Chapter 10 - UNDER THE ETERNAL MOON
High above the citadel, on the open balcony of the royal apartments, Maya stood leaning against the stone balustrade.
The night air was crisp, carrying the familiar scent of pine and mountain snow. The silver crescent mark on her shoulder pulsed with a warm, steady glow, perfectly in tune with the massive, radiant full moon hanging in the center of the star-drenched sky.
She felt a pair of strong arms wrap gently around her waist from behind, pulling her back against a warm, solid chest.
Rowan rested his chin softly on her shoulder, breathing in the scent of her hair. "You're thinking about the border trials again," he murmured, his voice a low rumble against her back.
"No," Maya replied softly, leaning back into his embrace and resting her hands over his. "I'm thinking about how far we've come. And... feeling that we're only at the beginning."
Rowan tightened his arms around her, turning her slightly so she could look into his eyes. The moonlight caught the thin scar by his eye, softening his fierce expression into something deeply tender.
"Whatever comes from the south, whatever shadows try to crawl back into our mountains," Rowan said firmly, his voice laced with absolute devotion, "they will break against us. I swore to protect this kingdom, Maya, but my life belongs to its true queen."
Maya smiled, a deep, radiant warmth spreading through her chest that had nothing to do with magic and everything to do with love. She reached up, her fingers tracing the edge of his jaw, and pulled him down into a slow, lingering kiss that tasted of eternity.
Far below them, across the sprawling, peaceful valleys of Frostmir, thousands of wolves howled in unison toward the silver sky—not out of fear, and not out of blind obedience, but in joyous, unbreakable harmony with the woman who had risen from the ashes.
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The broken Omega was gone forever.
In her place stood a legend, written in starlight and crowned by the moon itself, reigning over a world finally at peace.
