The world breathed again.
Light washed over the hills, soft and golden, brushing against the grass with fingers of warmth. Birds sang. The trees whispered, not in warning, but in greeting. The veil of silence that had cloaked the land was gone.
But in Kael’s heart, a different kind of hush lingered.
Seren walked beside him, bare feet grazing the earth like she belonged to it—because she did. She looked at everything like it was new. A child seeing her first sunrise. A queen with no memory of her crown.
And she didn’t remember him.
Not his voice, not his eyes, not the way she used to say his name like it was both a challenge and a vow.
But she held his hand.
That was something.
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing to a tree twisted with silvery bark and black leaves.
“It’s called a s
