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What was left?

Nothing.

She touched the faint scar below her nape, the one left from the mark of control. The demonink had seeped away, but the damage was still there—in her thoughts, in her heart. Like a parasite that had eaten too deep.

I am ruin.

When Lia requested to speak to Hagan, she sent word like a formal emissary, though her presence was anything but powerful now. She waited outside Hagan's chamber, head bowed, posture hunched as if her body was too heavy to carry.

Hagan arrived not alone but with Seren at his side.

Lia didn't seem to care. Once, she might have been offended by the breach of privacy. Now, she only looked tired.

Their bond was still fragile, Hagan knew—but it had grown roots, strong and reaching. He wouldn't give Seren reason to doubt his intentions.

Lia stood when they entered. Her frame was gaunt, almost fragile, as though something inside her had caved in and left only the shell.

Seren regarded her carefully, the bond with Hagan pulsing with caution and curiosity.

Hagan answered her unspoken question. "Dain is healing well. He should wake within a few days."

Lia only nodded; the news met with a numb sort of acknowledgement.

Then she reached into her coat and withdrew a folded parchment.

"I'd like a writ of passage," she said.

Hagan didn't move to take it.

"To where?"

She hesitated. "I'd rather not say."

"You know the law," Hagan said, not unkindly. "If you don't name your destination, I can only release you bearing the mark of the Forsaken."

Lia winced, just barely.

"My enchantress powers are gone," she said, her voice quieter. "And I am not sorry. I have my wolf. I don't want any trouble. Only a fresh start. Please."

She stared down at the floor. "I didn't grow up with choices. I didn't grow up with kindness. I didn't even grow up free."

Her voice cracked on the last word.

Seren watched her, heart twisting. There was no artifice left in Lia—just the worn-down bones of someone who'd spent their entire life surviving.

"I don't belong here," Lia continued. "There are things I have to do. Ties I have to cut. And I can't do it from within these walls."

"You could stay," Seren said gently. "Let us help you. We can find a way to break your bindings."

Lia shook her head. "It’s too late. It was too late the moment Gaia birthed me."

She hesitated again. "Dain hates me."

"He doesn't—"

"He should." Her voice was suddenly sharp. "I lied to him. Used him. I am nothing but waste. A tool."

She looked up then, eyes glinting with a hollow fire. "Please. Just let me go."