Of all the nightmares I’d endured, this one was the only one I could not wake from.
Mattieu's grip loosened on my elbow, and for one fleeting moment, the absence of his possessive touch was like a breath of air. But before I could savor even that small freedom, Thayden's fingers closed around mine. His touch made my stomach lurch.
"My beautiful bride," he murmured, low enough that only I could hear. His thumb traced across my knuckles in what mighthave looked like tenderness to the watching crowd. But I knew the warning in that touch as the reminder of ownership that would become absolute in mere minutes.
He drew me the final steps toward the altar, closing the distance between whatever fragments of freedom I had left and the priest who waited with his ceremonial book.
The priest smiled benevolently as we approached, his weathered face kind and paternal.
Thayden positioned us before the altar, angling our bodies so the crowd could witness every moment of my capitulation.
When the priest opened his book and began the ceremony, I realized with crystalline clarity that this was it. This was the moment when the girl I used to be would cease to exist forever.
Sixteen days until my memory reset. I couldn’t wait to forget this moment.
And Wolfe?
My heart lurched, then clenched. In sixteen days, I would lose him completely too—not just the physical distance between our worlds, but the moments we’d shared in this reset. All of it would vanish, leaving nothing behind but an ache I wouldn’t even understand.
Maybe that was a mercy. Maybe forgetting was the only way I’d survive what was coming.
I still had his soul mark. I thought I would feel something from it,anything, but nothing came. Maybe because everything else that tethered me to him was gone.
I didn’t want to remember this feeling of loss. Strange how we only appreciate something once it’s gone. I never thought I’d have to learn that lesson. Now I had.
Goodbye, Wolfe Nightblade.
The priest focused on us, looking from Thayden to me before addressing the assembled crowd.
"My Lords and Ladies, we are gathered here this day to celebrate the union of Sir Thayden Fairstrom and Lady Elariya Grayson in the sacred bonds of marriage. By the grace of the Gods and the witness of this Royal Court, we have gathered to bind these two souls as one flesh, one heart, one destiny." He spoke with fervency. “Today, in the sight of the Gods and this noble assembly, we?—”
A distant roar cut through the priest's words like ice cracking under pressure.
Everyone froze.
What was that?
It sounded like...No. I had to be imagining things. My mind was playing tricks on me, conjuring hope where none existed.
Then another roar echoed across the capital, closer this time, and unmistakable.
The stained-glass windows trembled in their frames. Murmurs rippled through the crowd like wind through wheat. Nobles twisted in their seats, craning their necks toward the windows, confusion and unease spreading through the assembly.
Prince Maelor rose from his throne, his expression sharp and alert. Mother rushed to my side, taking my hand.
Above us, massive shadows swept across the jeweled windows, the dark shapes blotting out the morning sun. For a moment, the Hall of Sovereigns was plunged into an eerie twilight.
The shadows moved with purpose, circling like predators, and with each pass, the roars grew louder.
Thayden released me and stepped forward, his polished composure cracking as his gaze darted between the windows and the increasingly restless crowd.
"What in the six hells—" he began, but his words were swallowed by another earth-shaking roar that came from directly overhead.
A sound like the world itself were cracking open followed next. Then, through the windows, we all watched a massive dragon land on the jagged roof of the keep.
Pyrion.
Blessed Motherit was Pyrion. I would have thought my eyes had deceived me if not for the shocked, terrified faces around me.
