She would always be worth it.
We reached the garden just as the first pale light of dawn began filtering down through the water above us. Vale and Thane were waiting, their bodies curled protectively around a smaller form—Lily, asleep in the nest of their arms, her face peaceful in a way I rarely saw when she was awake.
"Did you get it?" Vale's voice was soft, careful not to wake her. His silver eyes scanned our faces, and I saw understanding dawn in them—horror and grief and something that looked almost like gratitude, all tangled together. "The potion. The blocker. Did she give them to you?"
"Yes." I held up the vials, feeling their weight in my palm. Such small things to have cost so much. "Enough for a month."
"What did she take?" Thane's voice was thick with tears, his golden-brown eyes already overflowing. He knew. Of course he knew. The witch always took the same thing from sirens. The only thing that truly mattered.
"It doesn't matter." Riven's voice was rough, but steady. He moved closer to where Lily slept, his scarred hand reaching out to brush a strand of hair from her face. "Whatever it was, it was worth it. She's worth it."
I watched him touch her, watched the tenderness in his movements, and felt something shift in my chest. The empty space was still there—would probably always be there—but around its edges, new memories were already forming. New moments of joy to replace the ones we'd lost.
The first time she opened her eyes and saw us waiting for her.
The first time she said our names like they meant something.
The first time she chose us, over and over again, even when she was afraid.
"She doesn't need to know," I said quietly, settling beside my pack, beside our omega, beside the woman who had become thecenter of everything without even trying. "What we paid. What we gave up. She doesn't need to carry that."
"Agreed," Vale's voice was soft, his silver eyes fixed on Lily's sleeping face. "Some prices are meant to be paid in secret."
"Some sacrifices are meant to be made in the dark," Thane added, his voice cracking on a sob.
Riven said nothing. He just curled his body around Lily's, his scarred arms wrapping around her like he could protect her from the entire world, and closed his eyes.
I watched them for a long moment—my pack, my family, the four people who mattered more to me than centuries of existence. Then I tucked the vials away safely and let myself drift closer, adding my body to the protective circle around the woman we loved.
She stirred slightly in her sleep, murmuring something I couldn't quite hear. But her hand reached out, found mine, and held on tight.
Despite the emptiness in my chest, despite the memory I could no longer recall, I smiled.
She was worth it.
She would always be worth it.
Chapter Eighteen
LILY
Something was different.
I'd known it the moment they pressed the vials into my hands, one amber, one blue-green, both glowing faintly with the witch's magic. Enough scent blocker for a month. Enough swimming potion to last until I made my choice.
When I'd asked what they paid, Kaelan's dark eyes had gone distant. Empty in a way I'd never seen before.
"Nothing you need to worry about," he'd said, his voice gentle but final, a door closing on whatever truth lay behind it.
He was lying.
I floated in the water now, watching them watch me. It had been three days since they'd returned from the witch, and I still couldn't shake the feeling that something fundamental had changed. Not in how they treated me—if anything, they were more attentive, more desperate to touch me, more hungry for every moment we spent together.
There were gaps now. Silences that stretched too long. Moments when one of them would reach for something in theirmemory and come up empty, confusion flickering across their faces before they smoothed it away.
Riven was the worst. I'd catch him staring at me sometimes with this look of devastating loss, like he was mourning something he couldn't name. And when I'd ask what was wrong, he'd just shake his head and pull me closer, burying his face in my hair like he was trying to memorize my scent.
"You're thinking too loud," Vale's voice drifted through the water, teasing and light. He swam lazy circles around me, his silver tail catching the bioluminescent light. "I can practically hear your brain working from here."
