"This is wrong," Katara whispered as the Fire Lord trailed kisses over jaw line. "We shouldn't…" she murmured, her eyes sliding closed as he kissed the corner of her lips and his hands fisted in her hair. "Zuko," she breathed, but whatever she had meant to say was cut off when he kissed her.
His lips moved over hers in a soft caress at first, and Katara was drawn back to a time when they were both children, when their love had been sanctioned by their families and their futures were bright ahead of them. But then he deepened the kiss, and she was pulled back to the present: to a forbidden love and a man that wasn't hers to claim.
His wife slept in her chamber, her belly swollen with his youngest child. Katara had healed his little son's burns earlier that day, and had been met by his mother's trusting smile. Now, their faces swam up to her mind's eye, and Katara felt her gut clench.
"We need to stop this," she whispered when Zuko lifted his mouth from her own. They had their time together, and had lost their chance at love. They needed to move on and put an end to this deception. "Please," she pleaded when his hands lowered unfasten her robes.
"I can't," Zuko muttered fiercely against her flesh, and Katara's breath hitched in her throat. They had spent the past three years of their lives this way: eyes that lingered too long in public places, accidental brushings of the hand, trysts in the garden.
"This is wrong," she breathed as her robe fell from her shoulders and Zuko's lips met her own once more.
He drew back from their kiss and brushed his lips over her eyelids. "I know."