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The guard straightened, a slight glaze spreading across his stare as his expression went blank.

Satisfied, Kallie hustled down the hall in the opposite direction. Calling upon her ability caused an intoxicating buzz to course through her, powering her footsteps as she strolled toward a temporary moment of freedom. A buzz powerful enough that, for a moment, she could shove aside the other thoughts and focus on that freedom.

She weaved through the halls, taking a less common route that Kallie had discovered during one of the trips to the hospital ward.

Since she had arrived in Frenzia, the castle had slowly transformed. The once-blank walls were now decorated with various paintings and relics. It was finally taking the shape of a home. Even though it was her touch on the newly decorated walls, Kallie still felt like a guest in the castle. With time, that would change.

She hoped.

Peering around a corner, Kallie spotted another guard patrolling the halls. While the staff may have been lacking in numbers, the guards were not.

As she approached him, Kallie didn’t bother to silence her steps. When the guard spun around, she offered him a saccharine smile, and his expression relaxed.

“Princess,” he said, tipping his head in greeting, “is there something I can do for you?”

The pit of her stomach heated. Her gift purring, begging her to unleash it. For weeks, she had been losing control, playing the pawn for her father. But tonight, she would claim an ounce of that control back.

“You didn’t see me,” Kallie said, the command wrapping around her voice.

The guard stood paralyzed momentarily as the spell weaved into his mind, and then the fog seeped in.

For a kingdom praised for their military’s strength, their guards’ minds, however, were weak.

She continued through the castle and found two other guards, each exactly where she suspected. With every command, she grew more eager, more hungry to leave the castle.

She had often snuck out of her father’s castle, but she had only ever been able to use her gift once or twice before she was drained. Now, it seemed like her gift was an endless well.

And to use it because she wished to rather than to complete an assignment? That was a freedom she had never experienced before. Her body buzzed with excitement, eager and ready for the night ahead.

Outside the castle, a nearby guard spotted her immediately. “Prin—”

Kallie cut him off, caressing his face. “Grab a carriage. We’re going for a ride.”

Then she was off. The politics, the scheming, and the false bravados behind her as the castle faded into the fog.

* * *

One glass of wine.

That was how many glasses Kallie had said she would have at the tavern. Yet here she was, two and a half glasses deep and a warm buzz forming. The drink wasn’t her first choice, for she would have preferred something more potent with a little more kick. But when her only choices were wine or piss-poor ale, she opted for the former. And she had to give the Frenzians credit, for they made a decent wine. The white wine was crisp with a pleasant tartness that didn’t linger too long on her tongue.

Sitting at the bar, she tapped her foot to the beat of the fiddler’s song. Like the taverns she frequented in Ardentol, this one was just as crowded with the same grimy surfaces. When Kallie arrived, a large crowd was already at the back of the tavern, their bodies sashaying as the band played one tune to the next. Now, a group of women twirled together, taking turns spinning one another. Nearby, several men slunk over a high-top table, drinks in hand, and gazes half cast. One man tipped his jug of ale up, chugging it. Slamming it down on the table, he pushed himself up and stalked toward the women.

The woman with sandy brown hair saw him coming, and she turned to her friend, giggling. The man approached her and said something Kallie could not hear. Hand on her hip, the woman declined him and turned back to her friends.

The man sulked back to his table of men, his head hanging low. Meanwhile, the woman was smiling brightly as she continued dancing with her friends. What Kallie would do to be able to dance so carefree. With no more guards to command, the energy humming inside had nowhere to go and begged her to move. But despite her body wanting to dance, her mind kept her planted firmly in the seat.

On the other side of the bar, the bartender took an order from a patron sitting a couple of stools down. As he polished the glass in his hand with a rag, he sent Kallie a cursory glance accompanied by cocked eyebrows and a wide smile. After placing a jug of ale in front of the guest, he threw another look in her direction.

Kallie turned her back to him and scanned the crowd, even though she had already scoped out the tavern for any familiar faces.

As the wine warmed her body, Kallie questioned why she had come here. All taverns, no matter the location, were the same. They were all occupied by people who had one too many drinks. Strangers engrossed in loud conversations. There was nothing here for her—nothing but self-pity.

But at least there was music that was unrestricted and untethered by politics and etiquette. It breathed and lived in the humid, sticky building. Its rhythm called to her. Her foot continued to tap in the air, her body swayed.

The point of coming to the tavern was not to restrict herself even more. The point was to let loose, to forget her title and her responsibilities. Forget the deaths that weighed heavily on her shoulders. Even if that was an impossible task, it was worth the shot.

Perhaps it was time she answered the music’s call.