I squeezed his hands. "My whole life, I've been invisible. Powerless. A tool to be used. But with you, I'm a person. A partner. And that's worth fighting for."
He stared at me for a long moment. Then, slowly, he pulled me into his arms, holding me tightly.
"You're extraordinary," he murmured into my hair. "Terrifying and brave and absolutely extraordinary."
"I'm just trying to survive."
"No. You're doing more than surviving. You're fighting back. Making choices. Becoming dangerous." He pulled back to look at me. "My father was right about one thing, you are wise. Wiser than I am, certainly."
"I doubt that."
"Don't." He touched my face gently. "I've spent my whole life reacting to my curse. Letting it control me, define me. But you... you've been here one day and you're already thinking strategically. Making alliances. Challenging authority."
He smiled slightly. "You're going to be trouble, aren't you?"
"Probably."
"Good." He leaned down, resting his forehead against mine. "Shadowmere needs more trouble."
We stood like that for a moment, just breathing together. Close enough to feel each other's heartbeat. Close enough that I could see every detail of his face, the cut above his eyebrow from the fight, the exhaustion in his eyes, the slight trembling in his hands that suggested he wasn't as controlled as he pretended.
"You're hurt," I said softly.
"I'll heal. The curse gives me that, at least."
"Still. You should rest. We both should."
"I'm not sure I can." He pulled away, moving to the window. "Every time I close my eyes, I see that creature with its hands around your throat. See how close I came to losing you."
"But you didn't lose me. I'm right here."
"This time. What about next time? What if next time I'm not fast enough? What if next time the shade doesn't reach you in time?" He braced his hands on the windowsill, his shoulders tight. "I can't protect you, Elara. Not really. Not when there are so many people who want to hurt me through you."
"Then we protect each other." I joined him at the window, standing close. "You said we're partners. Partners don't just rely on one person to do all the protecting.
We both learn. Both train. Both become dangerous enough that people think twice before attacking."
"You really believe that?"
"I have to." I looked out at the dark castle grounds, at the shadows that seemed to move on their own. "Because the alternative is giving up. Accepting that I'm helpless. And I refuse to be helpless ever again."
We tried to sleep after that, but it was difficult. Every sound in the hallway made us both tense. Every shadow seemed threatening. The guards outside our door were supposedly for our protection, but they felt more like jailers.
"Tell me something," I said into the darkness. We were lying in the enormous bed, both of us as far to opposite edges as we could get, careful not to touch. "Something about you. Something real, not about the curse or the politics or the danger. Just... you."
He was quiet for so long I thought he wouldn't answer.
"I like music," he said finally. "My mother used to play the harp. She'd sit in the garden and play for hours, and I'd sit with her and just listen.
After she died, no one played anymore. Father got rid of all her instruments. But sometimes, late at night, I hear phantom music. Like the castle remembers."
"That's beautiful. And sad."
"Most things about my life are both." He shifted in the darkness. "Your turn. Tell me something real about you."
"I can't swim. I've never even seen the ocean, even though Eldoria is coastal. Father said it wasn't proper for princesses to go near the water." I laughed quietly. "There's a whole world out there I've never experienced because someone decided it wasn't appropriate."
"We have a lake on the castle grounds. When things are safer, I'll take you. Teach you to swim."
"Really?"
"Really. Consider it part of your trainingyou never know when you might need to escape across water." But his tone was gentle, almost teasing.
"What else haven't you done? Besides swimming."
"Everything," I admitted. "I've never ridden a horse, well, until today. Never held a weapon.
Never made a real friend outside of my handmaids. Never chose my own clothes or food or schedule. Never stayed up late or woke up early by choice. Never..." I trailed off.
"Never what?"
"Never mattered to anyone. Not really. I was just a chess piece. A pretty ornament. Something to be traded when the time came."
The bed shifted. In the darkness, I felt Kael move closer.
"You matter now," he said quietly. "To me. To this kingdom, whether they realize it yet or not. You matter, Elara."
Something warm bloomed in my chest. Dangerous and wonderful at the same time.
"Thank you," I whispered.
"For what?"
"For seeing me. For treating me like a person instead of a possession." I turned toward him, though I could barely see his face in the darkness. "I know this marriage wasn't your choice any more than it was mine.
I know you didn't want a wife, didn't want someone else in danger because of you. But I'm grateful it was me. Grateful I'm here, with you, instead of married to some lord who would have locked me in a tower and forgotten I existed."
"Elara"
"I'm not finished." I found his hand in the darkness, laced our fingers together. "I'm going to survive this. Survive Shadowmere, survive your father's plots, survive whatever comes next. And I'm going to do it standing beside you, fighting with you.
Not because I have to. Because I choose to."
His thumb traced circles on the back of my hand. "You're going to make me believe that's possible."
"Good. Someone should."
He laughed softly. Then, so quietly I almost missed it: "I'm glad it was you too. Glad you're here. Even though I shouldn't be."
We fell asleep like that, hands linked in the darkness, two people choosing each other in a world that had chosen everything else for them.
And outside our door, the guards kept watch, and the shadows whispered secrets, and somewhere in the castle, someone who wanted us dead was planning their next move.
But for that moment, for those few hours of peace, we had each other.
And that would have to be enough.
I woke to screaming.
Again.
But this time, it wasn't distant. It was right outside our door.
Kael was up instantly, grabbing the sword he'd placed beside the bed. "Stay behind me."
The door burst open, not from creatures this time, but from guards. The captain from before stood there, his face pale.
"Your Highness. Princess. You need to come. Now."
"What's happened?" Kael demanded.
"It's Lady Morgana." The captain's voice shook. "She's dead. Murdered in her chambers. And there's a message. Written in blood on the wall."
My stomach dropped. Lady Morgana, the woman who'd been kind to us, who'd sent the knife, who Kael trusted.
"What does the message say?" I asked.
The captain looked at me, then at Kael, his face grim.
"It says: 'The cursed prince's allies die first. Who's next?'"