Eternal.
Forever.
Later, we lay tangled together in the darkness, my head on his chest, his hand stroking lazy patterns on my back.
"What are you thinking?" I asked.
"That I never thought I'd have this." His voice was quiet. Wondering. "A mate. A future. A reason to be more than just a prisoner."
"You were always more than that."
"Maybe. But I didn't believe it." He pressed a kiss to my hair. "You made me believe it."
I smiled against his skin. "We made each other believe it."
"Yeah." His hand tightened on my waist. "We did."
We were quiet for a while, just breathing together, hearts beating in perfect time.
"Merrilee?"
"Hmm?"
"Thank you for choosing me. For choosing a life with me."
I lifted my head to look at him. "There was never any other choice. From the moment I met you, it was always going to be you."
His eyes gleamed in the darkness—amber and warm and full of love.
"Then I'm the luckiest male in the galaxy."
"We're both lucky." I settled back against him. "We found each other. We survived. And now we get to build something beautiful."
"Together."
"Together," I agreed.
And as I drifted off to sleep, wrapped in my mate's arms, our hearts beating as one, I knew with absolute certainty that this was just the beginning.
We had a whole life ahead of us.
Challenges to face. A future to build.
But we'd face it all together.
Bonded.
Mated.
Forever.
And that was more than enough.
Epilogue
Serna
The weight of the title fell away here, in this dim chamber where death kept its patient vigil. Alliance Prime—that mantle of authority she wore like armor across a dozen worlds—meant nothing within these walls. Here, on Vaktaire, in the ancestral stronghold where crimson banners hung motionless in air thick with incense and grief, she was only Serna. Just Serna. A female watching her mate die.
