I nodded, pressing my forehead against hers, meeting her eyes. “Told you I’d be here for you always.”
Light shimmered across her body, silver veins threading out from where I touched.
Only one chain remained, still binding her to her pain, and we grabbed onto it together.
“Ready?” I whispered.
Her gaze locked on mine, she nodded.
We yanked. The world itself tore. The sky howled. The soulplane screamed. And her name echoed through it like a vow cracking open the dark. The chain disintegrated, and the residue left behind was caught by the wind and swept away.
Light exploded around us, hot and red gold. The castle walls crumbled and bled shadows from every crack. The soulplane turned wild, untamed, like it had been forced too long into quiet and finally let loose to scream. Floor tiles buckled and shattered underfoot.
“We need to get out of here,” I rasped, tightening my grip on her hand.
She was already pulling me toward the hallway that was now smooth silver, forged from the memories we’d made.
Hand in hand, we ran. Each step thundered, a heartbeat trying to outrun death. The storm howled behind us, but the pathburned with memory and meaning. Warm air coasted across our skin. The storm behind us still shrieked, still tried to chase us, but it couldn’t touch the light blooming underneath us.
Reyla’s hair streamed behind her like flames. The shadows sank back into the stone and vanished.
She didn’t stumble once, and I watched with pride as she reclaimed herself with every step.
Every time she glanced at me with warm eyes and a steady jaw, I saw the whole person. Not a woman tangled in guilt or pain or bound by duty, but one standing free in the fire and choosing to burn it all down with her rather than let it burn her.
The last of the castle groaned.
We reached the end of this world and leaped through a wall of golden light?—
I gasped awake, finding myself lying on our bed, curled around Reyla. The room spun with warmth.
She was breathing.
“Wildfire,” I whispered, my voice cracking wide open.
Her eyelids lifted, and there she was. Clear. Bright. Warm. Not the hollow shell I worried she’d remain, but my wife. Whole and breathing and real in my trembling arms.
The dragon mark on my forearm flashed before fading.
My throat closed as relief crashed through me in waves. I framed her face, brushing away tears. Her skin was warm, so beautifully warm, and when she leaned into my touch, the last of the ice around my heart shattered.
She traced her fingers along my jaw and up the scar she'd kissed too many times to count, her touch featherlight.
“Lore.” Her gaze remained locked on mine, and the emotions there undid me completely. “I love you.”
The words hit me like a physical blow. I couldn't stop the shudder that ran through me.
Tears hit, wetting my cheeks. I pulled her closer and held her.
“You meant it,” she breathed against my skin. “All of it.”
I tightened my arms around her. “You remembered me, and I will remember you. Every breath, every scar, every vow. Always.”
“Promise me something,” she whispered against my neck.
“Anything.”
“Love me like this forever. Like I'm worth saving.”
