Chapter Ten

Nyra

The garden’s warmth wrapped around me. Sunlight washed away the shadows of my past, the wind played gently in the leaves, and the birdsong mingled with the sweet perfume of flowers. I sat barefoot in the grass, the green blades sliding between my toes, the earth soft beneath my soles. Every sense of mine drank it in greedily, as though I had been starving for this miracle all my life without ever knowing it existed.

Shyly, I lifted my eyes to him, then back down to the grass. My voice came out rough, not with fear, but with curiosity.

“Is it always this peaceful here?”

He sat nearby, resting an arm across his knee, watching me. At my question his expression softened, and his smile was quiet, honest.

“Not always. Sometimes storms come. The wind tears the leaves from the trees. But the storm passes. And the garden always comes back to life. Always.”

I listened, his words sinking deep. My own life had felt like an endless storm. I had never believed that silence might follow. Yet here, in this garden, I felt for the first time that perhaps even my storms could fade.

My lips trembled into a fragile smile—hesitant, shy, like a flower opening for the first time. I bent my head, playing with a single blade of grass, but the smile remained.

“It’s been… so long since I last smiled,” I whispered.

His eyes caught mine, and for a moment he said nothing. The weight of his silence was reverent. Then softly:

“Then it’s an honor… that I was the first to see it.”

Something shifted inside me. Not tears this time, but the spark of a beginning. The garden breathed with me. Sun, grass, birdsong—all of it whispered that perhaps life was worth living.

But the peace broke with the sound of footsteps—heavy, urgent. Cassian entered the garden, his movements brisk, his face shadowed. Tension swept through the air at once.

Aedan rose instantly, every line of him sharpened, alert.

“Your Majesty,” Cassian said, “trouble. Rowan is gathering men. He claims you questioned his authority unjustly. He’s rousing them to rebellion.”

Rowan’s name pierced me like a rusted blade. My body trembled. Yet something else rose within me too. When I pictured Aedan in danger, my chest tightened. It wasn’t myself I feared for. It was him.

Before I could stop myself, the words slipped out.

“I’ll go with you.”

My voice was low but firm. And I meant it.

He turned to me, surprise in his eyes—not anger, but wonder. The girl who had hidden in shadows now wanted to stand at his side. He stepped closer, carefully.

“Nyra… you’re still weak. You don’t have to risk yourself.”

I shook my head. My voice shook too, but the truth was steady.

“Not for me… For you.”

For the first time, I didn’t feel ashamed of the words.

He lowered himself so our eyes met, and his voice gentled into something that was almost a plea.

“I’m grateful. But I need you safe, here. Just for now. One day, we’ll fight together. But today—I need to know you’re waiting for me.”

I trembled, but I nodded. I knew he would not abandon me. He was only leaving now… to protect me.

His hand touched my shoulder lightly, as soft as wind. My breath caught at the tenderness, at the trust that pulsed between us. His fingers brushed my chin in the gentlest of gestures, like touching the petal of a flower. My breath shivered—not from fear this time, but from the fragile, growing trust that bound us.

He didn’t need to say it, but his eyes spoke: I will come back. For you.

Then he turned, striding away with Cassian toward the palace where the storm already gathered.

I remained in the garden, two guards keeping a respectful distance. My heart ached with each beat, fear for him twisting through me. I stepped back into the cool silence of the corridors, clutching the promise in my chest like a shield.

I will come back. For you.