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For a long moment, I simply look at it. At the place where a man died only minutes ago. Then I realize this is my life now. Dark and complicated. Beautiful and terrifying.

And somehow, I don’t want anything else.

I sit, settle the Noctis against my body, raise the bow, and draw the first note into the silence.

Conversation fades and glasses lower as the music fills the room. Between phrases, I catch glimpses of my sister crying beside Cassian, Angela smiling toward the sound, Damaris leaning against Lucan, and Ciaran watching me like nothing else exists.

The music carries me after that, past the fear, past the blood, until the final note fades into the air. A heartbeat later, applause crashes through the chapel, glasses striking tables and whistles rolling through the crowd.

Through it all, Ciaran swaggers onto the stage, applauding loudly as he makes his way toward me.

My breath catches when he reaches me, catches my hand, and pulls me to my feet. "I knew you’d steal the show, mouse," he murmurs. “Told you they’d all fall in love with you.”

Then he kisses me, one hand cupping my jaw, the kiss carrying the same promise and certainty as everything else about him. Like he doesn’t care that every family in the Reach is watching. Then again, maybe he doesn’t.

The chapel fades around us until all I can feel is Ciaran’s mouth on mine.

And for the first time in my life, I don’t flinch from being seen.

EPILOGUE

“Your parents are lovely.”

I glance sideways as we make our way across the private landing platform, guards spreading out around us, to where the shuttle waits with its ramp lowered beneath the evening lights.

Beside me, Ciaran looks entirely too sure of himself. The cocky bastard. Cocky, sweet bastard. His dark hair falls into his eyes, the black button-down hanging half open beneath his coat, where the wildcat tattoo shifts across bronze skin every time he moves.

Though right now, he might be a cocky, sweet, lying bastard. “Really? You didn’t feel the house was too small?”

He grins at that. “I survived.”

“Yeah, well... you nearly melted. Ma insisted on keeping the stove going all day.”

“Which may have been a minor inconvenience.” He catches my chin between his fingers, tilts my face up, and steals a quick kiss that has my legs trembling. “But hey...

your father liked me, no?”

I roll my eyes. “He made you carry furniture.”

“And yet… he invited me back.”

“Because you promised to pay for their—and everyone else’s—travel expenses.”

A laugh slips out at the memory of our last night on Düren before I can stop it.

“You know,” I say, following him up the ramp while the guards begin boarding behind us, “Dad used to tell us that life on the other planets was better than life on Düren.”

“Yeah, he told me. But honestly, that’s not true. Yes, Sero and Helion are rich planets, but we have a few that are just as on the edge as Düren. Take Tempest, where your sister went to meet her husband.”

“She never told me how they met. Not even when Ma asked her.”

“That’s because it’s secret, mouse. Trust me, everything worked out just fine for her, but it’s not a place I’ll ever take you.”

“Pa didn’t agree with you.”

“Of course not. Believing that his precious daughter may have been involved in upper- class Reach politics is scary. I wouldn’t agree if I were him.” He slips his hand into mine as we step inside the shuttle, waiting while the ramp begins to rise behind us.

“Ma was the only one who actually took your side,” I say. “But I think that was mainly because you brought her those silver nightbell flowers. She wouldn’t stop talking about them after you left.”