34

The fire burned low in the great hall, its embers casting flickering shadows across the stone walls. The room was quiet—too quiet.

Lucian stood near the window, staring out at the night sky. The stars looked different now. The gods were gone, their rule shattered, but the weight of everything left behind pressed down on him like an iron chain.

Kael was gone.

Alec was back, but Kael had paid the price.

And Selene—

Lucian glanced toward her. She sat at the war table, her silver eyes distant, her fingers curled into the edge of the map spread before her. Not reading it. Not even seeing it.

She was elsewhere.

And Lucian knew where.

Her grief sat heavy between them, a wound neither of them knew how to close.

Lucian exhaled, his voice low. “You haven’t slept.”

Selene didn’t look at him. “Neither have you.”

Lucian tilted his head slightly. “Fair point.”

Silence stretched between them.

Then—

Selene whispered, “I don’t know how to fix this.”

Lucian stilled.

Because he knew exactly how she felt.

For years, he had kept his past buried, had refused to look at the truth staring him in the face. He had been made by the gods, molded into something that wasn’t his own, a weapon that had once belonged to them.

But Kael…

Kael had given everything for them.

And now, Lucian was done running.

He moved closer, his steps slow, deliberate. “We don’t have to fix it, Selene.”

She lifted her gaze to his, and for the first time in a long time, he saw her pain clearly. Not the Queen. Not the warrior.

Just Selene.

Lucian’s voice was softer now. “We just have to move forward.”

Selene swallowed hard. “And if I don’t know how?”

Lucian hesitated—then he did something he never would have before.

He reached for her hand.

His fingers brushed against hers, not demanding, not forcing—just there, warm and steady, waiting.

Selene didn’t pull away.

Lucian exhaled slowly. “Then we figure it out together.”

She studied him, searching for something in his face, something real.

And Lucian let her see everything.

The regret.

The loss.

The choice he was finally making.

Not because of fate.

Not because of the gods.

But because of her.

Selene’s breath shook, but her fingers tightened around his.

And for the first time in a long time—

Lucian knew exactly where he belonged.