Chapter 30
Jul 4, 2025
The sky was bruised with dawnlight, a sickly red bleeding across the clouds like the world itself was wounded. From the battlements of Valen’s fortress, I saw everything—the distant frost-covered hills, the blackened field below, the army waiting on the horizon like a storm refusing to pass. The wind clawed at my dress, stiff with dried blood, the pale fabric stained crimson where Valen had ordered it slashed.
“A Luna should wear proof of loyalty,” he had said, while his guards laughed and I bled. I hadn’t screamed. I hadn’t begged. I hadn’t spoken in two days.
Now I stood where he wanted me. Silent. Barefoot. Uncrowned.
Valen’s hand gripped my upper arm like he was holding the last coin of a crumbling empire. His nails dug into my skin through the ruined silk, and he leaned in close, voice low, breath sour with wine and pride.
“You see them?” he murmured against my ear. “The mighty Dire wolves. So disciplined. So noble.”
I said nothing.
“You think he came for you?” he asked. “You think after what I’ve done to you, what I’ve let them do—he’d still want you?” He chuckled, soft and venomous. “He’ll look up, see your blood, see how quiet you are now, and turn around. Bet on it.”
I didn’t blink. “Then let him look.”
That wiped the smile off his face.
Below us, the ground shook with hoofbeats. The Dire army moved into formation—black-cloaked riders, their armor glinting like obsidian, their banners stripped bare. No crests. No crowns. At the front of them, still as a statue carved from rage, sat Cassian.
His hair blew in the wind like a war banner. His gaze cut through the haze and smoke and distance and found me. Just me. And the moment he saw me—really saw me—his expression shattered. No rage. No shock. Just knowing.
Valen shifted beside me. “He’s not stupid enough to breach treaty lines. Not with all those alliances stacked on the edge of a blade. The moment he moves, he starts a war.”
“He already did,” I whispered.
Valen barked a laugh. “You think this is about you?” He turned to face me, grabbed my jaw in one hand and yanked my head toward his. “You’re an Omega in rags. Nothing more.”
“And yet you keep dragging me to the roof like a prize.”
He slapped me—hard and fast. My head snapped sideways, but I refused to fall. The metallic tang of blood burst on my tongue, warm and bitter, but I locked my knees and stayed upright. When I turned back, my eyes found Cassian’s again.
He was off his horse.
Marching now.
Alone.
Valen inhaled sharply. “No. No, he wouldn’t—”
Cassian drew his blade.
Dire blades followed like thunder. Behind him, hundreds of wolves unsheathed their swords in unison, the sound a scream of steel that sliced the morning calm in half.
Valen’s voice cracked. “He’s bluffing! He wouldn’t—he wouldn’t risk the kingdom for this.”
Cassian’s voice boomed across the field, cutting through the wind like a god’s demand. “Bring her to me.”
My knees trembled. I nearly dropped. But then Valen stepped in front of me like a coward hiding behind glass. “You’ll have to climb over my corpse,” he shouted down.
Cassian’s response came like a promise: “Gladly.”
Then it began.
The first arrow screamed from the northern ridge. A Valen guard collapsed beside the tower. Chaos broke like thunder. Soldiers yelled, horns blew, steel clashed. Valen’s men scrambled across the battlements, and he grabbed me, shoving me toward the stairwell.
“This is your fault!” he roared, dragging me down the steps as war erupted around us. “You brought this upon us!”
“No,” I said through clenched teeth. “You did.”
He tried to twist my wrist, but I yanked free and shoved him back against the wall. Just for a heartbeat. Just long enough to look up again.
Cassian was in the courtyard now.
He moved like wrath. A blade in hand. Blood already on his shoulder from the first wave of guards who’d tried to stop him.
And he was coming.
For me.
The bond screamed in my chest. No longer flickering. No longer faint. It burned through my skin like lightning, sparking every nerve awake. Every scar. Every memory. Every promise. He was here. He felt me. And he hadn’t forgotten.
Valen reached for me again, but this time I ducked. I ran. Back up the stairs, feet bare, lungs raw. The guards didn’t stop me—too busy screaming, fighting, dying. When I reached the edge of the battlements again, I saw him. Cassian. His sword glowing in the firelight. His eyes locked on mine like he had never looked away.
And I stood tall.
Blood on my lips. Bruises on my throat. Chains still clinking on my wrists.
But I was not broken.
I was seen.
I was chosen.
I met his gaze, chest heaving.
And through the roar of war, I whispered into the wind like a vow:
“He didn’t forget me.”
