LOGINMy 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
Alec tilts his head, voice calm but certain. “Then try it.”I blink. “On who?”His lips curve into a daring smile. “On me.”I freeze, my eyes widening. “On you? Absolutely not.”“Yes,” he counters easily without hesitation, folding his arms.“Alec, I’m not going to practice forcing my will on you. T
By the time the sun sank low, the weight of the scepter still hadn’t left me. Even when it vanished from my grip, it remained humming in the marrow of my bones, alive in my veins.Summoning the scepter hadn’t just been a triumph; it had been a shift. I could feel it in my bones, in the way my steps
“Mommy!”I turn to find Aspen sprinting toward me, her little legs moving with such speed it makes me wonder if she’s secretly the Flash.I barely have time to brace myself before she leaps into my arms.“Hi, my love,” I greet her, burying my nose in her hair just to inhale her scent.I don’t know a
I never knew this is how love feels. It’s like I’m permanently on cloud nine, or drunk on dopamine.Her chest rises as she steadies herself, and then her words cut through me like lightning.“I think… it’s time we tell Aspen the truth.”For a moment, I forget how to breathe. My mind blanks, my heart







