How did we get here. The end of the war marked by my father’s passing and my coronation were enough to make anyone’s head spin. The arrival of a newly appointed lord, a war hero who saved his legion at the crossing of Garion, was surprising. Then the subtle flirtations. The brush of hands in the palace archives, the longing glances across tables and rooms. I knew I’d been falling, but I never expected to end up here.

The ball had been endless and nobles had been vying for my attention all night. The room had grown hot and heavy, the sweat and breath of people dancing and spinning tales about nothing had hung in the air making me claustrophobic. It felt as though the fireplace and candle chandeliers were erupting, threatening to consume the room. Black spots blossomed, I tilted to the side, and large rough hands took root. One at my waist, the other on my elbow.

“Your Majesty…”

Blue eyes searched mine, the spots faded, and I took a deep shuddering breath.

“Thank you Kael…”

A blush crept in making the heat somehow worse and the snickering of nobles met my ears.

“If you’ll excuse me, I’m just going to step outside.”

The nobles bowed their heads in what felt like mock respect as I beelined for the balcony. A passing server held a tray of red wine. My hand swiped a glass as I passed and guards opened the doors at my approach. Stepping into the cool night air was a balm against my flushed skin. The guards moved to step out with me as they’re trained to but I didn’t want eyes on me.

“Leave me.”

“Your Majesty, it’s not wise to—“

“I said leave me.”

They simply bowed stepping back into the cloistered ballroom and closing the doors. I turned and leaned over the cold stone railing letting the edge bite into my forearms. My eyes drifted closed and I pulled in as much fresh air as my lungs would allow. The crickets song rang across the gardens below and the smell of lavender crept into my awareness. Long pulls from the glass of wine helped me decompress as my skin cooled, mind quieted, and heart slowed.

“Do you often disregard the advise of your guards?”

I gasped, eyes flying open to see the wine glass shatter on the path below.

Whirling around I found Kael with a look somewhere between a smirk and a genuine smile.

Clearing my throat, I stumbled for words, “You’ve been at court long enough now to know that this is highly unusual for me.”

He nodded striding closer. I felt my temperature again begin to increase.

“Listening to your conversations in there, it’s understandable you’d need a moment.”

A smile tugged at my lips, “A den of vipers isn’t it?”

He laughed, “vipers seems to impressive a term. Perhaps weasels would be more accurate.”

The laugh that bubbled through me was a surprise. I couldn’t remember the last time someone truly made me laugh rather than a polite forced reaction.

“They think me weak and impressionable. A young woman on a throne without her father, brother, or suitable husband emboldens their attempts at manipulation.”

His lazy strides brought him within arms reach and his voice lowered.

“I’m happy to hear their plans fall on deaf ears.” He murmured.

“Yes, well, placating nobles is easy. Trying to understand the needs of my people when they’re represented by such obvious corruption is difficult.”

A genuine expression of surprise crosses his face, “Your father wasn’t very good at that either.”

A sigh escapes me and I turn back over the railing, my fathers face surfacing in my mind.

“My father had grown complacent, and then he fell ill. He was always a kind man when I was a child. I think he just lost sight of his country and who his true people were.”

Kael didn’t respond, he simply looked up at the stars. I shifted to stand back up and swayed falling into him. Once again his feverish hands held me steady. One moving up to brush my cheek.

“You’re burning up, perhaps I should walk you to your rooms.”

Brushing him off I stepped back.

“It’s the wine, besides the lords and nobles will start looking for me soon.”

Swaying again, Kael’s rough hand took my arm.

“The lords and nobles” he countered, “can kiss up to your advisors.”

“I can’t simply disappear without a word.”

Kael, looking frustrated moved to the balcony doors still holding my arm like a child in trouble.

Cracking open the balcony door he leaned in beckoning for the guard standing by.

“Her Majesty is retiring for the evening. Please inform her advisors to take up the political reigns.”

A simple nod and the door clicked shut.

“Come along your Majesty. You need rest the same as anyone else.” My heart swooned while my mind raced. The nobles would certainly jump at the opportunity to speak more openly in my absence, but the thought of returning to the ballroom was like a nightmare. Kael stepped down the walkway pulling me along until my exhaustion won out. The hallways and stairwells were empty, everyone in the palace was either meandering or working in the ballroom. Approaching my rooms there weren’t even guards at my doors, but the wine was settling through my limbs taking the edge from every joint and thought. Kael’s hands on my skin had most of my attention. Entering my rooms with a gentleman would certainly be frowned upon. But with no one around to witness anything, my sense of good judgement had vanished.

My bedroom was silent and I looked around finding the sight as lonely and impersonal as most of the rooms within the palace.

“Serena…”

His voice was low and my heart stammered.

“You shouldn’t call me that Kael.”

“And you shouldn’t trust me as you do.”

Before I could turn around and express my confusion my body was jerked back and slammed into the wall directly next to the door. The wind was knocked from my lungs and gasping for air made my eyes flutter. A sharp and sudden burning sensation at my throat had everything come crashing into focus. Kael’s face, a moment ago the image of kindness and compassion, was now shadowed. The crease between his brows and slight frown didn’t agree with him. It was almost like looking at someone else completely. My eyes met his and we both seemed to freeze. His eyes were still the same. They were the eyes of a boy who’d gone to fight for his country and come back a hero. The eyes of someone who had seen too much in too little time, but still full of light. I looked at him and saw my country and the majority of the people who lived within my borders. The pressure at my throat gave way just enough for me to swallow and take a breath.

“I trust you, Kael.”

His jaw flexed and he adjusted. The sharp point of the blade hovering below my chin. He breathed deeply drawing back and raising his arm. I closed my eyes awaiting the blow, but was met with the slight thud and reverberation from the wall just above me. I opened my eyes looking up to see the knife embedded in the wall and Kael panting, one hand braced on the doorframe, the other falling from the blade to my cheek. His mouth hovered above mine a moment before he covered the few inches of space and kissed me. An entirely different type of heat coursed through me and I wished he’d never stop. It was slow and consuming, the kind I’d read about in fantasy novels. When it broke his forehead found mine and we stood there catching our breath.

“Serena I—“

Screams erupted from far away. A haunting symphony that drifted under the door.

“Shit.”

“Kael, what’s happening?” The tender moment evaporated so quickly I could barely tell what was real.

He darted over to my desk on the other side of the room grabbing the chair and brining it back. He wedged it under the handle before pulling me away from the door and taking the knife from the wall, sheathing it back at his belt.

“Where’s another exit? Preferably one that’s not well known.” He asked frantically.

“What are you talking about? What is happening out there?!”

His steady hands braced my cheeks.

“It’s a coup Serena, we have to go. Now. Where’s another exit?”

My heart sinks and panic fills the void. “I‘ve only just taken power and the people hate me that much?” I thought back over the last couple of months. I had been grieving the death of my last living relative. My father wasn’t the same after he became sick, but he was all I had. Then the coronation had to be planned and the stress of responsibility was crushing. I had sleepless nights spent worrying over my ability to lead. I never meant to ignore the people’s needs, I was simply trying to get everything together.

Kael shakes me “Serena! I need you to focus. They’ll come looking for you when they realize you’re not in the ballroom. Where’s another exit?!”

I swallow “there’s an old p-pathway to the exterior gardens. It’s in the closet and e-exits out the back end of the palace.”

“Do you have any less ridiculous shoes? Ones that you could run in if needed.”

My nod is barely perceptible, but he pulls me along behind him into the closet off my bedroom. I grab the first pair of riding boots that I see and tug them on while Kael grabs a dark colored cloak throwing it around my shoulders. I pull on the panel once, then twice but it doesn’t budge. Kael pulls me out of the way, then grips the edge and heaves. The door groans but gives way and he guides me into the dark and musty corridor. Stepping in behind me, he grunts with the effort it takes to pull the door closed. We stumble through the dark down slick stone stairs. His hand never leaves the small of my back as we descend and finally the faintest bit of moonlight peaks from under the door at the end of the chamber. When we emerge into an old garden that’s been over growing and unattended he hurries us along never looking back as we take cover in the woods past the small unkempt courtyard.

He keeps walking pulling me along behind him.

“Where are we going?!”

“My family’s farm in Galina”

“Galina is a 3 days ride from here!”

He spins staring down at me intensely “keep your voice down.”

“Can we just stop for second?!” I wrench my wrist from his grip and take a few paces back.

He waits, watching me closely.

I turn back towards where we came from. The white stone of the palace towers barely visible through the trees. My eyes begin to water thinking of my childhood rooms, the nurses and servants I loved, the portraits of my parents that will likely be destroyed before I see them again. Kael steps up behind me.

“Serena… you can’t go back…”

“You were a part of it…”

I feel his sigh next to my ear, “Yes. I lost my brother in the war. I was angry he gave his life for rich men to get richer. I wanted an end to the monarchy and the corruption.”

“You wanted an end to me.”

“I didn’t know who you were just that it was your family who’s war ended my brothers life.”

I stood staring at the few stone towers I could see wondering if I’d ever even see them again.

“We have to go Serena.”

He tugged at my hand again and reluctantly I started walking wondering what would lay ahead.