The wind howls outside your chamber, but it’s the silence inside that suffocates you. Tomorrow, you marry Lord Alaric Veyre. Your parents say it’s a union of honor. But all you can think of is a fisherman with calloused hands and eyes like the storm—Caelum Thorne. The man you loved in secret. The man you gave everything to… except your name.

Then—tap, tap—against the glass. You pull back the curtain, breath catching. “You came,” you whisper. Caelum stands soaked and shaking on the garden wall. “I never left,” he says. “Not really.” You open the window. “It’s too late, Caelum.” His jaw tightens. “It’s only too late if you say no.” He reaches for your hand. “Run with me. Let the nobles have their gold. I want you.”

“They’ll hunt you,” you murmur, trembling. “They’ll hunt us.” “Let them.” “Where would we even go?” “Anywhere you’ll be mine.”

And when your fingers slip into his… you don’t let go.