The sun crept slowly over the Everpine ridge, gilding the treetops with gold. Birds sang cautiously into the quiet, as if uncertain whether it was safe to fill the silence.
Aria sat by the lake, knees pulled to her chest, her bare feet brushing the surface of the water. The mark on her chest no longer burned—it pulsed. Steady. Quiet. Whole.
She had slept in Kael's cloak on a bed of moss, too tired to make it back to the cabin. He hadn't touched her, not even when her tears had come after the battle.
He had just sat beside her.
Not as a protector.
As something else.
Now, he approached quietly, holding a steaming mug of tea. No words—just the warmth passed into her hands. He settled beside her, gaze on the horizon.
"Still hurts?" he asked after a while.
"Not the bond," she murmured. "That part's gone. It's the betrayal that lingers."
Kael nodded. "Magic fades. Wounds take longer."
She sipped the tea. It was earthy, with a hint of wildflower honey.
"He loved her," she said. "But it was twisted. It turned him into something else."
"And you?" Kael asked gently. "What do you want to become now?"
That gave her pause.
No one had asked her that before.
Not her parents. Not Dorian. Not even herself.
"I don't know yet," she said slowly. "But I want to be someone who chooses her own path."
Kael smiled at that. "Sounds like a Sacred Luna to me."
She looked at him then, really looked at him. The morning light softened the harsh lines of his face. There were shadows under his eyes—but also something bright. Hope, maybe. Or maybe that was just hers, reflected back.
"Kael?"
"Yeah?"
"I felt something when I rejected Dorian. Not just pain. It was like… a door opening."
He met her gaze. "It's your magic, fully yours now. Unclaimed. Unshaped. Raw."
"It's terrifying."
He chuckled. "You'll shape it. Or it'll shape you."
She laughed softly for the first time in days. "You sound like someone who's been through this."
"I have," he admitted. "Not as powerful. But I've stood at the edge and asked myself who I wanted to be."
"And?"
"I chose to serve Selene. To find you."
Their eyes held a little too long.
Her wolf stirred—not with hunger, not with heat. With recognition.
Not a mate bond.
But something that could be deeper.
If she chose it.
Later that day, she walked the old path up to the Temple ruins, her fingers brushing wildflowers blooming in her wake.
She didn't know what came next.
But for the first time in a long time—
She wasn't afraid.