Absolutely. Here's Chapter 10, the final chapter of this arc of His Secret Heir: The Runaway Empress.
Two Days Later – The War Room
The palace had never allowed her here before.
Not when she was princess. Not when she was pregnant. Not when she bled in silence in her golden cage.
But today, Alina sat at the head of the war table.
The same table that had once been used to plan the siege against her family.
She was surrounded by people who had plotted her erasure. And they were all silent.
Because she was no longer the girl who ran.
She was the woman they couldn't kill.
Kaelir sat beside her, hands steepled, gaze cold.
Before them: maps, dossiers, surveillance footage, blood-marked letters, and the glowing symbol burned into the skin of one of the dead assassins.
The Violet Serpent.
"They've been quietly growing for years," Alina said, tapping the map. "Funded by offshore accounts. Sheltered by nobles who want the old monarchy back—without my blood in the line."
"Your blood is the only reason our line still exists," Kaelir muttered.
One of the nobles shifted uncomfortably. "Then why didn't you come back? Why disappear for six years?"
Alina raised her eyes slowly.
"I didn't disappear. I was buried."
She let the silence linger.
"Now I've clawed my way out, and I'm telling you this once: If you don't stand behind me, I will go to war without you. And you will be the first to fall when they come."
No one spoke again.
---
That Night – Rooftop Over the East Wing
The wind was sharp. Cold. The air tasted like rain and old steel.
Kaelir found her sitting on the ledge, barefoot again. Like she used to, when she wanted to feel something real.
He sat beside her, wordless at first.
"Every time I close my eyes," Alina said, "I see him dragging Riven through the dark. I hear Auron screaming. I see you bleeding. And I think… maybe I should've stayed gone."
Kaelir turned his head slowly.
"If you had," he said, "I wouldn't know I had sons. I wouldn't know what kind of man I could become."
He reached for her hand.
"You brought the storm. But you also gave us the anchor."
She closed her eyes.
"I don't know how to be soft anymore."
"You don't have to be soft," Kaelir whispered. "You just have to be here."
A long silence.
Then: "They made me a weapon."
He nodded. "Then let me be your shield."
---
The Twins' Room – A Little After Midnight
The palace lights were dimmed. Magic wards hummed softly around the perimeter.
Kaelir stood just outside the door, listening.
Alina was inside, seated between the two small beds.
Auron leaned against her leg. Riven sat up straight, pretending not to be tired.
"I want to learn how to fight," Riven said firmly.
"You will," Alina promised. "But first you'll learn how to live."
Auron looked up at her. "Why do they hate us?"
Alina brushed back his hair. Her voice broke just slightly.
"Because you're proof that I survived them."
The boys were quiet for a while.
Then Auron whispered, "Are you scared?"
"Yes," she said honestly.
"Will you run again?"
"No," she said. "Never again."
The boys looked at each other.
Riven offered her a hand.
Auron offered the other.
She took them both.
---
Private Royal Chapel — Dawn
Alina stood before the tomb of Queen Arielle, Kaelir's grandmother—the last Valen queen to rule before the monarchy fractured.
The old woman had died in scandal, in silence, in exile. She knew what it meant to be swallowed by legacy.
Kaelir entered behind her, holding a folded cloth.
"What's this?" Alina asked.
He opened it.
A ring.
Her wedding band. The one they'd buried with her public "death."
He held it out.
"I know I don't deserve to ask."
"You don't," she agreed.
"But I'm not asking for forgiveness."
She looked up, brows lifted.
"I'm asking for another chance to choose you. Properly. This time—loudly. Even if the world burns."
She stared at the ring.
Then at him.
Then she reached up, placed it back into his palm.
"When this war is over," she said softly. "When they're all buried, and the world knows who I really am..."
"Then I'll ask again," he finished.
She nodded.
"And next time, I might say yes."
---
Final Scene — Unknown Location
Aelin Kordas stood in a circle of burning violet candles.
His eyes burned with quiet madness.
"She's awake," he murmured.
His second-in-command, a woman in a bone mask, stepped forward. "We should strike again. While they're still weak."
He smiled thinly.
"No. Let them gather. Let them hope."
He picked up a dagger etched in serpent runes.
"When I return to her," he said, "it will not be with soldiers."
He pressed the blade to his palm. Let the blood drip.
"It will be as death itself."