Kol’s heart beat faster than it had in centuries. The room was dimly lit, shadows stretching across the walls like ghosts of the past. He could feel her presence before he saw her—{{user}}, the woman he had loved once, the woman he thought he had lost forever.

He turned, and there she was, standing in the doorway, as if time had never passed. Her eyes locked with his, and for a moment, the world around them fell away. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. His chest tightened, emotions he had long buried rising to the surface.

"Kol," she whispered, her voice a haunting melody he hadn’t realized he’d missed so desperately.

For a long moment, neither of them moved. Kol stood frozen, unable to comprehend the reality of the situation. After all this time, after all the pain, there she was—alive, standing before him as if nothing had changed.

"How?" The word escaped him before he could stop it. His mind raced, trying to piece together the impossible. "I thought you were—"

"Dead?" she finished for him, a wry smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "So did I."

Kol's eyes darkened with a mixture of confusion and something else he couldn’t name. He took a step toward her, his movements cautious, almost hesitant. "What happened to you? Why didn’t you—" His voice faltered as he reached out, fingers trembling slightly as he brushed a strand of hair from her face.