The Escape And The Choice
464 Words
Ravenna did not forget its princess.
One moonless night, Seraphina woke to the sound of steel scraping stone. A shadowy figure slipped to her cell door and whispered:
“Your Highness — we’ve come for you.”
Her pulse raced.
It was one of her most loyal captains, disguised as a Valerian guard. Behind him, three others waited. They had bribed, threatened, or killed their way into the dungeon.
“Move quickly,” the captain urged, unlocking the cell. “The prince is occupied. We have minutes.”
Freedom.
The word tasted sweet — but strangely hollow.
Seraphina followed them through hidden corridors. They reached the lower courtyard, where horses stood ready.
But just as she placed her foot in the stirrup—
“Seraphina!”
That voice.
Her body froze.
Prince Adrien stood at the archway, sword drawn, chest rising and falling with betrayal and panic.
The Standoff
The captain grabbed Seraphina’s arm.
“Mount, now!”
Adrien took a step forward.
“Don’t go.”
His voice cracked, raw.
The soldiers raised their weapons. Adrien did not flinch.
Seraphina’s heart pounded painfully.
She could escape.
Ride home.
Return to her kingdom as the triumphant warlord.
But Adrien…
He wasn’t her enemy anymore.
Not truly.
Not in the ways that mattered.
“You will not take our princess again,” the captain snarled.
“She is not my prisoner,” Adrien shot back. “She’s—”
He stopped himself.
But Seraphina heard the word he didn’t say.
Mine.
The Choice
Seraphina looked between them — between loyalty and… something far more dangerous.
“Seraphina,” Adrien breathed, “if you leave now, I’ll understand. But I cannot promise what my kingdom will do. War will worsen. Blood will spill. Yours. Mine.”
“And if I stay?” she whispered.
His eyes softened like dawn breaking.
“Then I will spend every day proving that you are not my enemy.”
The wind howled between them.
Her captain whispered fiercely, “Princess—choose your kingdom!”
Adrien whispered, “Choose yourself.”
Her chest ached.
Slowly — painfully — Seraphina removed her foot from the stirrup.
“I’m staying.”
The captain recoiled as if struck. “Your Highness—!”
Adrien lowered his sword.
Seraphina stepped toward him.
“I choose my own fate,” she said, voice steady. “And right now… that fate is not Ravenna’s to dictate.”
Her men hesitated, furious and heartbroken, but they obeyed their princess’s silent command to retreat.
When they disappeared into the night, Adrien finally let out a breath.
“You chose me.”
“I didn’t say that,” she snapped.
But she had. And they both knew it.
He offered his hand.
This time—
she took it.
- Writer
