The war was over.
The Queen was dead.
But peace didn't feel like a celebration.
Not yet.
Ash still clung to Ivy’s skin as they crossed the forest ridge back toward camp. Kael walked beside her in silence, every step steady but heavy. Ember trailed behind, eyes flickering with power that hadn’t been there before.
They had destroyed a monster.
But something had shifted in all of them.
Something they couldn’t name yet.
The camp erupted when the guards saw them—cheers, howls, sobs of relief. Warriors who had long thought them dead fell to their knees.
“She’s gone,” Ivy said simply.
And that was enough.
But as the night deepened and fires were lit for the dead, Ivy stood alone at the edge of the cliff, watching the horizon burn gold.
Kael found her there.
“You did it,” he said soft
