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 did you just say?” I growled, feeling my anger rise.I must have heard wrong, right? There is just no fucking way Micah would betray me like that. Not after years of friendship. Not after he saw what Sadie and her scheming put me through.“I said a lot of things,” she growled back, her eyes sp
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
“Martha said she was taking her to have her bath... She fell while playing with the other kids and was completely covered in mud.”At Raven’s answer, I smile. Taking two plates, I serve one for myself and the other for my daughter. I sit down, waiting for her.A few minutes later, King steps into th
“What is she talking about?” Micah turned to me in confusion. “You knew she was pregnant, yet you didn’t say anything? You still wanted her dead?”“It wasn’t like that,” Jason jumped in.“It was exactly like that!” Sadie snapped, fire burning in her eyes. “Since he doesn’t want to admit what he did,







