The Citadel had fallen silent behind us, its ancient walls standing like sentinels guarding secrets too old for anyone to remember. The power that had surged through me still hummed beneath my skin, like a storm trapped in a bottle, waiting for the moment to break free. The weight of it pressed on me, suffocating, and yet... I felt more alive than I ever had. The woman I had been before felt like a shadow, a ghost, something I had long since outgrown.
But the future was mine to claim.
Cassian walked beside me, his presence steady and sure, though I could feel the tension in his every step. We had come too far to turn back now, too far to pretend like everything wasn’t shifting beneath us. His gaze flickered to me every so often, but he said nothing, as if he too could feel the power cour
