Tomorrow night. The gala.
Seraphina woke up to magic humming under her skin. The wards were done. Her body felt like lead, but they'd actually finished the network.
Two days of ritual work. Worth it.
"I can't feel my legs," she said.
"Same." Caelan's arm was still around her shoulders. "We pushed too hard."
Four anchor points. A complete network. Against all odds, they'd finished it.
She let her head rest against him. His fingers moved through her hair. Neither of them wanted to let go.
"The corruption's lifting," she said.
Real birds were singing again. Twisted trees straightened in slow defiance. The land was remembering how to heal.
"Can you feel the network holding?"
"Every bit of it." The magic spread out from where they sat, covering everything they'd cleared. "We did good work."
Caelan winced as he shifted. "I thought the Grove was going to turn us against each other. Like what happened to my unit."
"What stopped it?"
"You did." His voice got rough. "Every time it whispered that you were using me, I remembered what real manipulation feels like. This isn't that."
She thought about Evelyne's magic. How it slid into people's minds and changed their thoughts. Made them forget who they cared about. The Grove tried the same thing, but what she and Caelan had was different. Built on choice, not tricks.
"Evelyne's magic slid into minds like oil. Ours didn't. Ours never did."
The forest was healing around them. Plants that had been twisted into wrong shapes were going back to normal.
"My parents would be proud," she said quietly. "They died protecting these lands. Now the family magic is strong again."
"The bloodline protections are back."
"All of them." She could feel the magic pulsing under the ground. The ground itself throbbed with her family's magic, Celestine threads bound tight to her D'Lorien blood like a second heartbeat. "No demon's getting through these wards."
Caelan reached up and pulled his mask off completely. Set it on the ground.
"No more barriers."
She looked at his face in the morning light. Sharp cheekbones. The way his mouth almost smiled. Those light gray eyes that never hid how intense he was.
"We should get back to camp," she said, but didn't move.
"Probably." His thumb traced her jaw. "In a minute."
The air between them felt charged. His eyes searched her face, asking permission like he always did. Never taking. Always asking.
"Caelan."
"Tell me what you want," he said. "Because once we do this, we can't go back."
She felt his heartbeat through their bond. Her pulse matched his.
"I want something that's mine," she said. "Not politics. Not strategy. Not a mask. Just something that was mine."
He kissed her.
This was different from the desperate kisses during the trials, or the careful ones they'd shared in quiet moments. This was pure choice. All the distance they'd kept finally breaking apart.
She kissed him back hard. Her hands grabbed his shirt, pulling him closer even though exhaustion made her limbs heavy.
It felt like claiming something. Moving past survival into something real.
When he traced her lower lip with his tongue, she opened her mouth. Through their bond, she felt his wonder at having her like this. How carefully he paid attention to every response. The way he held nothing back but still followed her lead.
She wasn't holding back either. She met every touch until they were both breathing hard.
When they broke apart, his forehead rested against hers.
"I've wanted this," he said. "Not just the bond we have. This. Us choosing each other without some crisis forcing it."
"Every other time was about survival," she said quietly. "This is about choice."
"You deserve to be free when you choose this." His hand cupped her face. "When you choose me for reasons that have nothing to do with magic or trials."
"I'm choosing you now."
"You're still married," he said, careful.
"It didn't matter in the ways that should." The words tasted like ash. "I never belonged to Alaric. Not after I found out what he really is, what his family took from mine. Everything with him was just an act. But that's over now. With you."
His hands shook as they held her face. "Seraphina."
"So you get why I can say this now. Why the marriage was never real." Her voice carried the weight of everything they'd already talked about. "I've been playing the perfect wife to the man who had me killed while I was pregnant with his kid. But I'm done performing. Not with you."
"And this?"
"Real," she said.
He kissed her again, and she felt the promise in it. The claiming. How he touched her like she was precious, not property.
"Tomorrow night's gala," she said against his lips.
"Tomorrow," he agreed.
"What happens after? After we get through tomorrow and deal with the demons?"
"We figure out what's next. Together."
"Together." The word tasted good. "I like that."
"I won't let them use you anymore," he said with quiet intensity. "Alaric. Evelyne. All of them. You're not a chess piece."
"What am I then?"
"You're the woman I love. The partner I trust. The person who makes me want to be better."
Love. He loved her. Not her title or money or what she could do for him. Her.
"I love you too," she said. The words came without calculation. "I think I have for a while."
He kissed her again, deeper this time. She felt the promise sealed between them.
Birdsong threaded through the branches again, thin but insistent. The sour tang of corruption thinned with it. Tonight, they'd won.
"I should check the ward connections," she said without meaning it.
"They'll hold. You built them to last."
We built them, she thought. Together.
That was new. With Alaric, she was always alone even when they were in the same room. Always calculating, always performing, always managing his moods while hiding her real thoughts.
With Caelan, she wasn't alone. Even when they disagreed, they worked toward the same goals. Supporting each other instead of competing.
The exhaustion was lifting. Her body was starting to work normally again. She could stand up if she wanted to. Walk back to camp and pretend this never happened.
She didn't want to pretend anymore.
"The demons won't expect the ward network," she said. "They'll hit those barriers and know we've been planning."
"Good. Let them know we're ready for war."
She found herself smiling. Really smiling, not the fake ones she usually wore. "You want this fight."
"I want to win it. With you."
The sun was getting higher, burning off the morning mist. People would notice they were gone soon. Alaric would start asking questions about where his wife spent the night.
She didn't care. Let him ask.
"No regrets?" Caelan asked, reading her face.
"None." She meant it. "You?"
"Only that we waited this long."
She laughed, surprising them both. When was the last time she'd laughed without calculating how it looked?
"We're here now," she said. "That's what matters."
The ward network pulsed around them, strong and steady. The Grove's corruption was fading with each passing hour. They'd done what everyone said was impossible.
Tomorrow night, they'd face the gala. Her acting skills tested while Marcus made his pledge. Then the demon assault in five days would test their defenses.
But they'd face it together, and that changed everything.
She knew what real partnership looked like now. Not performing or manipulating. Just two people making each other stronger.
"I want more than tomorrow night," she said.
"We'll make time. After we handle what's coming." His thumb brushed her lips. "We'll find a way."
She believed him. For the first time in years, she believed someone's promise. Not because she had leverage, but because he meant it.
"I should get back soon," she said, not moving from his arms.
"Soon." He pulled her closer, and she felt his happiness through their bond. "Not yet."
The forest was breathing normally for the first time in months. The wards held strong. They'd won through working together instead of sacrificing everything.
She closed her eyes and let herself have this moment. This choice. Something real in a world full of lies and careful performances.
It wasn't enough. She knew that. But for now, it was what she had. And she'd take it anyway.