The forest was a black void, an all-encompassing shadow that swallowed me whole. The silence was so profound it made my skin crawl, like the trees themselves were watching—silent, ancient witnesses to my rebellion. Their twisted limbs reached for me as though they wanted to pull me into their folds, to drag me deeper into a place where no one could find me. I didn't fight it. I didn't want to be found.

Fuck the Citadel. Fuck my father's plans. Fuck everything that was ever expected of me.

I'd been the princess. The golden child. The perfect heir. A pawn in my father's war to secure his reign, to expand his power. I had worn that crown of duty like a mask—a cold, suffocating thing that smothered my every breath. I had been molded for greatness, made to lead my people as though I had a fucking choice in the matter. And for what? So I could sit on a throne while the world around me bled? So I could pretend I was some celestial being with a destiny written in the stars?

I wasn't born for this. I was born to be free.

I had tried—really tried—to fit into the role. To pretend that I could be the princess they wanted. That I could bring my people into an era of prosperity and peace. I did it for years. Played the dutiful daughter, stood in the shadow of my father's expectations. Smiled at the right moments, said the right things, wore the damn gown and the crown. But inside? I was suffocating on lies.

My father's voice haunted me still. You will lead them, Isilyn. You will bring us to greatness.

The bastard didn't even see me. He saw only a future that served his needs. I wasn't a daughter to him. I was a tool, a vessel to carry his hopes. And for that, I had become nothing more than a puppet—a pretty little figurehead with a mask of hope painted on my face.

But not anymore.

I fled in the dead of night, the cold air biting my skin as I slipped past the high walls of the Citadel. I didn't look back. I wouldn't. I had burned those bridges, torn down the shackles of my birthright. The pull of the Citadel, the invisible chains that had held me there, tugged at me even as I walked farther from them. But I ignored it. I had to.

The forest, for all its darkness, felt like freedom. The further I went, the lighter I felt—until I realized just how goddamn lost I was. No plan. No purpose. Just the road ahead and the weight of a choice I had already made.

The stars above were cold tonight. Indifferent. They weren't the warm, comforting lights I had once looked to for guidance. Tonight, they were just distant fires in a sky that didn't care about me. And for the first time in my life, I didn't care either.

I glanced down at my hands—at the silver markings that adorned my skin, the symbols of my bloodline. A reminder of everything I had rejected. But none of it mattered now. The royal blood that coursed through my veins didn't mean a goddamn thing out here. I had left it all behind. I had chosen something else, something unknown.

But even as I walked into the unknown, the question lingered: What now? What the hell was I supposed to do with this freedom?

For now, I would keep walking. One step at a time. The answers would come when they were ready. And I would be damned if I went back to the prison that had once been my life.