The moment the Crown Prince vanished from sight, his final words seemed to crystallize in the air between us—a warning forged in the fires of some deeper scheme. My chest ached as if struck by an invisible blade, emotions and reason tangling like dueling serpents.
I sank into the chair by my writing desk, the silence pressing down like a physical weight. Even as anxiety coiled in my stomach, I knew the game had irrevocably begun.
Yet that fleeting moment of intimacy with the Crown Prince had left its mark—a brand upon my soul. Though I willed myself to remember caution, the memory of his touch pulled at me like a riptide, threatening to drown my resolve.
Then—footsteps.
Familiar. Deliberate.
My pulse quickened before the door even opened.
"You're still here?"
His voice washed over me like summer rain after drought. When I looked up, there he stood—the one I'd been waiting for. His eyes held that same quiet intensity, though something new flickered beneath the surface before he schooled his features.
I rose, steadying myself against the desk. "Just... thinking." The understatement of the century. Every encounter with the Crown Prince had left me more unmoored, yet this man's presence alone calmed the storm within me.
He stepped closer, the candlelight catching the silver threads in his dark robes. "Have you decided?"
The question hung between us. I exhaled slowly, meeting his gaze even as my soul remained divided. Every choice now would alter destiny's path irrevocably.
"Not yet." The admission tasted bitter.
For a heartbeat, silence. Then his lips curved—not the Crown Prince's calculated smile, but something warmer. Truer. "Remember," he murmured, "you don't have to face this alone."
The words struck deeper than any blade. Even as my heart responded to his nearness, some treacherous part whispered: Was this comfort another move in the game? Another carefully laid trap?
I studied his face—the faint scar above his brow from some long-ago battle, the way his eyes softened when he looked at me. Perhaps here, in this fragile moment between two worlds, I could find my footing.
The path ahead forked like veins in a maple leaf—each choice leading to some unknown destiny. But as his fingers brushed mine, tentative as dawn's first light, I understood:
The greatest power lay not in choosing sides, but in choosing oneself.
ns216.73.216.168da2
and then Add to home screen.