Five Years Later
The Hidden Garden, Shadow Kingdom
The wind is softer here.
Not like the sharp, howling gusts that echo through the mountains surrounding the palace, but a gentle breeze, fragrant with blooming moonlilies and glowing dusk roses—flowers I once believed couldn’t grow in a place like this.
But they did.
Just like I did.
Just like we did.
I sit beneath the silver ash tree at the heart of the royal garden, the one Malcolm planted for me on the day we sealed the new treaty between kingdoms. Its leaves shimmer in twilight, casting an otherworldly glow over the blanket where I now lie.
A soft giggle bubbles beside me, and I turn to the tiny, warm body curled against my side.
“Again, Mama!” she squeals, holding up the glowing petal I just made flutter in the air with a flic
