#Chapter 231 Epilogue

Damon Somewhere below, laughter spills faintly through the gardens: high, bright, unguarded. The twins again, playing well-past their bedtime but I don’t have the heart to call them inside. I walk the long hall that leads from the council chamber to our private suite, the torches low, their flames soft and steady. Once, these same halls reeked of blood and smoke. Tonight, they smell of wax, parchment, and flowers from the palace gardens. Lila’s doing, of course. She claimed the palace needed more living things if it was to be a home. She was right, but I’m learning that she usually is. My footsteps fall quietly, each one a reminder of how far we’ve come. I pass portraits of Kings long dead, their eyes painted in the same shade of gold as mine, though none of them would recognize the male I’ve become. Their legacy was based on peace being something we could conquer, an empire to be won through control. But peace doesn’t honestly kneel to force, it grows only when someone t