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“Unlike your stable toy, I don’t work here, Your Highness. Your orders mean nothing to me. I come to check on the future queen's… progress.”

“Then take your report back to the Lioness Queen and the Beast Prince Adom that I am advanced in all my studies and await the appointed time of our nuptials at the next Hunter's Eclipse.”

Charlotte moved in front of me. It's what she always did whenever there was a hint of the two of us being found out. She put her glowing self on display so that others would forget my presence. It wasn't working this time.

“Forgive me, Highness, but for some reason I doubt that you will show up for your appointed nuptials on time. I get the sense that you might lose your way to the capital."

Charlotte's body went taut like a bowstring. Her hand clenched into a fist at her side. Then slowly, deliberately, her fingers uncurled. When they did, the blade was in her grasp, gleaming with a cold, deadly light .

"You're right," she said, her voice the polite fairy princess' who was all manners and decorum. "I won't make it to my wedding. I've made other plans for that day."

Before I could fully register what was happening, Charlotte moved.

A blur of lavender skin and shimmering wings, she lunged at the Sky Keeper Mage, flipping the dagger in her hand and striking with the hilt instead of the blade.

The move was so quick, so precise, it was over before I even had time to react.

The mage staggered. Her staff clattered to the ground as her eyes rolled back. She crumpled in a heap at Charlotte’s feet.

I blinked, my mouth opening to say something—anything—but no words came.

Charlotte’s fiery gaze snapped to me, her breath coming fast, as though the act of violence had ignited something within her. She knelt, slipping on her shoes with a speed born of urgency, and grabbed my hand.

"It’s time. We’re running."

I should’ve hesitated. I should’ve thought of a better strategy—like not running on foot with my weak body, which would inevitably fail me.

Or something like saddling the strongest pegasus in the stables and flying out of Evergrove.

Because make no mistake, I had every intention of following Charlotte wherever she went, or wherever she was taken .

Where I was calm and logic, Charlotte was all fire and instinct.

We raced toward the stable doors instead of the stalls.

Every rational thought in me screamed that this was a terrible idea, but my mind, my body, my entire being was so used to following her that that's exactly what I did.

I followed my wild fairy princess right into the open arms of danger.

Charlotte threw open the doors, and we came face to face with a dozen soldiers. Their polished armor glinted in the light of the First Moon, their swords drawn and ready. Charlotte did not let go of my hand, not even as the soldiers reached for us and tore us apart.

“Don’t touch him! He is mine! You let him go this instant!”

"That's enough, Charlotte." Queen Indira stood a few paces away. Her gaze swept over us, her expression one of thinly veiled disgust. "I thought you'd be over this childhood dalliance by now."

She knew. She'd known. My knees threatened to give out, but I held firm. Mainly because I was being held by soldiers with muscles bigger than my head.

Charlotte’s demeanor shifted so fast it felt like a physical blow. Her face blanked into the cool, imperious mask of royalty. She tilted her chin, her gaze hardening as she looked down her nose at me.

"I was just practicing with him, Mother." Her voice was cold, each word clipped and perfect. "I didn’t want to go to Prince Adom inexperienced, as I know how worldly he is. I wanted to ensure I was the perfect wife in all ways. The human was convenient. He keeps his mouth shut and does as he’s told. I’m done with him now. "

I knew, deep down, there wasn’t a parsec of truth in her words. They grated because they should’ve been true. A fairy princess shouldn’t care for a human stable boy.

Queen Indira’s lips curved into a matronly smile. It sent a chill down my spine because she'd never done a maternal thing in all the years I'd been here. "Excellent. Now that you’re done with him, I’ll discard him for you."

Charlotte’s mask cracked, a fine fissure above her brow as her fingers curled at her sides. "You’re going to fire him? We do still have need of him."

"No, I’m not going to fire him. I’m going to send him to the Convergence Games the two of you love to watch so much."

"The Games?" Charlotte's mask shattered entirely.

She didn’t need to say anything else. I was stronger, due to all the jobs I'd taken on around the failing manor. But we both knew I wouldn’t survive five minutes in the Games.

I was barely able to hold my own against the rigors of stable work and all my added duties, let alone face warriors and beasts bred for bloodshed.

"He’ll be fodder for the games. A fitting end for a human who dared to overstep."

Charlotte dropped all pretense. She lunged forward, her hand reaching for mine. Her grip was fierce, desperate, as though her touch alone could anchor me to safety. "No. You can’t. I won’t let you.”

The guards moved between us, their armor clanking as they wrenched us apart. Charlotte did not let go of my hand. So I held on to hers.

"I'll survive, Charlotte. And then I'll find you."

I knew there was no way we'd come out of this night together, but I would get back to her.

If they sent me to the games, I'd kill anyone, anything, to claw my way back to her.

If I was killed, I'd become a ghost and haunt the halls of wherever she lived.

As long as she wanted me, I would always find my way to her.

I didn't register the pain immediately. Not until I saw her hand jerk away from mine. And then my hand fell from my body.

Charlotte screamed, a sound so raw it echoed in my skull. I looked down, and for a brief, disoriented moment, I didn’t understand what I was seeing.

My hand—my hand was no longer attached to my arm.

The pain came then, sharp and blinding. It ripped through every nerve in my body. I heard Charlotte cry out again. Her voice broke into sobs. And then the world tilted.

The stables, the guards, even the stars above, blurred into nothingness. And then everything went black.