The Princess

Chapter six: A friend indeed

The air shifted the moment I stepped out of the limo.

It wasn’t the city’s buzz or the lazy sway of the trees above—it was her. Lia.

She stood by the school gate, her books clutched to her chest as a child holds a secret. Sunlight curled around her, as if even the sky knew to worship her softness. Her brown curls were pulled back in a loose bun, and the edges of her uniform fluttered in the breeze. And that smile—gods, that smile could melt rebellions and still keep its innocence.

She spotted me.

“Sia?”

One word. Just one. And suddenly, I wasn’t the girl who had stared down her uncle in a room full of rage and menacing tradition. I was just Sia—someone who needed to be held.

“Come on,” I whispered, opening the door.

Lia didn’t ask questions. She never did. She slid into the car, placing her books gently beside her, like always. We didn’t speak for the first few minutes. Her hand found mine, and that was enough although I saw the questions brimming through her eyes , she was that a mirror.

“I heard something,” she finally said, her voice light, cautious.

I turned my head, already knowing where this was going.

“They said the council will meet,” she continued. “That your name was spoken in the royal wing.”

I gave a small, dry laugh, the words of a queen is indeed powerful , look at the speed. “My name wasn’t spoken. It was screamed.”

She looked at me then, her gaze soft and understanding in that way only Lia could manage. She never tried to fix things. She simply existed beside me until the pain eased. That was her magic.

“I couldn’t stay in that house another second,” I admitted, voice trembling slightly. “Not with Alphonso breathing down my neck, and his—” I stopped. “His wife whispering poison in his ears.”

Lia squeezed my hand. “Then don’t go back. Not today.”

That idea—freedom, if only for a few hours—felt like a breath I hadn’t known I was holding.

I smiled, leaning my head back on the seat. “Let’s run away.”

“Just for today,” she whispered, a small grin pulling at her lips.

Leonard drove in silence, as if the wind itself had told him this was a moment not to interrupt. He took the longer route through the countryside. The roads curved like the delicate pages of an old book, and the fields rolled endlessly under the soft gold of the afternoon sun.

We stopped by a cliffside garden—the kind only old kings and lovers remembered. The limo stayed behind while we walked barefoot on dew-soft grass. Lia twirled once, arms stretched, face tilted to the sky. She looked like something out of a forgotten lullaby.

“Do you think I’m fit to rule?” I asked, the question slipping from my lips before I could catch it.

She turned slowly, her eyes catching the light like crystal. “I think you're brave enough to try. And that’s more than most.”

I stared at her. Really stared. The way her lashes curled. The warmth in her voice. The quiet certainty she carried like a lantern in dark places.I had been raised with bloodlines and destiny carved into every inch of my skin, but somehow… it was Lia who made me believe I could be something more than my legacy.

We sat there as the wind whispered secrets around us, and for a brief, perfect second, there were no crowns, no uncles, no summons.

Only Lia.

Only peace.

But I had to go back , I have to meet Gaius, to perfect my speech for the Elders!