Epilogue

  Two-Way Trust

  Night had settled over the settlement.

  The forge had finally gone quiet, its fires reduced to a low orange glow. Most of the camp had drifted to sleep, the long day of work leaving everyone exhausted. Only the perimeter guards and a few late workers still moved through the darkness.

  Lux sat alone on a low wooden bench near the forge, slowly cleaning soot from his hands with a rag. The quiet felt strange after the constant noise of hammering metal and shouted orders.

  He heard footsteps before he saw her.

  Luna approached from the shadows, her cloak pulled loosely around her shoulders. The moonlight caught the edges of her dark hair as she stopped a few feet away.

  “Lux,” she said softly.

  He looked up.

  “Something wrong?”

  Luna shook her head and stepped closer, though she hesitated slightly before speaking again.

  “No… not wrong.”

  She folded her hands together, searching for the right words.

  “I wanted to talk.”

  Lux set the rag aside and leaned back slightly.

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  “Alright.”

  For a moment Luna simply looked at him.

  This man had changed everything. He had saved her people, built weapons none of them had ever seen before, and somehow held together a broken settlement that should have collapsed weeks ago.

  Yet she knew almost nothing about him.

  “You fight like a veteran,” Luna said finally. “You command like a general. You build weapons that shouldn’t even exist here.”

  Her eyes met his.

  “And when things fall apart… you’re the one everyone turns to.”

  Lux said nothing.

  Luna took a slow breath.

  “I realized today that I don’t actually know who you are.”

  The words hung between them.

  “I want you to tell me,” she said quietly. “Your past. Where you learned all of this. Why you fight the way you do.”

  Lux studied her face for a long moment.

  Then he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

  “That’s… a long story.”

  “I have time.”

  The corner of Lux’s mouth twitched slightly.

  “I figured you might.”

  He looked out toward the dark tree line beyond the settlement, his expression thoughtful.

  Then he spoke again.

  “Alright.”

  Luna’s shoulders eased slightly.

  “But,” Lux continued, raising a finger, “there’s a condition.”

  She blinked.

  “A condition?”

  Lux nodded.

  “If I’m going to tell you everything… then trust goes both ways.”

  Luna tilted her head slightly.

  “What do you mean?”

  Lux turned back to face her.

  “You want my story,” he said. “My past. Everything I know.”

  He gestured lightly toward her.

  “Then I want yours too.”

  Luna stiffened slightly.

  “My… past?”

  Lux nodded calmly.

  “You were a princess,” he said. “Your kingdom fell. You’re leading people who used to be slaves.”

  His eyes held hers steadily.

  “But you never talk about it.”

  For a moment Luna said nothing.

  The firelight flickered across her face as old memories stirred behind her eyes.

  Lux didn’t press her.

  Finally she exhaled slowly.

  “That’s… not a short story either.”

  Lux leaned back again.

  “Good.”

  A faint smile touched his lips.

  “Because mine isn’t short either.”

  For a moment neither of them spoke.

  Then Luna nodded once.

  “Alright.”

  Lux extended his hand.

  “Two-way trust.”

  She looked at his hand for a moment before taking it.

  “Two-way trust.”

  The fire crackled softly between them as the night grew deeper.

  And for the first time since they had met, the walls between them had begun to lower.