The quiet feast came after. No drums. No roaring laughter. Just long tables of food and the low murmur of voices that had finally stopped pretending.
I sat with the children while the kings moved among the pack, speaking to the ones who looked like they still carried old ghosts.
Lila fed Thorne tiny pieces of bread she had chewed soft. Elara gnawed on a bone and grinned at anyone who looked her way. Thorne watched everything with those serious blue eyes, like he was already measuring the room for threats.
Mira and Soren sat near the end of our table. They had asked to stay close after the ride north. Mira kept glancing at the twins, then at me, like she still couldn't believe the girl she once knew had become this. Soren reached out once and touched Elara's cheek with the back of one finger.
"They look like you," she said quietly. "The stubborn part, anyway."
I smiled. It felt strange on my face after so many hard days, but it stayed.
