Her fingers tightened around the pendant. Then, with a decisive swing of her arm, she let it fly. The crystal tumbled in a slow arc, catching the rising sun—until the wheel of Castiel’s cart crushed it beneath the weight of its passage, swallowing it into the sands.
A long breath escaped her lips, and her heart lightened.
A hand slipped into hers. Alarik’s grip was steady. His thumb traced slow circles over her knuckles, a silent promise that the past held no claim on her now.
His golden gaze searched hers. “Do you regret any of this?”
Reiya didn’t hesitate. “Not even for a moment.”
Kaelen, standing at her other side, hummed. His lips curved against her forehead as he pressed a lingering kiss there.
“Not even us?” His voice dipped, teasing. “I remember how hard you fought against the idea of Alphas.”
A faint smile ghosted her lips. “Especially the two of you.”
Then she turned around and sighed, feigning long-suffering patience. “But I suppose someone has to keep you both in line.”
Alarik tilted his head, considering. “Then it’s a good thing we’ve found someone who’s willing to try.”
Their laughter was quiet but full of light. Full of certainty.
She laced her fingers with theirs, feeling the quiet strength in their touch. Feeling the truth of what they’d built and would continue to build—together.
Her gaze drifted back to the horizon, where Castiel’s carriage was vanishing into the dunes.
Once, she had thought he was her escape—the key to breaking free from everything she feared.
Now, she knew better.
“I used to think freedom meant running,” she murmured. “That if I could just break away, I’d be free.”
She let out a long sigh, the truth settling into her bones.
“But freedom isn’t in the escape. It’s in the choice. In standing where you belong—on your terms, with the people you choose.”
Kaelen kissed the curve of her shoulder. “And we’ll stand with you, for as long as you’ll have us.”
Alarik’s lips brushed her temple. “Let there be no doubt—that means forever.”
No matter what lay ahead, she would face it—not as a princess running from the world, but as a woman who had finally chosen her place within it.
Kaelen tilted his head toward the horses, his grin lazy, warm. “Come, Brightheart. The desert awaits.”
Reiya let them lead her, their hands slipping from hers only to help her into Shivanar’s saddle.
Freedom was no longer something she chased. It was something she already carried within her.
And as they rode away from the cliffs, their shadows stretching long beneath the dawn’s blush, Princess Reiyana wasfree.
Epilogue
CASTIEL
Beyond the narrow window of the prison cart, the horizon burned orange as the sun bled into endless dunes.
Castiel slouched against the hard seat, wrists raw beneath the tight coils of rope.The rhythmic creak of the wheels barely registered as he tracked the shifting sands between the wooden slats, following the ripples the wind left behind.
It felt almost . . . peaceful.
