Chapter 143

Briar’s POV

The crown showed me how—not through violence or overwhelming power, but through compassion. Through offering what he’d never had.

Peace.

I reached out with my magic, not to attack but to offer. A way out. A chance to finally stop being the monster, stop carrying the weight of centuries, stop fighting a war that had ended long ago.

For a moment, my father stood frozen, torn between the power that defined him and the rest he’d secretly craved for so long.

"You can’t understand," he said, but his voice was quieter now. "What it’s like to be this. To have this power, this strength, and know that it will never be enough. That there’s always another threat, another challenge, another reason to keep going when all you want is to stop."

"You’re right," I said. "I can’t understand. But I can help you end it."

"Why?" he asked. "After everything I did to you, everything I made yo