His gaze softened — just for a breath, firmer, "Can you walk?"
Her legs felt like lead, but she nodded weakly.
"Good," he murmured. "Stay close. Don't make a sound."
He pulled her up, steadying her by the arm. His touch was grounding — warm against the night's chill — but her body trembled uncontrollably. The courtyard around them was chaos made still; bodies, scattered weapons, the faint flicker of dying firelight.
They didn't take the front gate. Ray wasn't reckless.Instead, he led her toward the manor's west wing — the servants' quarters, now half-collapsed and shrouded in smoke.
Every step crunched over ash and debris. Every creak of broken timber made Zelene's pulse spike.
"Down here," Ray whispered, guiding her toward a cracked archway where ivy had begun to curl through stone. "There's an old passage — the maids used it for deliveries. It leads to the orchard wall."
Zelene barely registered the words. Her gaze wandered — to the shattered windows where she and Elara once watched the sunrise, to the staircase where Caelan used to tease her about her serious face. The memories came like aftershocks — quiet, painful, unstoppable.
She stumbled, her hand catching on the wall. "Ray… my family—"
"I know," he said softly. His tone carried the weight of grief too — but also steel. "But if you die here, they die for nothing. Keep moving."
They slipped through the ruins, shadows hiding them from the patrols outside. The distant clang of armor and shouted orders echoed through the corridors. The enemy was sweeping the grounds — methodical, merciless.
Zelene pressed herself against the wall as three soldiers passed through a hallway not twenty paces away. Their torches flared, light brushing over the corner of her gown.She held her breath — every muscle frozen.
Ray's hand rested gently over hers, steady. Silent reassurance.
The soldiers moved on.
Only when their voices faded did Ray motion forward again. They ducked through a storage room, past the scent of wine and charred wood, down into the narrow back hall that led to the lower courtyard.
Zelene's breath came shallow now, half from fear, half from exhaustion. Her vision blurred at the edges.
The night outside roared with firelight — the manor's silhouette crumbling behind them, guards patrolling the walls.
"There," Ray whispered, pointing toward the far corner of the estate. "The north gate. It's half hidden by the stables. If we make it there, we can reach the forest."
But as they crept closer, the sight before them made Zelene's stomach twist.
Bodies — servants, guards, people she knew — littered the ground near the stables. A few horses, spooked and wild-eyed, stamped at their tethers, desperate to flee.
Ray gritted his teeth. "We'll have to move fast."
They darted from cover to cover — low, quick, careful. Zelene could barely feel her legs, her hands trembling as she clutched her skirt to keep it from catching.
A sudden flare of light — a patrol turning the corner.
Ray grabbed her, pulling her into the shadows behind a fallen beam. The torchlight passed within arm's reach.She could hear the men talking.
"…Her body should be in the courtyard by now. The Crown Prince wants proof.""She's not worth the trouble. Just a girl.""Not just any girl. The Evandelle bloodline still matters."
Their voices faded.
Zelene exhaled shakily. Her mind screamed at her to run, but her body felt like glass — fragile, ready to shatter.
When the patrol disappeared into the next hall, Ray turned to her, his voice low and tight. "Almost there."
He took her hand again — firm, certain — and led her into the open, toward the edge of the estate.
The cold wind bit at her face as they reached the orchard wall — moss-covered stone rising high, half cracked from the siege.
Ray crouched, inspecting a narrow section near the base. "Help me move this."
Together, they shifted a slab of stone aside just enough to slip through. The air on the other side was sharper, colder — the forest beyond dark and endless.
Zelene hesitated at the threshold, turning back one last time.
The manor — the only world she'd ever known — burned like a dying star.
Ray's voice broke through her silence, quiet but firm. "Don't look back."
She swallowed hard, tears blurring her sight.And then she stepped through.
The woods welcomed them with wind and darkness.
The trees whispered like ghosts. The ground was slick with frost.Somewhere far behind them, the manor's towers gave their final groan — and fell.