The armored transport is waiting.
Kael is standing beside it, holding the door open.
He takes one look at us—at Cyprian's glowing amber veins, at my tear-streaked face, at the way we're clinging to each other—and nods once.
"Welcome home, Ms. Beck," he says.
I don't correct him.
Because he's right.
I'm going home.
Not to an apartment.
Not to a building.
Tohim.
Cyprian climbs into the transport, still holding me, still refusing to let go.
The door closes.
The engine rumbles to life.
And as we pull away from my old apartment—from the broken radiator and the cheap furniture and the life I used to live—I realize something.
I'm not leaving anything behind.
I'm moving forward.
Into warmth.
Into light.
Into a future where I will never be cold again.
Cyprian's wings tighten around me.
"I love you," he whispers.
"I know," I whisper back.
And for the first time in forty-eight hours, I feel warm.
Chapter 18: Tamsin
I'm watching my entire life get loaded into a private elevator.
And I mean that literally.
Literally.
Three cardboard boxes held together with packing tape and hope. Two trash bags full of clothes that have seen better days. A duffel bag containing my massage supplies, my laptop, and approximately seven different brands of discount hand lotion.
That's it.
That's everything I own.
