Mag-log inMy gaze sweeps across the courtyard, taking in the faces, the laughter, and the sense of peace that still feels surreal.And then my eyes find her.Xena.I can’t bring myself to call her Lola, just as she can’t bring herself to call me Sadie. To everyone else, we are Lola and Sadie but to each other
“Sadie?” Alec murmurs gently beside me, voice low and coaxing. “You ready?”I turn, and he’s there, exactly where he’s always been. Tall, steady, eyes soft in a way I once thought I’d never be on the receiving end of. He’s holding our son in his arms, swaddled in a light silver blanket that shimmers
He already knows. He always does.“Ready?” I say quietly, though everyone hears me.“Definitely… Been waiting to make you officially mine for months,” he says, earning a chuckle from everyone.Slowly, he puts Aspen down, who is smiling from ear to ear.We told her the truth, that Alec is her dad, an
The night is quiet. Not the tense quiet that comes before war, not the brittle silence of grief but a living stillness, deep and steady, like the world has finally exhaled.It has been a month since the battle. A month since blood stained this land. A month since Kaden fell. A month since I learned
Kaden sees it too late. He lunges, but we are faster.I raise my hand and time stops and light pours from me in radiant waves. Lola steps forward, shadows trailing her like smoke. Light and shadow coil around us, not fighting, but circling, choosing. The air thickens, charged, every particle vibrat
The guilt is suffocating. It crawls up my throat like it wants to rip me apart from the inside.This isn’t how it was meant to be. This isn’t how it was meant to end. Kaden wasn’t supposed to win.I wipe away the tears. No! I refuse to let her die.I feel something crack open in my chest at my deter
By the time I leave the dungeon, my pulse is still thrumming with leftover power, my fingers trembling from the effort it took not to rip every answer out of Lola by force, but seeing her, I know that wouldn’t have done shit.The look in her eyes still bothers me. I can feel something is wrong deep
Aspen seems satisfied with that and wiggles off my lap to play with her dolls on the carpet. The moment she’s distracted, I stand. Alec stands too, as if instinct drives him.“I want you to know,” I interrupt quietly when he opens his mouth to speak. “That no matter what happens between us, I won’t
It’s a flurry of events after that. I get King and the warriors settled, making sure that they are comfortable.By the time King is in his room, the tension in my chest has eased just a little. Not enough, but enough for me to breathe without feeling like my ribs are splintering.I leave him unpacki
“Please, Sadie… let me just hold you. Let me make it right,” he says quietly.I swallow. “I can’t… Not yet.”He sighs, his breath hitching in a way that guts me.“Okay… Whenever you’re ready, I’ll be here.”He eventually steps back, and even without turning around, I feel the moment he leaves.Somet







