“A ride may do your nerves some good, Your Highness. I had hoped you wanted to take in fresh air this morning.” She placed the boots near the door.
“My nerves have gotten the best of me.” I gripped my teacup harder.
“I will pack some food in your satchel, in case you get hungry on your ride,” she said.
She knew my ride in the meadow would be brief. The wedding would be here soon. Milana never packed food for a short ride.
“Milana.” Her name lingered on my lips until it faded. “Thank you, for everything.”
She doted on me ever since my mother passed—guided me in times my mother couldn’t. I wanted to tell her, but I couldn’t put her in danger. The plan would remain mine alone. If she knew, she pretended she didn’t.
A moment of tranquility hovered between us as her smile grew broader.
My robe rolled effortlessly off my shoulders as she slipped my forest green riding dress over my head. Milana braided back my long, dark waves. I hugged her tightly, knowing it might be the very last time.
I needed to devise a plan to escape past the guards. No one would expect me to run—as far as they knew, there was nowhere a human princess could go. The sea lay to the south of the palace and a magical impassable barrier to the east.
If I requested time to myself, time to reflect, and they granted it, I could escape.
Milana tidied my night gown. She paused for a fleeting moment, pivoting to look at me once more, before she left me alone in my chambers.
My eyes caught sight of the stars that dazzled the ceiling—a design my mother requested just for me. This was the only home I ever knew.
Time wasn’t on my side. The wedding was hours away.
I gently opened the little leather book. The words appeared quickly.
Find the lavender.
Cross the divide.
“I am risking everything.” My pulse raced, thundering through my body.
All these years, you felt alone, like you didn’t belong.
Now you know why.
Now you know where you were meant to be.
The ruffled edges of the journal caught on my satchel as I hurriedly stuffed it inside.
What if only horrors met me on the other side of the wall? My fate there could be worse than here.
I thought of Thalen’s hand on my waist, his lips on mine.
His presence smothered me still.
If I stayed, he would help our people, but would it be enough to save them?
It was a risk with the greatest cost—my freedom.
I slid a sheathed dagger into my boot, even though I had little skill for using it. I wouldn’t cross into Nythrel’s outer territory, Lythira, unarmed.
It was a tradition in Bailoc for the bride to give a dagger to her new husband—a demonstration of her trust in his protection.
The dagger was forged for me to gift to Thalen, but instead, I gifted it to myself.
“We must make the ride quick,” the taller knight said to the other.
