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Zephyr’s gaze flicked toward the Ki’Remi’s looming presence.

Twas the contemplation of a man who was intimate with hell, who’d been flung into the abyss and dared it to look back.

The old warrior’s eyes held no warmth, no hostility, only the still, measured weight of judgment.

Ki’Remi met it without flinching, welcoming the solemn scrutiny.

Then Issa’s mother stepped forward with a soft smile

‘So,’ she murmured, her husky voice loaded as if she still had a thousand untold stories to tell. ‘I acknowledge you, warrior. You’re the warrior who anchored our daughter with the sheer force of care, devotion, and warlock powers. You also helped liberate my beloved’s soul.’

Ki’Remi straightened. ‘I am.’

Her gaze did not waver.

‘Do you love her?’

His jaw tightened, muscles flexing beneath the shifting gold and silver of his metanoid tattoos.

‘With everything I am.’

Issa felt the jolt of his claiming and the rush of joy as silence settled on them.

Raquel nodded with the quiet acceptance of a woman who wanted only happiness for her child. ‘Then we will feed you.’

A startled laugh burst from Issa. ‘That’s it? That’s all he had to do to earn your blessing?’

Raquel shrugged. ‘Child, he fights gods, defies celestial armies, walks through fire for you; what more could we ask for? Even better is that he loves you.’

Her mother went on, smiling, her glittering eyes crinkling at the edges. ‘I sense his power is exponential, yet he still chooses you; he wants to sit at your heart, to inhabit your home and your heart. How can I refuse so pure a sentiment?’

Ki’Remi’s mouth quirked at the words.

Still, Zephyr had not spoken.

Without warning, the grizzled warrior extended his hand.

The Rider grasped it, meeting the older man’s grip with equal strength, neither overpowering nor yielding.

Their arms locked, and for a beat, there was no sound but the wind through the golden fields, no movement but the shifting of shadows across the ground.

Issa blinked as Zephyr’s gaze bore into Ki’Remi’s.

At last came a single, measured breath.

‘Sante,’ Zephyr murmured. ‘For bringing her home.’

His voice was redolent and rich with appreciation.

Ki’Remi nodded, unable to find words that mattered.

Issa stared at her man and then at her parents, still lost in disbelief that the moment they hoped for all these years was now a reality.

For the first time, she understood that some battles did not just prevail in the war zone.

They were conquered in a farmhouse, deep in the hinterlands of Dunia, in the victories of holding the people you loved and knowing they were free.

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