The morning sun spilled through the canopy of ancient oaks, dappling the forest floor in gold. Elysia sat on a sun-warmed boulder, her face tilted upward as she soaked in the light.
My last day at Arkendale… in the soils where I was born… where I grew up!
Tomorrow, she would leave for the Northern Wastes—tomorrow, she would become a stranger's queen. But today, in this quiet moment between duty and destiny, she allowed herself to simply be.
A twig snapped.
Elysia didn't open her eyes. His aura touched her skin, her heart her soul— rowdy, untamed, predatory and unmistakably him.
"Are you following me?" she asked, lips quirking.
A low chuckle rumbled through the clearing. "Would you believe me if I said the wind carried me here?"
This time, she turned.
The stranger from t
