Years Later
Peace came slowly.
Edward grew bold and clever.
Her own children flourished.
Rowan healed—not from wounds, but from the burden he had carried.
When Edward, now a young king, summoned her to Northbridge Castle, he embraced her like the mother he remembered.
“You saved me,” he said. “No crown grants greater honor.”
Rowan was knighted.
Amalia was celebrated.
The kingdom rejoiced.
Later, beneath the quiet glow of the castle’s lanterns, Rowan found her alone.
“You are no longer the woman who hid a future king,” he murmured. “You’re the queen of my life.”
Tears glimmered in her eyes.
“And you,” she whispered, “are the man who taught me that love can be freedom.”
They walked into the golden dusk together—
no longer fugitives,
no longer haunted,
but partners stepping into the life they had fought to earn.
Their long road had ended.
A new one began.
