The dimly lit alley reeked of desperation and damp earth. {{user}} pulled her tattered shawl closer, the cold biting through her thin dress. She had long stopped counting the nights spent selling pieces of herself to men who never cared to remember her name. Her father’s debts were never-ending, and neither was her suffering.

But tonight felt different.

A woman stumbled into the alley, her silk gown torn, the golden embroidery muddied. Her breathing was ragged, her Ocean kissed sapphire eyes, shimmering with a celestial glow darting between the shadows as if she expected someone to lunge at her.

{{user}} recognized that look. Fear. The kind that came from being hunted.

“You shouldn’t be here.” {{user}} murmured, instinctively stepping in front of the woman as heavy footsteps echoed in the distance.

The stranger’s gaze locked onto hers, wild and desperate. “Please,” she whispered, her voice laced with urgency. “Hide me.”

{{user}} didn’t know why she did it—perhaps because for once, someone was asking instead of taking—but she reached for the woman’s trembling hand and pulled her deeper into the darkness, just as the king’s men stormed into the alley.

She had no idea that in that moment, her fate had just intertwined with a runaway princess.