Rowan was not Aelin’s first love... He wasn’t her first kiss. Her first heartbreak. Her first dream of forever. He came after she had already loved. After she had already lost. After grief had carved pieces out of her that she thought she would never get back. And maybe that’s what makes their love so devastatingly beautiful. Because Rowan didn’t meet the girl she used to be. He met her in the darkness. He met her angry, broken, grieving, and drowning in a fire she no longer knew how to control. And he stayed. He didn’t save her. He stood beside her while she learned how to save herself. He challenged her. Fought with her. Believed in her. And somewhere between the pain, the rage, and to whatever end… they became home to each other. Rowan may not have been Aelin’s first love. But he was the love that was strong enough to hold every version of her—the assassin, the lost girl, the queen, the fire-breathing bitch queen—and love them all. He wasn’t the first. He was the right on...