The firelight flickered against the tense stillness, casting long shadows across the camp as Ronan's words echoed in Aria's mind.
"I renounce the claim. The bond. Everything."
The very air seemed to shudder with the weight of his declaration. Kael stepped forward slightly, ready to defend, but Aria raised her hand, calm, composed, but shaking inside.
"You'd give it all up?" she asked, her voice calm but sharp like shattered glass. "After everything you did to me?"
Ronan nodded slowly. "Yes. I'm not asking for forgiveness. I just need you to know that I finally understand what I destroyed. And I won't be the one to destroy you again."
His words stung more than she anticipated. Because she saw it, the sincerity, the grief, the kind of remorse that doesn't come from guilt, but from love that came too late.
Nora moved behind Aria, her presence a silent anchor. "Do you believe him?" she whispered.
