Chapter 26

Rebekah.

The morning of my departure, Prince Neil and I speak in private—one final moment before everything changes.

We stand just outside the castle stables, where the horses are being saddled for the journey. Morning dew sparkles on the grass, the air sharp with the scent of leather and pine. He takes my hands in his, the calluses of swordsmanship rough against my palms, and I try not to tremble. I relish in his touch instead. My strength in this chaos.

“You don’t have to do this alone,” he says, voice low, eyes fierce. Yet, tender.

“I do,” I whisper. “Queen Cyra says it must be me. My presence, not an army, will shake the court awake. If I go with soldiers, it becomes a war. If I go alone, it becomes a reckoning.”

He frowns. “What if they hurt you?”

“They already have.” I smile faintly. “They just don’t know I remember.”

Neil presses his forehead against mine, and for a moment we simply breathe. Then he says, “Be brave, my fair maiden.”