a sleeping heart ready to wake. But above, among the broken stone and rising mist, the world held its breath—giving them one final moment.
They didn't speak.
There were no speeches left to make. Only hands reaching for hands, glances that said everything words couldn't.
Liara stood between them, the heat of the firelight dancing across her skin. Cassian came to her first—his touch soft, reverent. His lips brushed her shoulder, then her neck, as if relearning every inch of her.
"You're not a memory to me," he whispered. "You're here. Now. And I want all of you."
Her breath caught as Aeron stepped in behind her, his presence like heat and shadow, steady and consuming. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pressing close, his voice low near her ear.
"And I want to show you what you are to me—what we are."
She turned between them, her eyes glimmering with something deeper than longing.
Love.
Trust.
Need.
What began with touches turned into something unspoken.
Cassian's hands explored Aeron's chest, pausing where the flame-bond pulsed beneath his skin. "Still trying to be the silent guardian?"
Aeron's lips curved. "Still trying to charm me into submission?"
Cassian leaned in, a breath's space from his mouth. "It's working."
Their lips met.
It wasn't urgent—it was slow and molten, years of tension melting into each kiss. Aeron kissed him back like he'd been waiting,like the flame in him had found its mirror,
Cassian bits,nibbled on his lips, sucking on his tongue and hands around his waist the little space between them non existence,he couldn't help but moan into the kiss.
Liara watched, breathless. Her heart thundered—not with jealousy, but a strange, fierce joy. It was right. All of it.
And when they turned their attention back to her, she felt consumed in the best way.
What followed was not just passion—it was unity.
Three souls finding rhythm in breath and touch. A bond reforged through bodies and trust. Skin to skin, heartbeat to heartbeat, every movement an affirmation: we choose each other—still, again, always.
Outside, the wind stirred, and the Vault trembled faintly beneath their feet.
As if it, too, could feel what was being made whole above it.
Later, wrapped in the hush of cooling stone and soft sighs, they lay tangled together, silent but awake.
Cassian's arm draped over both of them. "Now if the world ends, at least we did something right."
Liara nestled closer. "We're not done yet."
Aeron looked to the horizon where the Vault's entrance waited.
"No," he said quietly. "We've only just begun."