Nienna stepped forward. Her bare feet dipped into the waves, a slight glow along the crests. Each step caused a flare in the luminescence. She laughed, breathless and soft, and ran through the shallows. Pale strands of hair flew behind her, catching moonlight as she moved. Blue light burst from her movements, reminding me of her father’s magic.
I reached down, dragging my fingers through the tide. A radiant glow clung to my skin, gleaming like stardust.
The world shrank. No kingdom. No throne. Just her, and the crash of luminous waves.
We wandered for hours—knee-deep in glowing surf, toes sinking into warm sand. Shells crunched beneath us as I laid her down on the beach, stars wheeling in slow arcs overhead.
My tunic became a pillow. Her head nestled close beside me. Everything stilled.
Andshe was right.
My heart brimmed.
Whatever waited back home—war, duty, pressure—I could face it. For once, I wasn’t drowning or crumbling under the pressure.
She curled into my side, leg draped across mine. “Kallias?”
I answered with a low hum, my fingers threading through her tangled hair. Above us, the stars blinked in silence, the only witnesses to our stolen moment.
“What are you going to do with Tallon?” Her voice carried hesitation, as if the question pained her to ask.
“I’ll banish him to the Valley Beneath.” No other answer existed. Elohios would guide me when we returned to Radaan, and Fallione would stand at my side. The valley where I cast the lost and irredeemable—Tallon belonged there now.
“I doubt your people will accept that.”
“Then I’ll name him a bastard.”
Her breath warmed my chest. “After a lifetime of calling him your son?”
The thought soured my stomach. She was right—Radaan had built its future on the assumption he would inherit the mantle. That certainty would be torn away, and without an heir to take his place, the kingdom would be left staring into a void, an uncertain future.
“Do you see him as your son?” She lifted onto her elbows, eyes searching my face, storm-dark and sharp with feeling.
“Maybe—at one point.” My throat closed around the words. “There were moments, as he grew beside Eldeiade, where I saw it—brief flashes of what might’ve been. He kept his distance, but I caught it in his eyes. That hunger. He wanted a father.”
I clenched my jaw, unable to meet her gaze. The stars above held no judgment, only cold light. My mistakes meant nothing to them.
“I don’t know when it changed. The want twisted into something darker. He’s my greatest failure—not for what he became, but because I let it happen. I stood back while a monster raised him, and for some reason, I expected him to be different, that he’d rise above it.”
She held still.Quiet.
“He attacked me.”
My chest locked up. I turned to her, sharp and fast. “When?”
“One night he—he followed us to the balcony. I didn’t see him.” Regret strained her tone. “It was when we knew—when we realized it couldn’t ever work. After I left you, he confronted me. Accused me of sleeping with you.”
She was here. Safe. An ocean away from him. I brushed hair from her cheek, letting the moonlight spill across her skin. Rage smoldered in my chest, but she was unhurt. Whole.
“He always suspected it,” I said. “He thought you were trying to replace him. That wasn’t my plan. I was prepared to give Radaan to him. Every decision I made pointed toward shaping her for his rule. Until you.”
“And now I’ve changed everything.” Her smile softened as she leaned into my palm.
“I won’t pretend to know what’s ahead. The future’s uncertain. But I’m her king—Radaan will follow me.” I ran my thumb across her lips.
She caught it between her teeth, then drew it into her mouth. Her tongue traced the pad, teasing, warm. Heat surged through me like a lit fuse. My pulse drummed in my throat.
“And as her king,” I said, “I have a duty to produce another heir.”
