Luna Everleigh's POV
***
The celebration was quiet.
Not the raucous, triumphant revelry of warriors who had survived an impossible battle, but something softer. A gathering of those who had lost and won in equal measure.
Kael stood at the edge of the clearing, arms crossed, watching the flames of the pyre with an unreadable expression. Nalia sat beside him, whispering something I couldn't hear. The others—those who had fought, those who had suffered—stood together, letting the night wrap around them.
We had survived. But survival came at a cost.
I stared into the fire, feeling the weight of everything we had done settle in my bones.
Then, warmth.
Rhydian's hand, threading through mine.
I turned to face him. The firelight cast flickering shadows across his face, but his eyes—his golden, untamed eyes—were steady.
"You're quiet," he murmured.
"I feel…" I hesitated. "Lost."
Rhydian exhaled slowly, then lifted our joined hands. Pressed them against his chest, where his heart beat strong and certain beneath my palm.
"You're not lost," he said. "You're here. With me."
A lump formed in my throat.
Everything had changed. My destiny, my power, the very fabric of who I was. The path I had once seen so clearly was gone, leaving nothing but uncertainty in its wake.
But as I looked at Rhydian—at the man who had fought for me, with me—I realized something.
I wasn't bound by fate anymore.
I was free.
And maybe… maybe that was the greatest gift of all.
He squeezed my hand. "Whatever comes next, we face it together."
A slow smile found its way to my lips. "Together," I echoed.
For the first time in my life, the future wasn't something written in the stars.
It was ours to make.
***
To be continued