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I stared out at the ocean as Rowen rubbed my back in comforting circles. I couldn’t bring myself to leave. I wanted to stay until every last luminorb disappeared.

My slate-grey dress and hair billowed in the wind, and Rowen tucked a flyaway curl behind my pointed ear. “Have I ever told you how much I love your silver freckles?”

“Not today,” I replied, tucking under his arm as dawn hugged the horizon. We’d been here all night, and somehow, I still wasn’t ready to say goodbye.

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the sensitive skin below my ear. “I could spend an eternity counting them and recounting them.”

“We have the time,” I replied, relishing every moment in Rowen’s arms.

Someone cleared their throat behind us, and we turned to see Callum. Takoda healed most of his wounds, but a bandage remained on his eye. “Beautiful ceremony,” he said, joining us at the lapping waves.

“You’re up late,” Rowen remarked as I noted the faint bruises on his neck. Pia and Xala must have shown him a good time .

“And you’re married,” he replied, noting the ring on his finger. He clasped him on the shoulder with a wide, even-toothed grin. “When do you plan to take your bride back to Viltarran?”

“In a few days,” Rowen replied. “Once everything here has settled.”

Callum shifted on his feet, his contagious smile fading. “There is something I’ve been meaning to tell you. I hate to ruin your wedded bliss, but you need to know.”

“What is it?” Rowen asked, his hand wrapping protectively around my middle.

“There have been sightings of a red-headed man and a woman with raven hair wandering the ruins of Viltarran.”

My muscles tensed. “Caeryn and Aliphoura,” I said, my eyes locking with Rowen’s.

I shuddered to think of how the red-headed man kidnapped me and broke my bones; nearly broke my spirit.

Rowen had healed my body with noxlily petals, but the shimmering scars all over my body would always remind me of my time in the Crypts.

“We never found Fou’s body, and Caeryn hasn’t been seen since. ”

Rowen scanned my face. “We watched Caeryn break her neck. He was devoted. Perhaps he carries her corpse?”

“Maybe,” Callum said with an unconvinced look in his eye. “The reports have been of them rifling through the ruins. It’s as if they are searching for something.”

“Lord Leones’ will,” I gasped, my gut dropping. “If Fou’s still alive, she would be searching for that. It’s the only thing keeping her from reclaiming her title. If she ever found it, she could come for the throne.”

Rowen’s eyes darkened with the ghosts of his past. “Keep a close watch and let me know if there are any more sightings. We can’t be too careful.”

“Of course.” Callum nodded. “Thaydril offered to portal me and the warriors back today. We’ll prepare what we can for your return.”

“Thank you, but be sure to get some rest,” Rowen said, patting his friend on the back. “We have a long road ahead of us. Nearly every building has been torn down. Only half the castle and a few neighborhoods stand.”

Callum’s blue gaze darted between me and Rowen. “We’re ready. And I don’t just speak for myself when I say I look forward to seeing what you two will do for Viltarran.”

“We have some ideas,” I said, wrapping my arms around Rowen. Unspoken words flashed between us as we recalled our shared dream.

“It will be good to see love and laughter return to the halls,” Callum replied with one last look to the horizon. “Well, I best be off. My lord. My lady.” He bowed at the waist and excused himself.

I tilted my gaze back to Rowen and rested my hand on his chest. “Being called my lady will take some getting used to.”

“I believe you’ll adjust quickly,” Rowen replied with my favorite grin. He placed his hand over mine and toyed with the wedding band on my finger. I marveled at the man who was now and forever my husband. Though our nuptials had been quick and impromptu, I wished I had a wedding gift to give him.

My husband, the lord of Viltarran, stood before me in the early morning light.

He was dressed simply, wearing his fitted pants and loose charcoal shirt with his ax at his side.

He looked exactly as he had the first time I saw him—strong and handsome with muscled strength and quiet power. But there were two subtle differences.

The first was his face. The haunted shadows that clung to his features had disappeared. His gaze, once guarded and filled with the wounds of his past, was now clear, light, and brimming with purpose .

The second was his exposed chest. He only wore one necklace made of crystal beads. The other, with the silver medallion, was buried in the ground. Fou had placed a dark curse upon it to keep an eye on Rowen, and though we assumed her dead, it was still too great a risk to wear.

I felt the loss of his family heirloom deep in my bones. I had nothing from my life before, but I wanted Rowen to step into our future with a treasured piece of his past.

The sun was rising, and I was exhausted, but I couldn’t go one more day without righting this wrong. It would be my wedding gift.

I turned to my husband and said, “Take me to your mother’s necklace.”

Rowen led me to where he’d buried his mother’s necklace. It was just outside the Wyn village, up on one of the bluffs overlooking the sea.

He counted several paces from a tree, then knelt to where he’d buried the pendant.

“Can I see it?” I asked.

Rowen’s eyes narrowed. “It’s still cursed.”

“I know. It’s okay.”

Without hesitation, Rowen drove his ax into the ground to break up the earth. After a minute of digging, he retrieved a small woven pouch.

I outstretched my palm to take it from him.

“Keira,” he said with apprehension. “Someone could be watching.”

“Trust me,” I replied, keeping my hand steady.

He pulled the drawstrings apart and carefully lifted the necklace out by the chain. He still didn’t dare touch the medallion cursed by his ex-love to spy on him.

Rowen hesitated as if he feared the curse would rub off on me. There was no way Aliphoura could have survived, but still, there were sightings of a raven-haired woman wandering the wreckage of Viltarran. We couldn’t be too careful.

He placed the necklace in my hand, and as soon as the medallion touched my palm, a pair of eyes flashed in my mind.

As fast as they appeared, they vanished.

Tendrils of Light spiraled up my arm as I cleansed the blight from the necklace with a silver blast.

“Someone was watching,” I said, holding the medallion a moment longer, ensuring the curse and connection were severed.

“Did you recognize them?” Rowen asked, his brows narrowing.

“No,” I said, handing him back his necklace. “But it’s safe to wear again.”

The light and love in his eyes were unmistakable as he traced the pendant with his finger. He put his head through the chain and situated the medallion on his sternum.

“I wish you could have met my mother,” he said, seeming entirely whole. It was beautiful to see.

“Me too. She sounds like an amazing woman.”

“She would have loved you.”

“What was her name?” I asked, wishing she and Rowen had had more time together. She’d died unexpectedly, orphaning him when he was so young.

“Alenie Damascus,” he said with pride.

“Alenie Damascus,” I repeated, hoping in some way she could hear me. “Thank you for your son. You raised a good one. I’m honored to become a part of the family.”

“Does that mean you’ll take my name? It was my mother’s. I know she would want you to have it. Or I’ll take yours, I don’t care. As long as you’re mine.”

I looked at the ring on my finger. “I’ve never felt a connection to my name, and yours means so much to you. I would love to become a part of the Damascus family.”

Rowen scooped me up and spun me in the air, my legs trailing behind me. We laughed as the world rotated around us, and after a long day of tears, the sound was music to my ears.

He lowered me to his lips and kissed me, passionately. I interlocked my fingers behind his neck, feeling a wave of pure and utter contentment.

The starwings had somehow found us up on the cliff and circled us with their shimmering tails.

Rowen and I had fought so hard for this peace, and looking at his once-cursed necklace that flashed with eyes I didn’t recognize, something told me that we would have to keep fighting for it.