The air was sharp and cool on my skin, a stark contrast to the thick, heavy walls of the castle. In this quiet village, life was simpler. Merripen and I were hidden in plain sight, her power cloaking me in an entirely different image. I was no longer Queen Mitchell; here, I was simply Louise—a humble villager living in a small, wooden cottage with two older women who had taken me in without question. They knew nothing of my past, my title, or my true form, and that was how it had to stay. For now, at least.
The farm’s fields stretched endlessly, rows of green dotted with patches of earth as I worked alongside the villagers. My hands, once delicate and adorned with jewels, were now calloused, roughened by days spent tending crops and mending fences. The scent of earth was a comfort, oddly
