The forest was still as I stood at the edge of the clearing, staring at the horizon where the palace loomed in the distance. The air was sharp with the promise of rain, and the sky hung low, heavy with dark clouds. It felt fitting—this storm mirrored the one brewing inside me.
I had made my decision. It wasn’t easy, but I couldn’t avoid Asher forever. If he thought he could drag me back through his guards, he was wrong. If he wanted to face me, he would do it on my terms, not as the omega he had rejected, but as the woman I was becoming.
The past few weeks had been a slow unravelling of everything I thought I knew about myself. Asher’s rejection had shattered me, but it also opened something I hadn’t known was there—a strength I couldn’t ignore. That strength had been growing, shaping me
