Chapter 297. The Runway Is Not Over Yet

Aerys’s POV

I followed my father down the long, familiar corridor that led to his office, my footsteps echoing softly against the polished marble floor. The manor was quiet in that way it often was during the early hours of the afternoon—servants moving discreetly, guards standing at attention, the whole place breathing with restrained order. Yet inside me, everything felt loud. Chaotic. Full.

Relief sat heavy in my chest, warm and fragile all at once. Relief that my family had accepted Elizabeth. Relief that the conversation I had dreaded for days—no, weeks—had not ended in shouting, rejection, or ultimatums. I had braced myself for it, had rehearsed arguments in my head, prepared to choose her even if it meant walking away from everything I’d known.

Because I would have.

There had never been a doubt.