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My sleeveless linen dress billowed with the breeze. I loved the flow of the fabric on the hot summer’s day. Claiming the word “merem” had freed me. I wore the clothes that made me happy and I lived as the person I knew I was.

Mina was the first human appointed to my council, along with the town leaders from each of the five counties. A parcel had arrived from Queen Ingrid the day after Sawyn’s death—a silver and diamond tiara, a gift from the Ice Wolf pack congratulatingmy victory. Sawyn’s body was barely burned and the Taigosi queen was already politicking. I had sent the tiara back, along with a bag of gold from my treasury, asking Queen Ingrid to supply its worth in grain and produce instead. Sure enough, five massive wagons rolled into the capital the following week, one for each county, enough to fill their bellies twice over while the rebuild began.

The laughter of children splashing in the lake carried uphill.

I closed my eyes. “Gods, I would give anything to protect that sound.”

“You have.” Grae’s voice dropped to a low rumble as his arms tightened around me. “And you will. We all will.”

I craned my neck back to look into his warm eyes, his cheeks dimpling even as he took in my worried expression.

“There is so much to do—towns to rebuild, fields to sow...” I released a slow breath. “The war with Damrienn hasn’t even begun.”

My mind flashed to the haggard-looking face of the Damrienn messenger who had arrived that morning. King Nero demanded we yield Olmdere to him or ready for war. I knew he’d do it and yet the actuality of it stole my breath away. I’d barely taken my place on my throne and already I needed to defend it.

“He has to get through Taigos to march his armies here and Ingrid hates him almost as much as we do. We have time.” Grae swept his calloused hand down my bare arm. “For now, your people are safe.”

I shook my head. “You will be at war with your own father.”

“Youare my family.” He searched my face and reached into his pocket, his fist clenching around something. “You are my everything, little fox.”

He opened his palm to reveal a gold ring holding a large amber stone ringed with diamonds.

“Is this—”

“Your protection stone.” Grae smiled.

My eyebrows shot up. “You kept it all this time?”

“I gave it to Ora to turn into a ring.” He looked down at the ring, the diamonds casting spectrums of glittering light all around us. He chuckled. “Though in hindsight it would’ve been better to hang on to it, had I known how many monsters we’d encounter. I’d planned on giving it to you before the siege, but . . .”

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered. “Are you—are you proposing to me?”

“Poorly, it seems,” he huffed, flashing that charming grin. “I am already yours in every way. You are the meremof my heart. Be mine? Marry me?”

My heart cracked open at those words, a smile splitting across my face as I nodded. “Yes.”

Grae slid the ring onto my finger and pulled my face to his. We could barely contain our smiles long enough to kiss. Joy rushed through me like I’d never known. Here in this golden tree, with the river rushing below me, and the sounds of my kingdom finally at peace, I knew I didn’t have to dig any deeper to find who I was or where I wanted to be. Grae’s arm threaded around me and pulled me tighter against him.

My eyes fell to the rushing turquoise water—the same river that flowed down from the mountains of Taigos and over the gold mines of Sevelde, the life force of Olmdere, the history of war and prosperity carved through the land. The fight was only beginning, but I finally knew what I was fighting for—for all of us, those who struggled to be all the things they felt inside, those who didn’t yet know how to carve their own path. I knew then that my reign would be like this river, forging ahead, finding my own way until everything flowed into the stillness and beauty of the lake at my back. The Golden Court would rise like a river after a rainstorm and all our enemies will be washed away.