A kingdom of Ash and Echoes

Chapter 17 - Beyond the Walls

The night air was colder beyond the walls of Avaranth than Seraphina had ever imagined. She pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders, the rough fabric scratching her skin, nothing like the silks she had grown accustomed to in the palace. Still, she did not regret it—not yet. Every breath of freedom tasted sharper, brighter, more real than the air she had ever breathed inside the castle.
Beside her rode Kaelen, the man she had chosen. His dark hair curled against his temples, his eyes fixed on the horizon as though he could already see the future he promised her. He was not a prince, nor a lord. He was a soldier once, a commander now cast aside when whispers of disloyalty clung to his name. Yet Seraphina had seen the truth in him—the strength, the loyalty, the devotion that had never once wavered when it came to her.

"You're quiet tonight," Kaelen said, his voice low, carrying easily in the still night.
Seraphina smiled faintly, though her heart ached. "I was thinking of them. My family. I left them with nothing but a letter."
He slowed his horse, glancing at her. "Do you regret it?"
The question cut deep, and for a moment she faltered. She thought of Lyriana's gentle patience, of Callum's steady laughter, of her mother's soft hands smoothing her hair when nightmares had woken her as a child. And her father—pale, sick, fading—did he even know she was gone?
Her throat tightened. "No. I couldn't stay. Cedric would have destroyed me." Her voice grew fierce. "He doesn't want a wife. He wants a jewel to flaunt, a shadow to flatter his pride. I could never live that life."

Kaelen's jaw tightened, a shadow passing through his expression. "And with me? What life do you see?"
Seraphina looked at him, her heart steadying. "A life of choice. Even if it is hard. Even if it is uncertain. At least it will be mine."
He reached for her hand across the gap between their horses, and she let him take it, warmth flowing into her cold fingers. "Then I will make certain it is worth everything you gave up."
They rode on, deeper into the woods, away from the stone walls and towers that had once been her prison. Yet even as her heart swelled with conviction, doubt gnawed at the edges of her thoughts.
She knew Lyriana would be the one left to bear the weight of her absence. She knew her mother's heart would break. She knew Callum—oh, Callum—would search for her if he could.
But she had chosen. She had to believe that love could be stronger than politics, stronger than duty, stronger even than a kingdom's demands.
As the stars wheeled overhead, Kaelen finally spoke again. "We'll cross the border by dawn. Once we're in the western lands, Cedric will never find us. Nor your family, if they come looking."
Seraphina swallowed, nodding, though her chest tightened. She whispered to herself, Lyriana will understand. She always wanted me to choose love over chains.

But even as she whispered it, she knew her sister's understanding would come at a price. Lyriana would carry the silence. Lyriana would shoulder the burden and Seraphina, for all her freedom, would always feel the weight of what she had abandoned.
Still, when Kaelen's hand squeezed hers again, she forced herself to breathe in the night air, to let herself believe—for now—that freedom was worth everything.