Until then, I have this. Have her weight in my arms, her trust, her choice.
She chose me.
Even broken and bleeding and terrified, she looked at me and asked to gohome. To the place we'll build together. The life we'll carve out despite everything trying to tear us apart.
The city appears on the horizon—New Solas with its gleaming spires and chaotic streets. My townhouse sits in the quieter quarter, far from the center but close enough to hear the city's pulse. Two stories. Three bedrooms. A study where I handle business I don't give a shit about right now.
A kitchen where I made her breakfast this morning. A bed where I’ve had her over and over. Ahomewhere she's safe.
Where she'll always be safe.
I angle toward it, wings cutting through air with desperate speed. Need to get her inside. Need to strip away these blood-stained clothes and wash away every trace of what happened. Need to feel the bond snap back into place and know for certain she's okay.
Need to hear her say she still wants this. Wantsme. That what we started this morning wasn't destroyed by violence and fear.
Senna shifts in my arms, lifting her head slightly to look at my face. Tears still streak her cheeks but her eyes are clearer. Focused.
"Thank you." The words are barely audible over the wind. "For coming. For finding me."
My throat closes around everything I want to say. That I'll always find her. Always come when she needs me. That there's no force in any realm that could keep me away if she's in danger.
Instead I just hold her tighter and fly faster, racing toward home.
20
SENNA
The world blurs beneath us—trees and roads and distant mountains reduced to smears of color. I can't focus on any of it. Can only focus on the steady thrum of Lorenth's heartbeat beneath my ear, the iron grip of his arms around me, the heat of his magic wrapping us both against the brutal wind.
I'm shaking. Can't stop shaking.
The bond sits quiet in my chest. Not gone—I can feel it there, this faint whisper ofhimthat proves we're connected—but muted. Dampened. Like trying to hear music through thick walls. The absence iswrong. I've only had the bond for a handful of days but it's already become part of me. This constant reassurance that I'm not alone. That someone wants me. Chose me.
And Darian stole that.
My fingers dig harder into Lorenth's shoulders. He doesn't flinch. Just holds me tighter, wings beating with desperate speed as we race toward the city growing on the horizon.
He came for me.
Even when he couldn't feel the bond. Even when that connection went silent and he had no way of knowing if I wasalive or dead or hurt. He searched. Found the pendant. Flew to the village and tore through anyone who stood between us.
Killed Darian with his bare hands.
The memory should horrify me. Should make me recoil from the violence, from the blood still drying on Lorenth's skin. But all I feel is this fierce, devastating relief. That someone finally put an end to it. That I don't have to be afraid anymore.
That Lorenth looked at me—beaten and bloodied in the village square—and still wanted me.
New Solas spreads beneath us now, all gleaming spires and winding streets. Lorenth angles toward the quieter residential quarter, wings tilting as he descends. His townhouse appears below, modest compared to the noble estates but still bigger than anywhere I've ever lived.
Home.
The word echoes through my thoughts, strange and precious. I've never had a real home. Just places I survived. Uncle's house where I was a burden. Darian's shop where I was property. Even Mira's apartment was temporary—somewhere safe to hide but never trulymine.
This is different.
Lorenth lands in the small courtyard behind his townhouse, boots hitting stone with barely a sound despite our speed. He doesn't put me down. Just adjusts his grip and heads for the back entrance, shouldering through the door like I weigh nothing.
The warmth inside hits immediately—residual heat from the hearth, the lingering scent of this morning's breakfast. Evidence of the life we started building. The bond we formed in his bed while dawn light streamed through the windows.
