Chapter 63

Chapter 63 – The Court of What Comes After

"Some kingdoms are built in silence. Some, in fire. But the greatest ones? They rise from love that refused to die."

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The castle had no towers.

No thrones.

No guards at the gates.

Yet it was the most powerful court the realm had ever known.

It stood at the edge of the Hollowlands, where the veil between life and death thinned—where memories walked with the living, and the past folded gently into the future. Built not from stone but from spirit, from the joined blood of two broken bloodlines and the bond of two souls fated from the beginning of time.

This was not a court of power.

It was a court of healing.

And Selene ruled it, not with a crown, but with her truth.

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She sat now beneath the moonlight, a circle of faelight surrounding her. Across from her sat the First Elders—those who'd once tried to bind her fate to prophecy, who once feared what she was.

Now, they bowed their heads before her.

"You are no longer the Omega of the Prophecy," the eldest said. "You are the Flame Who Changed the Moon."

Selene's voice was calm. "I never wanted to be either."

"Then what do you call yourself?" the elder asked.

She looked toward the edge of the woods, where Valerian waited, his cloak soaked in midnight shadow, his eyes never leaving hers.

"I call myself Selene," she said. "That's all."

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Inside the Temple of Rebinding, Nova and Bea stood over a map drawn in fresh ink and old scars. Bea traced her finger along the jagged line that used to mark the territory of the Bloodhounds.

"It's ash now," she whispered.

Nova touched her wrist. "Then it's yours to rewrite."

"I'm scared," she said.

"So was she. Look at her now."

Bea smiled, tears filling her eyes. "I just… I don't want to lose her."

Nova's smile was sad and full of knowing. "You don't lose a star because the night changes. You follow it."

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That evening, Selene and Valerian walked beneath the Veil Tree.

It bloomed once every blood moon. But this time, it pulsed constantly, each flower a soul who had been freed, every leaf a whisper of forgiveness.

"Do you think we're allowed to rest now?" she asked him.

Valerian pulled her into his arms. "No. But I think we're allowed to breathe."

Selene pressed her forehead to his. "I never wanted to be Queen."

"Good," he said, voice rough with tenderness. "I never wanted a crown."

Their kiss was slow—like sunrise melting away frost. And in that moment, fate didn't bind them.

They chose each other.

Again. And again. And again.

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By midnight, the new court had its first law.

Written not in ink, but carved in flame across the sky:

"No soul is born cursed. Only unloved."

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End of Chapter 63 – Next: Chapter 64, "The Moon-Thread Vow"