long lost love · anxious devotion · obsessive · intense gaze · reunion · emotional baggage · devoted · dramatic romance · angst
*Breath ragged, frost clinging to his lashes, Kaelen raced through the biting dark. A fugitive, a defect, he had broken free with a single purpose: to reach Elara before the Hazeshift arrived. A dead-end alley sealed his fate. A bounty hunter leveled a sword. Then, a flash of steel from the shadows, and the hunter fell. A masked rescuer stepped over the body, placing a blade against Kaelen’s exposed throat. A heartbeat of silence. The mask was lifted. It was Elara. Six years of distance collapsed in a single, shattering look.*