CHAPTER 136 — Raevan Confesses Again

POV: Soraya

The room is quiet after the elders leave—too quiet. Only the soft rustle of the curtains breaks the stillness, carrying warm desert air that smells faintly of night-blooming flowers. My body sinks into the pillows, exhaustion tugging at every part of me. Vienne has stepped out to fetch more herbs, leaving me alone with my racing thoughts.

I should feel relief. The elders finally understand. The war is over. Peace stretches like a calm horizon.

But instead…

My chest feels tight.

Footsteps echo down the hallway—slow, heavy, familiar. My pulse jumps without permission. I know that tread better than I know my own heartbeat.

Raevan.

The door opens without a knock. He stands there, framed by the light from the corridor. Shadows cling to his jaw, exhaustion tugging at the edges of his expression. Blood still stains his forearms, though dried now. His shirt is torn at the shoulder, barely held together.

He looks… broken.

And yet still impossibly strong.

For a long moment, neither of us speaks.

He steps inside and closes the door behind him. His voice comes out low, rough. “You’re awake.”

I straighten a little, wincing at the ache behind my ribs. “So it seems.”

He stops beside my bed, but he doesn’t sit. His hands flex at his sides, restless, unsure. It’s strange—Raevan has never been unsure of anything.

“You scared me,” he says quietly. “More than when I thought you died. More than anything.”

I blink, taken aback. “Raevan—”

“I thought I lost you again,” he continues, voice cracking. “And I couldn’t breathe.”

Silence presses between us, thick and heavy. I look away.

“You shouldn’t feel that way,” I whisper. “I’m not yours to lose.”

Those words hit him like a blow. His jaw tenses, his shoulders stiffen, and he breathes out slowly, as if steadying himself. When he lifts his gaze back to mine, his eyes burn.

“I can’t imagine my life without you,” he says.

My breath catches.

His voice lowers to a near whisper. “I tried. For a year. Through loss, through pain, through a marriage I never wanted. I tried to bury everything I felt for you and it nearly destroyed me.”

I swallow hard. “Raevan…”

“I came back to myself the moment I saw you alive,” he continues. “The moment you stepped into that hall in Zehrael… something inside me woke up.”

I force myself to look at him. The raw truth in his eyes threatens to unravel me.

“You’re married,” I say quietly. “You have a son.”

His face twists with a complicated mix of grief and guilt. “Yes. And I regret what that night led to. But I don’t regret Ragan.”

“I don’t blame the child,” I whisper. “He’s innocent.”

“You don’t understand,” Raevan murmurs. “I regret everything that forced us apart. Everything I didn’t do. Every moment I didn’t choose you when I should have.”

I close my eyes. “Don’t say this when I’m weak.”

“I’m not saying this because you’re weak.” His voice is barely controlled. “I’m saying it because I almost watched you die again. Because I can’t spend another day pretending I don’t love you.”

My breath leaves me in a shaky exhale.

His words. His voice. His pain Everything inside me trembles.

“Raevan… you can’t love me. You’re tied to Azhara. You have a son with her. I am Luna of Zehrael. Our worlds can’t—”

“I don’t care,” he says sharply. “I don’t care what the desert thinks is right. I don’t care what our pasts say. I only care about what I feel now.”

He finally sits beside me, but not touching—hands gripping the edge of the bed so tightly his knuckles turn white.

“I want you,” he whispers. “In every life. In every version of this world. I want you.”

My heart aches. Painfully. Deeply.

“Raevan…” I breathe, shaking my head. “Don’t do this. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“I can keep this one.” He leans closer. “I swear it.”

My throat tightens. Tears threaten to rise, but I force them down.

“You can’t promise me anything,” I say quietly. “We’ve hurt each other too much. And life isn’t simple. You have responsibilities. A child. A kingdom.”

“And I will meet all of them,” he says. “But not without you.”

I open my mouth to argue, but he continues.

“You’re the reason I didn’t lose myself completely. You’re the reason I fight. You’re the reason I want to be better.” His voice shakes. “If you had died today, I would’ve burned the world to ash.”

Something cracks inside me.

A soft, broken sound escapes my throat. Raevan’s face softens instantly.

He reaches out slowly, as if afraid I might fade like sand in the wind.

“Let me in,” he whispers. “Let me help you. Let me stand beside you. I won’t demand anything more than what you’re willing to give.”

I stare at him, unable to look away. The firelight flickers behind him, casting warm shadows across his face. He looks fierce, desperate, and unbearably human.

“You want to stay?” I whisper.

He nods once, firm. “For as long as you’ll have me.”

A long silence stretches between us. My heart is pounding so loudly it feels impossible he doesn’t hear it.

Finally, I breathe out.

“Then stay,” I whisper. “Just… stay. And we’ll see what happens from here.”

Raevan exhales shakily—a release, a surrender, a beginning.

He reaches forward and takes my hand, gently this time.

And for the first time in years, I don’t pull away.