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“I love you back,” I said as that beautiful smile spread across her face. Asrai stepped into the tent behind her, setting a hand lovingly on her shoulder.

“Ataliia, may I have a moment?” Asrai asked. Ata nodded, squeezing my hand once last time before slipping from the tent.

Asrai looked at me for a long moment, then lifted her hands to the necklace around her neck that I had given her and unlatchedit before clasping it around mine. I let the tips of my fingers glide over it as I looked up at her to see tears rolling down her face.

“I thought you might want a piece of your mother with you, in this moment,” she said, straightening her back and wiping the tears from her eyes.

“Asrai,” I whispered, reaching out and sliding my hand into hers. “I am so thankful that she brought me into this world, I will never forget what she sacrificed so I could experience this moment. She has given me everything, but you, Asrai,you are my mother,and you willalwaysbe with me.” My voice cracked as I said the words, and she pulled me against her chest with a fierceness I had never felt from her.

Her arms tightened around me as I rested my head against her shoulder, careful not to disturb the crown pressing down on my head, and wrapped my arms around her waist.

“I am so proud of you,” she whispered into my curls. “So proud of the woman you have become.”

We stood there for a long moment, holding each other—clingingto each other.

Eventually, she stepped away from me, grasping my wrists and pulling them from her waist, her thumbs brushing over the scars there.

“Now,” she said, sniffing away the tears, “let me look at you.” A grin broke across my face as our eyes met and I turned, showing her my whole outfit.

“What do you think?” I asked, beaming up at her. “You did say I must always stay prepared for battle.” She smiled down at me with an approving nod.

“You look radiant, Hyacinth,” she said, the words catching in her throat as she wiped the last tear from her cheek.

Her eyes roamed over me, landing on the golden crown molded into four antlers that reached up to the sky and wascrusted with emerald and diamonds with golden threads that weaved into my curls.

The four antlers stood for the four most important parts of the new role I was moments from stepping into. The two tallest representing Landers and myself, the protectors of the two smaller ones behind them—our people and our realm.

“It’s heavy,” I whispered, reaching up to slide my fingers over the cool metal.

Asrai smiled softly, her fingers clasping around my chin as she locked her eyes on mine. “As it should be. That weight is a symbol. Keep your neck strong and carry it, my child.”

I nodded, my spine straightening as I looked back into her gaze.

“It is time. I will retrieve Wren,” she said, breaking the silence as she took a step toward the exit.

My heart began thundering in my chest, watching as she dipped through the tent’s opening and disappeared. My eyes closed as I sucked in a long breath, trying to steady the nerves that were exploding beneath my skin.

My eyes opened slowly as I listened to Wren step into the tent and a sob caught in my lungs at the beautiful smile etched onto his face.

“Well, sister, last chance to run,” he said, lifting a brow.

A nervous laugh slipped from my lips as I shook my head at him, watching as he bowed at the waist and extended his hand toward me.

“They are ready for you,” he said, straightening as I slipped my fingers into his and stepped to his side. He slid my arm underneath his elbow as music began to swell on the other side of the thin tent.

The song on Ithia—of their ancient healers.

The melody rang through the air like the sound of flowing rivers, and as Wren’s hand reached for the tent’s entrance and pulled it open, I gasped.

A backdrop of the ceremony was hundreds of waterfalls falling over the mountain’s ledge, the crystal blue of the water clashing with the green forests covering the peak’s surface.

Wren pulled me forward, my toes hitting the soft mossy ground.

It was a tradition in Ithia, to walk into marriage with your bare feet on a solid foundation. But I couldn’t feel it, could no longer hear the music swelling around us.

All I could see was him.

Landers stood only yards away from us and I watched as his hand flew to his lips at the sight of me, his other holding firm to the pommel of his golden blade as if to keep him standing upright.