Chapter 454:

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The kitchen slowly filled with warmth as Gemma and I worked side by side. I chopped vegetables while she prepared the meat. It felt like a mother and daughter making dinner together. Every now and then Gemma would tell me where something was, and I would pretend I didn’t know just to make her complain.

“You’re doing that wrong.”

“I want to.”

She shook her head. “You’ve become exactly like Nero.”

Parrot answered at once. She means stubborn and beautiful.

I nearly dropped the knife. Gemma narrowed her eyes but returned to the stove.

For a while, neither of us spoke. Then she said quietly, “I’m going to miss this.”

𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘀.𝗰𝗼𝗺

My hands slowed. “Me too.”

“You really have to go?”

I looked at her. “Yes.”

Her eyes lowered.

“The Chimera knows about us now. We can’t stay here and pretend we’re safe. They’ll eventually come looking, and if they come here because of us, the Free Lands will suffer. I don’t want to bring war to your doorstep.”

Gemma nodded slowly. “And Moonstone needs you.”

I reached across the table and took her hand. “You kept me alive when I had nowhere else to go. You gave me a home when I didn’t know what home was supposed to feel like. You let me train here. You protected me.”

Her eyes glistened. “I’ll never forget that.”

She squeezed my hand. “Then promise me something. Don’t let Moonstone change you. And don’t let being Luna make you forget who you are.”

“I won’t.”

She pulled me into a hug, and I closed my eyes. “I’ll come back,” I whispered.

“You’d better.”

When we finished cooking, the smell of roasted meat and herbs filled the house. I carried the plates toward the table while Gemma brought the rest. For a little while, everything felt normal.

Then footsteps sounded above us. Nero appeared at the top of the stairs, one hand resting on the railing.

I stood at once. “You should be resting.”

“I smelled food.”

I laughed. “You’re impossible.”

He came down slowly. He was still pale, but there was more strength in his movements than earlier. Gemma pointed at a chair, and he sat.

We ate together. It wasn’t a grand dinner. There were no royal servants, no silver plates, no enormous hall filled with nobles. Somehow that made it feel even more precious.

Nero reached for my hand beneath the table, and I squeezed his fingers. Parrot sighed happily. Home.

I looked at Nero. “Tonight, you stay here. No traveling. No arguments. No trying to prove how strong you are.”

“One more night.”

“One more night,” I whispered.

Remi POV

The next morning

By the time we reached Draven’s cabin, Nero looked nothing like the man I had watched collapse after the curse left him. The sun was already up when I stopped at the entrance and stared at the place that had once been nothing more than broken walls, rotten boards, and memories. Now it stood completely restored, sturdy and warm, with fresh wood beneath my fingertips and smoke curling lazily from the chimney.

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