The dungeon was dim, lit only by a single torch flickering weakly against the stone. Chains clinked whenever Prince Alexiel shifted, though he hardly moved at all. He simply sat there—waiting, resigned, staring at the cold floor.

The execution bell would ring soon.

He was ready… or at least he thought he was.

The sound of hurried footsteps shattered the silence.

“Alexiel!”

He looked up sharply.

Riliane burst into the cell, breathless, eyes wide with fear and something fiercer.

“Riliane…? What are you doing here?” he demanded.

She didn’t answer. She marched right up to him.

“Stand,” she ordered.

He blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Stand. Up.”

For a moment, he almost laughed at the absurdity. But when he didn’t move quickly enough, she grabbed his arm and yanked.

“Riliane—stop. You can’t—”

“No,” she snapped. “You stop.”

Her voice trembled, not with fear, but with stubborn fury.

“You are going to change into my clothes,” she said. “And I am going to take your place.”

Alexiel stared, stunned.

“What? Absolutely not. That is—”

“Please, Alexiel.”

He tried to pull his arm away, but she shoved him backward with surprising strength. Her eyes were burning, wet at the edges.

“You’re not dying,” she hissed, “not for this. Not alone.”

Alexiel’s heart thudded painfully in his chest.

“Riliane, you don’t understand. They won’t just punish you. They’ll—”

“I don’t care.” She snatched the clasp of his cloak and pulled so hard he nearly stumbled. “If you don’t change willingly, I’ll make you.”

“You can’t force—”

She grabbed his shoulders and slammed him against the wall—not hard enough to harm him, but enough to shock him into silence.

“I can,” she whispered fiercely. “And I will.”

Alexiel froze.

He had given her countless commands over the years. Dark commands. Unfair commands. Orders she obeyed without hesitation.

Now—

Now she stood before him, trembling but unyielding, giving him an order for the first time in her life.

“Alexiel,” she said softly, voice cracking. “Please....”

The torchlight flickered across her face, and he saw it— the fear, the devotion, the desperate determination.

He swallowed hard.

“Riliane…” He tried again, gentler. “I can’t let you do this.”

She shook her head violently.

“And I can’t watch you die.”

“Change,” she whispered. “Let me do this for you.”

He stood there trembling, every instinct screaming to refuse— but her hands didn’t fall away.

And for the first time since his sentence was announced…

Alexiel felt fear.

Not for himself.

For her.

But Riliane met his eyes with a fragile, unwavering smile.

“This is the one command,” she murmured, “that you must obey.”

The footsteps of the guards echoed faintly up the stairwell.

Time was running out.

Alexiel closed his eyes.

And slowly—painfully—he began to loosen the clasp of his coat.