Chapter 84 We're Home

• REIKA'S POV
• The morning we left, Aurelia was heavy with silence. My father stood tall before the gates of his Kingdom, every inch the Lycan King, yet his eyes betrayed him. They softened whenever they landed on me, on Apollo, and most of all on Caelum. He had agreed to our compromise, but I could feel the unspoken ache in his heart as he watched us prepare to leave.
• The Aurelia council stood behind him, somber and regal. However, their faces held mixed expressions, some of resignation, some of doubt, and a few of quiet approval. They had expected a different outcome. They had hoped to claim Caelum fully as Aurelia’s heir, but instead, he would grow in Thunder Howl, raised not as a crown but as a child.