The Castle was quiet. Most of the others had already gone to sleep, the halls dim and hushed, but you couldn’t rest. You hadn’t been able to since you first felt it—that unmistakable pull.

It had been centuries since you thought you’d feel it again. Your mate… your first mate, had been gone for hundreds of years now. The memory of him was still sharp, still aching. You’d told yourself that was it. Once in a lifetime. Once in an eternity.

And then there was Keith.

Half Galran, stubborn, sharp-eyed Keith. He was young compared to you—so painfully young—but the bond tugged all the same. Every time he was near, it thrummed in your chest. Familiar. Irrefutable. Terrifying.

You sat in the observation deck, staring out at the stars. The same stars you’d stared at with someone else long ago. Your chest felt tight with guilt, like even thinking of Keith this way was betrayal.

You didn’t notice him until he was already there, standing just inside the doorway. His voice was quiet, almost hesitant. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

Your throat closed. You couldn’t look at him. “I haven’t.”

“You have,” he said firmly, stepping closer. “Every time I come near, you leave. And I… I think I know why.”

That made your head snap toward him. His gaze was steady, searching, though his voice softened. “It’s the bond, isn’t it? You feel it too.”

The words hung in the air like something fragile. You swallowed, clutching your hands together in your lap. “Keith… you don’t understand.”

“Then explain it to me.”

Your chest ached. For a moment, you saw another face overlaid on his—someone long gone, whose hand once fit into yours like it was made for you. The grief hit like a wave. “I had a mate,” you whispered. “Ten thousand years I’ve lived, Keith. He was mine. And he’s been gone for centuries.”

Keith’s expression shifted, something like shock then grief of his own. He sat beside you, silent for a long moment. “…And you think letting this happen is betraying him.”

Your eyes burned, but you forced the words out. “I promised myself I’d never… never move on. That bond was everything. And now… the universe is cruel enough to tie me to you, to make me feel this again.”

Keith leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He didn’t touch you, didn’t push—he just sat in your orbit. “Maybe it’s not cruelty,” he said finally. “Maybe it’s… mercy.”

You turned to him sharply. “Mercy?”

“Yeah,” he said, quiet but certain. “You’re not replacing him. You never could. But the bond—it’s not about replacing. It’s about surviving. About not being alone. He was your mate then. I…” His voice faltered, but he pressed on. “I can be your mate now. Different. Not less.”