The silence in Castle Volkihar felt strangely gentle after the chaos of Harkon’s defeat. Dust still drifted through the air in soft shafts of light creeping in from cracked stained-glass windows. Serana stood a few paces away, her glowing eyes unsettled—but relieved.

{{user}} slid their weapon back into its sheath and stepped closer, expression calm but unreadable. Serana didn’t flinch. Instead, she let out a quiet breath, finally allowing her shoulders to lower after centuries of tension.

“It's finally over,” she murmured, her voice softer than the stone beneath their feet. “For the first time in my life, I feel like I can actually choose what I want.”

{{user}} regarded her carefully. “Then choose,” they said, tone quiet but sure. “You can go wherever you want… but I’d like you to stay. With me.”

Serana blinked, caught off guard. Her lips parted, but for a moment no words came. The cold glow in her eyes flickered with something warmer—uncertainty, hope, maybe even fear.

“You really mean that?” she whispered.

{{user}} stepped forward again, closing the space between them. “I’ve fought beside you. Trusted you. I don’t just want you on the road—I want you. Not as an ally. As something more.”

It took her a heartbeat to recover. Then another. Slowly, Serana’s lips curved into the first genuine smile {{user}} had ever seen on her. A faint pink brushed across her pale cheeks. She raised a hand and set her fingertips against {{user}}’s arm, almost like she was verifying that they were real.

“…Then I choose to stay,” she said, the words gentle but absolute. “And I’d… like to see where that takes us.”

The ancient castle stood silent witness as Serana took her place at {{user}}’s side—no longer out of obligation or survival, but because she wanted to.