A Line in the Sand, A Choice in the Wind.

Chapter 38: A Line in the Sand, A Choice in the Wind.

The wind tugged at her hair as Ryo stood at the edge of the bridge, looking out across the murky water below. She had come here on impulse, driven by something she couldn't quite put her finger on. It wasn't the calm of the city, not the controlled elegance of Roward Academy, nor the silence of her gilded cage. This place was somewhere in between-the rough, gritty underbelly of the world she didn't belong to. And somehow, this felt like the only place she could breathe.

She turned as she heard footsteps approaching. Ryuga. He wasn't alone. He never was.

"You're getting reckless," Ryuga's voice broke the silence, his usual tone of mild irritation threading through. "Shouldn't you be heading back to your little world? Don't want to mess things up too much for yourself, right?"

Ryo raised an eyebrow, her gaze steady but curious. "And what would you know about my world?"

He snorted. "Enough to know you don't belong here. You don't even know what you're walking into."

He stepped closer, the worn soles of his boots scraping against the gravel. He stopped at a respectful distance, just outside the radius of comfort she'd unknowingly set for him. His posture was relaxed, hands jammed in his pockets. There was something about his casualness that made her chest tighten.

"Then why are you still here?" she asked, voice lighter than she meant it to be. She couldn't help the way her eyes followed his movements, noticing how he didn't seem to mind the cold or the way his hair stuck to his forehead. He was as unaffected by the world around him as he was by the difference between their lives.

"Don't get too attached," Ryuga muttered, his eyes flicking to her with a sudden sharpness. "It's not your fight. You think you can just swoop in and fix things? You can't even understand the rules here."

Ryo took a step forward, her heels clicking loudly on the stone. "Maybe that's the problem. I'm tired of the rules. I want to see for myself. I don't care about the 'rules."

He laughed dryly, the sound rasping in the cool air. "You don't care? You think you're special? No, this isn't some fairy tale, Ryo. You don't get to just change things because it suits you."

A pause stretched between them as they both stood in silence, the sound of distant traffic a soft hum in the background. She felt the space between them, invisible yet thick. Her heart beat faster than it should, not from fear, but from something else entirely. Something she didn't know how to name yet.

"I know," Ryo said after a long moment, her voice low but steady. "But maybe I don't care. Maybe that's the problem. I don't want to just keep living in a world where I'm told what to do. I want something real. Something that doesn't have all these... walls."

He studied her, eyes narrowing. His expression was unreadable. "And you think I can give you that? You think I'm some kind of answer?"

"No," she said, shaking her head slowly. "I'm not asking you to be an answer. I'm just asking you to stop pretending like you have all the answers. I don't need you to fix anything. I just need someone who won't look at me like I'm a different species because I came from a different place. Someone who can look me in the eye and see me. Not my family. Not my name. Just me."

For a second, she thought he might laugh at her, might dismiss her again, like he always did. But he didn't. Instead, he just looked at her with that quiet intensity, like he could see every layer she'd carefully built around herself-and maybe even a few more. It unnerved her.

He exhaled a sharp breath, the steam from his breath mingling with the cool air. "This is a dangerous thing to want," he said, his voice suddenly softer, more serious. "You don't know what you're asking for."

"Maybe I do," she shot back. "Maybe that's why I'm asking.

Ryuga took a step back, the soft scrape of his boots against the stone barely audible. The wind picked up, ruffling his hair, and for a moment, she thought she saw a flicker of something in his eyes-a hesitation. But then it was gone, as quickly as it had appeared.

He glanced over his shoulder, the uncertainty momentarily clouding his face. "I'm not your prince in shining armor, Ryo. You're better off without someone like me. You really want to keep walking this path? You can't just turn back when things get ugly."

She was quiet for a moment, considering his words. The wind whipped around them, the sound almost drowning out the tension between them. Finally, she spoke.

"Maybe it's too late for that," Ryo said, her voice carrying a new resolve. "Maybe it's not about turning back. Maybe it's about choosing the path you want, even if it doesn't make sense."

Ryuga stared at her for a long moment, and in that silence, she could almost feel the weight of his judgment.

He didn't trust her-didn't believe she could handle what came with being in his world. But something in her pushed back against that, something that told her maybe, just maybe, she wasn't as helpless as he thought.

"I can't promise you anything," he said finally, his tone flat but not unkind. "But I'm not going to stop you either."

Ryo's eyes softened just a little, and for the first time, she felt like he might actually see her. "I don't want promises," she said, her voice quiet but steady. "I just want you to know, I'm not leaving. Not now. Not ever."

She turned away, walking toward the edge of the bridge, her heart pounding in her chest. She didn't know why she was so certain-why she was so damn sure of this thing between them-but she knew she wasn't going to let it slip away.

Behind her, Ryuga didn't speak, didn't move. But she could feel him watching her, his eyes heavy on her back.

She didn't turn around. She didn't need to.

Something had changed. A line had been drawn in the sand, and no matter how hard they tried to deny it, it was there. Neither of them could go back.

And maybe that was the point. They had both already crossed it.