6 months later...

Riven didn’t expect silence to hurt this much.

It started with a small thing, stupid even—just a question unanswered, a glance avoided, a message left on read. Kael had always been guarded, but this was different. This was distance. Deliberate. Cold.

And Riven wasn’t used to feeling unwanted.

It happened after that argument with the Council—the one where Kael had spoken too sharply to too many people, and walked out of the chamber with his jaw clenched and fists tighter. Riven had been there, waiting outside, offering quiet support. He hadn’t even said anything—just placed a hand on Kael’s arm.

Kael had pulled away. Riven hadn’t said anything then, but it had stung. Now, days later, the space between them stretched wide, taut, a string pulled near-breaking. Kael barely spoke to him outside of necessities. No jokes. No sarcastic quips. No sidelong glances filled with unspoken things. Just strategy meetings. Tasks. Updates. And then he’d vanish into another room, shut the door behind him, and leave Riven staring at the blank space where warmth used to be.

Kael knew he was screwing it up. He could see it in the way Riven stopped hanging around after meetings. In the way his smile dimmed just slightly when their eyes met. In how he hesitated, now, before speaking to him—as if testing the air, waiting for frostbite. But he couldn’t fix it yet. Not now.

The Business was breathing down his neck. His family name was being dragged through political mud. There were threats he hadn’t told Riven about, not because he didn’t trust him—but because he did. Too much.

Riven was already too close to the fire, and Kael didn’t want to burn him by accident.

So he did what he thought was smart, kept distance. Let things cool. He’d explain later—after the votes were cast, after the danger passed. When everything wasn’t hanging by a thread. But later was starting to look farther away than he wanted to admit. 

They bumped into each other, Kael wanted to talk but it began to be awkward.

“ Ri…baby” Riven continued to walk as if he didn’t hear Kael. Kael followed him, pulled his hands and drag him to the corner. Riven can’t look at Kael, his eyes were about to cry, his heart began to tighten, hurts. Kael gently cupped his chin, they looked at each other, both with eyes yearning for each other but can’t do anything , scared, worried…pained.

“Riven talk to me” Kaels voice, soft and gentle. Riven sobs. “ I’m sorry baby, for doing all of this, for ignoring you, I don’t want you to be worried. I just want to protect you. If you know how much I suffered not to talk to you, I don’t want to ruin you, that’s why- ”

"You already did," Kael hadn’t finished, Riven replied, voice rough. "You don’t get to push me away just to protect me and call it kindness."

Kael winced. "I thought it’d be easier."

Riven exhaled, shoulders slumping. “It’s not.”

They stood there in silence, the hallway quiet except for the dull hum of the building. Words still hovered in the air between them—unspoken apologies, unshared fears, and something else neither of them quite had the courage to name yet.

Finally, Riven turned.

“I’ll give you space. Since you seem to need it,” he said. “But don’t wait too long, Kael. Some things don’t wait forever.”

And with that, he walked away.

Kael didn’t follow.

He told himself it was for the best.

So why did it feel like losing something he hadn’t even let himself hold?