For a moment, Hades didn't speak. He didn't even shift. They simply stood there, eyes locked, as though the slightest movement from either of them would break something delicate suspended between them. And because he didn't look away… she couldn't bring herself to either.
Then he smiled a soft, almost tender smile. "Loneliness isn't such a frightening emotion, angel. We were born alone, after all."
The words sank into her like warm light. A steadying warmth unfurled in her chest, the kind that came only from someone she felt she could trust. Someone who made the world feel a little less sharp. She breathed in, slow and grateful. "Thank you… for everything, Lord Hades."
He didn't answer. He only watched her with his unreadable violet eyes. Perhaps because he knew she thanked him for a kindness he hadn't truly given. Or perhaps he simply believed he didn't deserve her gratitude at all.
