“Good,” I said. “The world needs you.”
“You're sure?”
“When you're gone, I'll handle things here. When you're back, we'll find balance.” I pulled back enough to look at him properly. “You protect the world. I protect what's left of it. And we protect each other.”
His smile was small but real. “Then we protect each other.”
That night,we stood on the palace rooftop garden. Stars scattered across the sky above London. The city sprawled below us, alive with light. Music from the celebration drifted up through open windows. Distant. Muffled. A reminder that the world kept spinning even when we stepped away from it.
Viktor leaned against the balustrade beside me. No uniform. No armor. Just soft shirt and dark trousers, the ring glinting on his hand. Looking more relaxed than I'd ever seen him.
Apollo dozed at our feet, content and safe.
“Do you think she's watching?” I asked. Looking up at the stars. “My mother?”
“I think if she is, she's proud.” Viktor's hand found mine. Laced our fingers together. “You survived. You chose love. You're becoming the king she raised you to be.”
“Not yet. Not for a long time, I hope.”
“No. But someday.” He squeezed my hand. “And when that day comes, I'll be there. Standing beside you. Protecting you.”
“Loving me?”
“Always loving you.”
I turned to him. Found his eyes in the starlight. Saw everything I needed reflected there. Safety. Home. Future.
“I spent eighteen years hunting in the dark,” I said. “Trying to fill the hole she left. Trying to be worth the sacrifice she made.” I paused. “I think I finally understand what she wanted for me.”
“What's that?”
“This.” I gestured between us. At the ring on his finger. At the city breathing below. At the life we'd fought so hard to keep. “She wanted me to live. Not just survive. Not just exist. Actually live.”
Viktor pulled me close. Wrapped his arms around me and held on like he'd never let go.
“Then let's live,” he whispered against my hair. “For her. For us. For every person we've lost and every moment we've stolen.”
We stood there on the rooftop while the city hummed below and stars wheeled overhead. Apollo's soft snores. Viktor's heartbeat steady against my ear. The ring cool and solid on his finger where my hand rested against his chest.
No more secrets. No more hiding. No more running from what we were.
Just two broken people who'd somehow managed to heal each other by refusing to let go.
I closed my eyes. Breathed in the scent of him. Cedar and smoke and home.
Eighteen years I'd been hunting. Eighteen years of darkness and grief and trying to fill a void that would never be filled.
But maybe that was okay. Maybe the void wasn't supposed to be filled. Maybe it was supposed to be honored. Remembered. Carried alongside everything else.
The grief and the joy. The loss and the love. The darkness and the light.
All of it together. All of it mine.
All of it ours.
Viktor's lips pressed to my temple. Soft. Certain.
“I love you,” he murmured.
