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"I'll get you out."
And for the first time, there was fear in her voice.
They ran through the rear service yard — empty, thick with the smell of the stables and fresh hay. Beyond it, a field, the tall grass already damp with evening and cold against their ankles. Past the field rose the dark line of the forest, widening with every step they took toward it.
Mira nearly ran, not looking back.
"Did he see?" she whispered, still moving.
"I don't know."
And that was worse than a 'yes'.
Mira stopped short and looked back at the estate: stone walls, windows, the weathervane above the tower. No sound anywhere around them.
"Listen to me," Mira said, breathing hard. "If they call for you — you don't come out."
"And if they find me?"
Mira said nothing. That silence was already an answer.
"There's another way."
She tipped her head toward the forest. Elara went still.
/"No."/
"No one goes there."
Mira looked her straight in the eyes.
"But he'll come here. And he'll find you." She gripped Elara's hand hard enough to hurt. "We don't have time, Ara."
Somewhere in the estate courtyard, footsteps echoed back — too heavy for servants.
"If he comes out here..."
Both girls looked at the wall of trees at once.
Up close, the tree line looked nothing like it did from the garden windows. Not a dark strip in the distance — a solid wall. Dense trunks, twisted, packed close against one another. Black shadow pooled between the massive trunks, shadow that even midday sun could not burn through. Something inside that forest stayed impenetrable, and threatening.
"I'm not going back to him," Elara said quietly, but with iron certainty.
Mira nodded, the decision made.
"Then we go."
They pushed into the trees. The grass beneath their feet changed instantly — taller, thicker. Shadow closed over the girls the moment they crossed the invisible line into the thicket, sudden as a candle snuffed out. The cold dropped around them at once. The air smelled of wet earth, moss, something rotting under the leaves. And beneath that, something else — faint, sweetish, a smell Elara had never known before.
Mira stopped dead at the very edge of the invisible boundary.
"I go no further. No one will." Her voice stayed even, but her fists stayed hidden in her skirt. "I need to get back. The estate is enormous — it will take Nanthelm a while to gather everyone. I will try to buy you some time."
"He will ask about me."
"Let him," Mira whispered, already backing toward the sunlit field. "Just run, Ara!"
Elara turned and looked into the dark ahead of her.
The trees stood like a wall. Not a single leaf stirred, though a restless wind moved through the open field behind her. Between the massive trunks lay a silence unlike anything outside it. It was not empty. It was full. Full of someone's presence.
/"Better this... than him."/
And the girl stepped into the dark.
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"All of them?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
The servants stood in a straight line along the wall of the great hall. The candle wicks burned without a flicker — the air felt compressed. Erebus walked slowly down the line. His eyes moved over every face without pause.
Alan stood frozen by the doorframe.
/"He is looking for someone specific."/
The Prince stopped before one of the girls. He lingered there longer than he had at the others. Then took another step. And went still again.
"Lift your head."
Mira turned to stone. Erebus studied her closely — not her face. Her hands. The dark soil packed under her nails, impossible to scrub away in a hurry. Fresh calluses from garden shears.
"You work in the garden?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Alone?"
Mira hesitated before answering. A tiny, almost imperceptible delay. Too small for an ordinary eye. Not too small for his.
"Yes."
"Interesting."
The Prince closed the distance until she could not have stepped out of line without touching him.
"From the study window," he murmured, almost gently, "one always sees more than certain people would like. Which means the other already knows she is being looked for."
The air in the hall went heavy at once. Mira flinched — the motion of her shoulders did not escape his notice. That was exactly what he had been waiting for.
"I..."
She lowered her head, all resistance gone. Erebus smiled, satisfied. Slow. Predatory.
"Of course. You were not alone."
The Prince's gaze darkened, and he turned sharply on his heel, tossing a short order over his shoulder:
"The garden."
The Duke did not move at once. For a moment his gaze shifted to Mira's pale face. That was enough.
/"Hold still. Do not move."/
Then Christopher followed.
"Your Highness."
The Duke's voice came out calm. Not loud, but sufficient to stop the motion.
"If the garden interests you, I will show it to you myself."
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"She is here."
"You are certain?"
"Yes."
"We have searched everywhere. Only the forest remains."
One of the Prince's soldier reached, unthinking, for the hilt of his sword.
"Your Highness... it's dangerous in there."
Erebus turned his head toward him slowly, his eyes burning straight through the guard.
"I know. That is exactly why she went in."
"But—"
No one dared finish the sentence.
"Find her."
Yet no one took even a single step toward the trees — and that instant of defiance was impossible to miss. The Prince marked it. His expression darkened.
"That is an order."
And even under the threat of a tribunal, the soldiers hesitated.
Because the forest frightened them more than he did.
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