CHAPTER 51:
The sun rose on a world remade. Not perfect—not even close—but free.
I stood on the highest battlement of the fortress, the stone still cold beneath my hands, watching the light spill over the eastern peaks and flood the valley below. It had been three hours since Valerius fell. Three hours since the violet light died and the wards shattered and the gates swung open. But the adrenaline hadn’t faded. It had settled into something deeper, heavier—a quiet, thrumming weight in my chest, the knowledge that the fight was won, but the work was only just beginning.
Footsteps sounded behind me, light and familiar. Cole stepped up beside me, wrapping his cloak around both our shoulders, his arm sliding around my waist to pull me close. He didn’t say anything at first. Just stood there
