9
The sound of hooves echoed through Bramble Glen long before Rylan came into view.
Evanna stood at the edge of the garden, apron strings loose, fingers trembling.
Lyra had already run ahead, her giggles floating on the breeze like petals caught in wind.
There was no stopping her — not anymore.
She loved him. Trusted him. She didn’t understand what the world could do to someone like her.
But Evanna did.
And that’s why her heart pounded like a warning drum in her chest.
Rylan dismounted in front of the bakery, his usual guards left behind, sword strapped to his back, dust on his boots.
But his eyes were soft. The kind of soft she remembered from the night they first danced.
Lyra tackled him before he could even say hello.
“Daddy, I made you something again!”
He caught her with ease, spinning her around as she squealed. “You’re just going to keep spoiling me, aren’t you?”
She kissed his cheek without hesitation. “Mommy says I get that from you.”
Evanna’s breath caught.
He met her eyes over Lyra’s shoulder.
Neither of them looked away.
Later, when Lyra had gone to the back garden with her fox toy and a bag of cherries, Rylan sat across from Evanna at the kitchen table. A storm hovered between them — quiet but undeniable.
“I missed her,” he said softly.
“I know.”
“She misses me.”
Evanna nodded once. “She dreams of you nearly every night.”
He folded his hands on the table. “That’s not normal, is it?”
Evanna hesitated. “She’s… connected. To you. To the moon. She’s always been. I think she sees more than I can explain.”
He exhaled. “She needs protection. Training. Guidance for her wolf—”
“She needs stability.” Evanna cut in. “And safety. She doesn’t need the weight of your crown or your politics or your court looking at her like a bargaining chip.”
“She’s not a chip,” he growled. “She’s mine. She’s ours. And she deserves to be known. Not hidden.”
Evanna’s hands tightened into fists. “I didn’t hide her out of shame. I hid her to survive.”
“I know.”
His voice softened. “Evanna… I didn’t come here to take her from you. I came to ask you both to come with me.”
Silence.
He reached across the table, brushing his fingers against hers. “I’m not offering a throne. I’m offering a home. At the castle. A place where she’s protected — where she’s trained safely, and where she knows both of her parents are by her side.”
Evanna looked at their hands. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“I know exactly what I’m asking.”
She pulled her hand back slowly. “And what if she becomes your heir? What happens when someone decides she’s a threat? Or worse—when they try to use her to control you?”
Rylan’s jaw clenched. “Then I burn down every council hall that dares try.”
“You think power protects people like her?” she whispered. “It paints targets.”
Rylan stood then, pacing once before turning back to her.
“I’m not asking for forever,” he said. “Not yet. Just… come for a while. Let her see my world. Let her learn where she comes from. You don’t have to give me answers today. Just don’t shut the door.”
Evanna stood too, heart a storm of fire and fear.
“I have one condition.”
“Anything.”
“She stays with me. No guards. No royal tutors. No politics. If I see even one noblewoman look at her like she doesn’t belong—we leave.”
Rylan met her eyes with something quiet and solemn. “Then we agree.”
They stood there a long moment, the distance between them so full of memory it could’ve swallowed the room.
And finally, she whispered, “She’s always wanted to see the stars from a castle window.”
Rylan smiled. “Then let’s show her.”