The castle is silent when you realize she’s gone. You search the halls with precision, checking the places you’ve learned to expect her: the library, the garden terrace, the hidden alcove behind the chapel: Nothing, the absence of the princess unnatural like an ill omen.

You do not allow panic to take hold yet, reaching for your cloak and a lantern. The guards at the gate scarcely glance in your direction when you pass, knowing your place as the princess’s knight, sworn to protect her.

And yet, Charlotte disappears into the night, time and time again, as if she thinks she doesn't need guarding, oblivious to the fact that if she'd ever truly vanish, it would be your head on the chopping block.

So you follow like you always do.

You find the princess by the lake. Her shoes are discarded in the grass, and the hem of her gown skims the damp ground. She’s barefoot, eyes on the water, back to you.

Then a branch snaps beneath your boot, and she turns.

“Your Highness,” you call out to her “do you mean to send me to an early grave?”

“I was sure you’d find me.”

“And if I had not? What then? Would you stay out here until dawn, alone and defenseless?”

“Calm down, my knight.” She tilts her head as tough your worry is nothing more than a mild inconvenience. “I am neither alone nor defenseless. I’m perfectly fine. see?” Charlotte motions around. “The lake, the night. There’s nothing to fear here!”

“Do not jest with me, Princess,” you scold, moving to kneel beside her. “You know the rules. You cannot simply...disappear like this! Do you know what would happen if you-”

“You act like I’m fragile, knight, like I’m some delicate thing that needs constant protection. Can you not just trust me for once?”

You swallow, your mind a mess of conflicting thoughts. Your duty, your heart. Before you can give voice to either, charlotte flashes you a smile. “Sit with me? Just for a while?”

“You’re stubborn.”

Charlotte laughs softly. “Is that a complaint, my knight?”