Theron remained above her, his golden eyes searching her face as though seeing her for the first time.
The eastern sky had begun to brighten, bathing her in the pale blue light before sunrise. It caught in the loose strands of her blonde hair, turning them almost golden at their edges. Her lashes cast delicate shadows across her cheeks, still flushed from exertion, and tiny beads of perspiration glimmered upon her skin like scattered dew.
She was beautiful.
No...
Beautiful was too simple a word.
Only moments ago, she had carried an entire underground warehouse through the night sky as though she had rewritten the laws of magic themselves. She had saved the kingdom where politics had failed. She had stood before soldiers, spoken without fear, and shouldered a burden no one else had even imagined possible.
She was extraordinary.
And somehow...
