The heavy iron-studded gates of the palace courtyard ground shut with a final, booming resonance that felt like a period at the end of a long, exhausting sentence.
Soren was gone. The dust kicked up by the multiple horses began to settle, drifting back to the frozen earth in the wake of their departure.
Eris remained exactly where he had left her.
The biting cold of the harsh winter bit at her cheeks, yet she didn't shiver.
She felt a strange, alien lightness in her chest... a sensation for which she had no precedent.
For years, the seal had been a leaden weight, a physical reminder of the monster she carried and the vengeance she owed.
But right now, despite the fractures, despite the blood on her silk and the ache in her ribs, she felt as though she might float away.
She had said it.
The words had left her throat, undeniable and raw, and the world had not ended.
Nevareth had not crumbled further into the sea.
