"I know you did," Aria said. "I felt it. The bond you broke does not break clean. You have been aching at the end of it for years. I felt every twinge. I want you to understand that I felt it, and that I did nothing, because by the time you started aching I was already gone. Already here. Already his. Already a queen. Your regret reached me the way weather reaches a closed window. I saw it. It did not get in."
Behind her, in the arch of the great hall, Kael stood without moving. He did not come forward. He did not need to. He let her have this, the way he had let her have the kingdom, the way he had let her have every choice that was hers to make.
Damon took a step toward her.
"Come back," he said. "Not to me. I am not such a fool as to think that. But to the Blackmoon Pack. They were y
