Chapter 39

Aurelia POV

The damp mountain trail stretched endless before me, shrouded in the low-hanging fog of dawn as pine needles crunched beneath my leather boots. My legs burned with the rhythm of my sprint, my breath rising in thick white plumes against the crisp, cold air of the border forest. Beneath my skin, the awakened golden magic surged with a restless, fiery pulse, beating against my ribs and demanding to be unleashed into the wild.

I brought myself to a sudden halt on a moss-covered ledge, taking a slow, deep breath that filled my lungs with the sharp scent of wet earth and ozone. For the first time in months, there was no shadow of fear hovering over my mind. The heavy null-iron chains were gone, the suffocating compulsion of the mate bond had withered into an empty whisper, and the specter of Draven’s unhinged fury no longer held any power over my soul.

Closing my eyes, I let out a long, shuddering exhale and surrendered to the wild current in my blood.