They didn't speak for a long time after she took his hand.
His fingers were warm against hers, steady in a way that made her stomach flutter for reasons she didn't fully trust yet. But she didn't let go.
"Do you want to keep walking?" He glanced sideways at her.
Beatrice raised an eyebrow. "Through a moonlit hall? Very scandalous."
"I was thinking farther than that."
She tilted her head. "How far?"
"There's a path behind the east wing. Cuts through the forest. No guards, no advisors, no mirrors."
She hesitated first, but then whispered, "Lead the way."
They didn't run. But they moved quickly, laughter rising quietly in their throats as they slipped through a side door, past the garden wall, and into the trees. The palace shrank behind them, just a shadow of gold and stone beneath the moon. What lay ahead was quieter. Wilder.
