You didn’t answer him right away.
Not because you didn’t have one — but because you didn’t know which part of it was true.
Were you running? Yes. Looking for trouble? Maybe. Chasing something you couldn’t explain? Definitely.
But Rowan didn’t press.
He simply looked at you a moment longer, then turned and walked deeper into the forest — and without thinking, you followed.
The trees seemed to part for him. The wind moved with him, not around him. He didn’t ask you questions. He didn’t need to.
And then, all at once, the woods opened.
It was a valley — hidden by centuries of silence — and it was nothing like what you’d been told.
Your kingdom taught you that magic had withered..died out. But here… it thrived.
The river shimmered gold in the moonlight, bending as it pleased, lanterns floated between branches without strings or hooks,f lowers bloomed in the shape of stars, pulsing gently with light, stone statues moved just slightly when you weren’t looking.
A deer walked past you with silver antlers, eyes like polished glass — and bowed.
You couldn’t speak. Your breath caught in your throat.
Rowan then glanced back at you, eyes reflecting starlight. “Beautiful, isn’t it? Everything they swore was lost.”
He crouched beside a mossy stone, brushed it clean — revealing a royal crest you recognized. One that should never have been here.
“This was yours, once. All of it. Before fear rewrote the stories.”
He finally looked at you — fully, honestly. Not accusing, just steady.
“They didn’t kill magic. They just pretended it never loved them.”
You stared at the glowing valley.
And for the first time in your life, you wondered if your kingdom’s greatest sin wasn’t fighting magic…
…but burying it.