Carefully, she lifted her head from where it rested on Kiran’s bare chest and looked up at his still-sleeping face. The world might not have changed, but some things had. The doubt that nipped at her heels like a ravenous wolf slumbered somewhere, leaving a contented feeling that was entirely foreign to her. For once, there were no more secrets hanging over her head, no more regrets. There was still much to worry about, of course; their journey was far from over. But at least now she felt like she was swimming, rather than swept away in rapids too strong for her to do anything but try to stay alive.

Aurora Pavan was living, and that had been her dream all along—to take ownership of her choices, to unravel the secrets and fear that hemmed her in like mountains. The change had begun the day she wandered into the Eye. That was when the seed had taken root, and she’d broken past the soil the day she left Pavan. Each day in the wilds had seen the change in her watered and pruned and carefully grown. But if Aurora were honest with herself, from the moment she had returned to Pavan, she had been waiting for the inevitable, waiting for her stem to break. Because in this city, in this world, in her home, she was so used to feeling weak and inadequate. When she had lost Jinx and Nova, it had been shattering; it reduced every bit of confidence she had to rubble.

But last night, Aurora had realized something. There were some things in life she did not get to choose—who she loved, how she hurt, or what she was born. But she could not run anymore when things became too painful. Kiran had tried to run from her because he thought it would not work. Aurora had spent her life running from what she was and was not. She had faced that now, but that did not mean she was through. Now she had to stand toe to toe with all the pain those memories held, and she had to feel it. Even if right now was the most inconvenient time imaginable to dig up the weight of scars unhealed. But she owed it to herself, and she owed it to Pavan to come into this with a clear slate.

Ready to face the day, and their mission, Aurora leaned down and placed a kiss on the center of Kiran’s chest. She followed it with another and another, each moving higher and higher until she reached his jaw and he stirred.

He hummed quietly and said, his voice raspy, “I do not think I have ever slept that well.”

She smiled and propped herself across his midsection. “You are lying on rocks, the fire is nearly out, and the air has more bite than a bear.”