The forest welcomed her like an old friend—quiet, unpredictable, and far away from the lies of the palace.
Alina's boots were torn. Her dress, once silk, was now little more than fabric clinging to her bruised body. Her hands shook from exhaustion and hunger, but she didn't stop. Not yet.
She was no longer a princess. No longer a symbol. Just a girl with a shattered heart.
A week had passed since she fled.
Birds cried overhead. Wolves howled in the night. But Alina kept moving until her legs gave out near a riverbank. Her body collapsed into the grass.
"I'm sorry, Kai…" she whispered, holding the locket to her chest. "I should have fought harder."
The world blurred around her. Sleep took her before she even realized it.
---
When she awoke, she wasn't alone.
An old woman sat nearby, grinding herbs into a bowl. Her skin was dark and wrinkled, her hair snow white, eyes sharp as knives.
"You're lucky I found you before the wolves did," the woman said.
Alina tried to sit up, but pain flashed through her side.
"Easy now," the woman warned. "You've got fever. I'm Sofiya. And you? What's your name, girl?"
Alina hesitated. "Just… Lina."
Mira raised an eyebrow. "You're a terrible liar. But that's fine. Everyone who ends up here is running from something."
She handed Alina a bitter-tasting brew.
"You'll stay here until you can walk again. But know this—these woods don't hide people forever. Sooner or later, the past always finds you."
Alina clutched the locket tighter.
She didn't know it yet, but her past was already on its way.
And so was her future.