"Keeping tabs on me?" I asked, turning my head to his direction.
Alistair stepped out from the shadow of the hedges like he owned them. Like he owned everything.
"I was returning from Murtheime," he said casually.
"Thought I'd stop by and see if you were still alive."
"I barely am," I muttered. "This kingdom is trying to suffocate me with rules."
He chuckled, sitting next to me.
"You're not Ioana."
My lips twitched.
"You have her face," he said evenly. "Her voice. Her hands."
"But whoever is inside… is not Ioana."
I tilted my head. "Took you long enough to figure that out."
"I knew all along. You woke after the fall with a different tongue. Too bold. Too sharp." A faint smile tugged at his lips.
"And you've been dismantling royal etiquette like it personally offended you."
"If you knew," I asked slowly, "why did you let the marriage happen?"
"Ioana knew this kingdom," he said. "She knew it would swallow her whole. If she made a choice… it was intentional."
A choice.
The word settled strangely in my chest.
"She needed someone stronger than she was." His voice softened, but not weakly.
"And whoever you are… you are not fragile."
I stared down at my hands, tracing the lines in them.
"It's hard," I admitted. "I don't like people expecting things from me. I don't like being watched. Measured."
He slowly took my hands. "You'll survive."
"I've seen plenty of princesses," he added. "But you? You have the will of a warhorse."
A laugh escaped me through sudden tears. That was something Davis would've said.
Before I could stop myself, I wrapped my arms around him.
And he held me without hesitation.
"Promise you'll stay with me," I murmured into his shoulder. "Even if I… decide to do something reckless."
He pulled back just enough to look at me, his gaze sharpening
"What are you planning?"
"Nothing," I said too quickly.
He narrowed his eyes, clearly not trusting what I said.
"Promise me," I pressed softly.
He hesitated... just barely.
"I will stand with you," he said at last. "Even if you start a war."
I chuckled, leaning my head on his shoulder.
"Thanks," I whispered.
"Always."
Just then, a distant bell rang across the palace grounds. Alistair's eyes shifted toward the cliffs in the distance and then back to me.
"Whatever you're thinking," he said quietly, "don't let it be final."
I forced a smile.
"Relax," I said lightly. "I'm not that dramatic."
He stood, squeezing my shoulder before turning around.
But as he walked away, I turned toward the darkening edge of the garden.
Tonight. I thought.
I watched his retreating back, swallowing a lump in my throat.
I hope you will forgive me.
***
The palace was asleep. The air felt heavy, like it was holding its breath.
Quiet excitement bubbled in my chest as I thought of home. Of Davis. Of Paris.
My dreams were finally back on track. I told myself.
I sat by the candlelight, scribing on a sheet of parchment with some sort of grin that would've made any sane person suspicious.
Dearest Kingdom,
Don't panic. I'm not dead...well, not yet . I just decided to take a little trip off a cliff and so, shall be temporarily unavailable for suffocation.
Try not to collapse in my absence.
Signed
Your ever disappointing Crown Princess, Chef Dr. Liana Davis.
It was perfect. A little dramatic, a little funny.
Just the way I liked it.
I pinned it to the door with one of those decorative hairpins Jacquie made for me.
She was the one person I was definitely going to miss.
No one noticed when I slipped from my chamber and the only one who could stop me had long since retired.
Torches flickered along stone corridors. Curtains breathed in and out with the wind like the building itself was alive.
Thanks to some casual "curiosity", Jacquie had unknowingly given me directions I needed.
North garden, through the cedar trail, then past the weeping rock. Easy.
Except it wasn't.
I got lost three times, slipped once and argued with a very rude bush.
But I found it.
The gravel crunched softly beneath my shoes as I walked toward it steadily.
The wind grew stronger the closer I came to the edge, my hair whipping lightly across my face.
This is it, Liana. I breathed.
The first time had been fear. Confusion. A misstep.
I crouched and picked up a flat stone, carving my name into the cliff with it's sharp edge.
If I was going to leave, I might as well leave something behind.
I stepped closer to the edge and looked down.
The sea stretched dark and endless beneath me, waves breaking softly against the rocks below.
The sound was distant. Rhythmic. Strangely peaceful.
I closed my eyes, already imagining myself in my small bedroom with chipped white paint on the window frame.
I could hear Davis laughing at something stupid and my phone buzzing with messages I pretended not to care about.
For a brief second, just one...I thought of Alistair. The look on his face when I talked about doing something reckless.
But I had to. If I stayed, I would disappear piece by piece until even I won't be able to find myself.
They would sand me down, file me smooth, polish me into something else.
Ioana 2.0.
I stood on the very edge. The stone felt solid beneath my feet.
It was strange how something so steady could send you somewhere else entirely.
"Let me be mine." I whispered.
Then I stepped forward.
The world tilted as I plunged, the wind screaming past my ear.
My stomach dropped as gravity claimed me, the moon spinning into streaks of silver above.
For one impossible heartbeat, I felt weightless. I felt free.
Then...
Splash.
The water beneath swallowed me whole, the weight of my gown dragging me down.
I honestly thought it worked.
But it didn't. I was still there, in the sea, going down and down.
I was drowning.
The fabric wrapped around my legs like a chain which made kicking impossible.
I struggled, panic clawing its way up my throat.
Then I saw it.
Gold.
Gold thread, glinting faintly even under the murk.
Strong, unyielding arms wrapped around me mid-descent pulling me to shore.
I coughed violently, water spilling from my mouth as hands gripped my shoulders.
"Have you," a voice hissed against my ear, shaking with contained rage, "lost your mind?"
Oh great. Of all the people to play lifeguard. It had to be him
I opened my eyes slowly.
Tristen hovered above me, hair disheveled, jaw tight, golden eyes blazing brighter than the torches racing toward us from below.
Somewhere distant, Jacqueline's terrified voice, floated faintly through the air.
"You..." I coughed again. "You weren't invited."
His grip tightened fractionally.
"I read your note."
"That was sarcasm."
"That was a death note!"
The torches were getting closer now. Shouts echoed from below and above.
"Let go." I tried to move.
"Don't even dare."
It wasn't a request. A command.
"It was supposed to work," I whispered before I could stop myself.
"Work?" he repeated voice flat, eyes locked on mine.
"It was supposed to send me back. It was..." I said frantically.
His jaw tightened. "Back where?"
"Somewhere else!"
His grip loosened slightly, but only to stand, pulling me up with him.
His hands dropped from my shoulders, but he didn't step back.
"You threw yourself off a cliff," he said evenly, "you almost drowned!"
"I wasn't trying to drown!" I snapped.
"Then what were you trying to do?" He demanded.
"Escape!"
His eyes flashed. "Do not twist this into something clever."
I forced myself to breathe. "You don't get to interrogate me."
"I absolutely do."
The words were sharp. Royal. Commanding.
"You are the Crown Princess!"
"I never asked to be!"
The guards were almost here now. Jacqueline's voice somewhere behind him.
But the space between us was louder than anything.
He stepped closer, his face stormier than the clouds itself.
"You think this is suffocating?" he asked, voice dangerously controlled. "You think you are the only one bound by expectation?"
I laughed harshly. "You were born into this. You were trained for it. Groomed for it."
"And you were not?" he shot back.
"Not like this!" I hissed. "Not watched every second. Not measured. Not expected to be grateful for it."
His expression shifted...not soft.
Harder.
"You have changed," he said.
"Yes."
"After the fall."
"Yes."
"Into someone reckless. Disrespectful. Unpredictable."
I smiled bitterly. "You say that like it's a flaw."
"You nearly died!"
"I was trying to live!"
He stepped closer. "Do you know what that would've done?!"
"Do you know what that would've done to..."
He stopped. For a second, something flickered in his eyes.
But then, anger swallowed it.
"You are not free to gamble with the stability of this kingdom because you feel uncomfortable."
"So that's what this is?" I asked quietly. "Stability?"
"You are not just yourself," he said coldly. "You are a symbol."
I laughed, a broken sound.
"That's the problem. I don't want to be."
Silence.
The torches reached us. Guards stepped back respectfully. And Jacquie stood somewhere, squeezing her hands nervously.
"You will not attempt this again," he said.
I met his gaze. "Or what?"
His eyes darkened. "Or I will make sure you are never alone long enough to try."
The words felt like shackles.
"You don't own me."
"No," he said evenly.
"But this kingdom does."
That one hurt. Like really hurt.
Because part of me feared he was right. I fought the tears threatening to spill. My eyes hurt from glaring at him.
And before he could say another word, I hiked my drenched gown, turned, and stomped away, leaving muddy footprints on the grass and a stunned silence in my wake.
"My lady!" Jacquie rushed toward me, wrapping a huge cloak around my shoulders.
And just above, an oddly familiar figure stood at the cliff's edge.
Watching. Not startled. Not even concerned.
Just… watching.
Moonlight cut their figure into silver and shadow, too far to make out clearly.
The wind tugged at their clothes, but they didn't step back.
I knew Ioana had fallen from a cliff, and it was an accident.
Yet as I stared at the unmoving figure above, a strange chill crept up my spine.
They didn't look surprised to see me there.
If anything...they looked patient.
As though this was merely an unfinished matter.