Epilogue
Kael She chose me openly. Not in shadow. Not in silence. Not with trembling hands or lowered eyes. Openly. The arena was full that day—full of sound, of heat, of the old hunger that had ruled my life for too long. The crowd roared my name like it belonged to them, like they had carved it out of my flesh themselves. One last time. I stood in the sand, blood already warm on my skin, chest rising and falling as the world waited for its ending. Valerius watched from his place of honor, satisfied, certain. He believed this was still his story. He was wrong. I felt it before I saw her. A shift. A murmur. A ripple of confusion that moved through the stands like wind through dry grass. Then the noise faltered. And there she was. Livia stood where no one expected her to stand—beside A
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