LOGINMy gaze sweeps across the courtyard, taking in the faces, the laughter, and the sense of peace that still feels surreal.And then my eyes find her.Xena.I can’t bring myself to call her Lola, just as she can’t bring herself to call me Sadie. To everyone else, we are Lola and Sadie but to each other
“Sadie?” Alec murmurs gently beside me, voice low and coaxing. “You ready?”I turn, and he’s there, exactly where he’s always been. Tall, steady, eyes soft in a way I once thought I’d never be on the receiving end of. He’s holding our son in his arms, swaddled in a light silver blanket that shimmers
He already knows. He always does.“Ready?” I say quietly, though everyone hears me.“Definitely… Been waiting to make you officially mine for months,” he says, earning a chuckle from everyone.Slowly, he puts Aspen down, who is smiling from ear to ear.We told her the truth, that Alec is her dad, an
The night is quiet. Not the tense quiet that comes before war, not the brittle silence of grief but a living stillness, deep and steady, like the world has finally exhaled.It has been a month since the battle. A month since blood stained this land. A month since Kaden fell. A month since I learned
Kaden sees it too late. He lunges, but we are faster.I raise my hand and time stops and light pours from me in radiant waves. Lola steps forward, shadows trailing her like smoke. Light and shadow coil around us, not fighting, but circling, choosing. The air thickens, charged, every particle vibrat
The guilt is suffocating. It crawls up my throat like it wants to rip me apart from the inside.This isn’t how it was meant to be. This isn’t how it was meant to end. Kaden wasn’t supposed to win.I wipe away the tears. No! I refuse to let her die.I feel something crack open in my chest at my deter
“What?” I put Aspen down on the bed before covering her. Then I turn and just stare at the wall, in utter shock. I can’t believe her. I honestly can’t. She’s been gone since yesterday, and that’s all she can tell me? That’s all she can utter? "What do you 'what?'" “Why are you in a hospital gown
My hands were fisted. My jaw is tight. I was literally shaking. I was fucking pissed. So fucking pissed that I thought I would burst at any moment.“What the hell is happening?” I could hear King’s voice asking, but it sounded so far away.I couldn’t control my anger and bitterness as my mind took m
Alec.“That was an unexpected turn of events,” Jason mumbles as we leave the office.“That’s the understatement of the year,” Micah joins in. “Who would have thought that the same girl you tortured years ago was the miraculous help you’ve been looking for?”I don’t answer. In fact, I don’t even want
It's crazy and a little bit scary knowing that someone played you in this way. That someone was mechanizing things behind your back to make sure an aspect of your life failed.“But that would mean they know Alec and Sadie. They knew them so well that they knew how they would react. They counted on t







