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I turned back to Cassian.
“You did not.”
“I did,” he said simply.
“Even Harper?”
“Especially Harper.”
She nodded smugly. “He passed.”
I looked at the ring again.
Then at him.
“You kept my letter,” I said.
“I keep what matters.”
The night wrapped around us.
Charleston hummed beyond the walls.
For the first time in my life, I wasn’t balancing two versions of myself.
I wasn’t protecting an image.
I wasn’t chasing danger.
I wasn’t clinging to safety.
I was aligned.
Chosen.
Choosing.
And when Cassian kissed me under the lights, with my family and friends watching, with no secrecy and no apology?—
It didn’t feel like surrender.
It felt like coming home.
