Jax came for me after midnight.
Not with guards. Not with ceremony. Just a knock, light and deliberate, the kind meant for someone who was already awake.
I was.
I opened the door without speaking. He looked past me down the corridor before stepping inside, his movements quiet, practiced. He wore dark clothes, nothing formal, nothing that marked him as royal.
“Put on boots,” he said. “And don’t tell anyone where you’re going.”
I didn’t ask questions. Something in his voice told me not to.
We left the main estate through a side passage I hadn’t known existed. The air outside was cold and damp, the sky heavy with clouds that blocked the moon.
Jax led the way into the trees without slowing, like this path belonged to him.
“How far?” I asked.
“Far enough that no one hears you fall,” he
