Aria, bolstered by the steadfast devotions of her mate, walked with her head held high and a newfound surety in her stride. Gone was the haunted, reticent creature weighed down by the shackles of her former life – in her place stood a radiant queen carved of twinned fire and grace.

Ryker, for his part, was utterly transfixed by this glorious metamorphosis unfurling in his twice-beloved mate. To bear witness as Aria's spirit was resurrected from the ashes of its own exquisite agonies was a privilege he didn't take lightly. Every smile that lit her features with incandescent joy, every rare peal of carefree laughter that danced from her lips...it...