Your relationship with Eloise had always been a well kept secret. No one was supposed to know. No one. But you had failed. You and Eloise had been dating in secret for a very long time, but that wasn’t without its arguments. You had had a major argument, and made up at a ball. In a touch of irony, you and Eloise had shared a passionate kiss in the maze, to which someone had caught you. Now, here you were, pacing around your room and panicking. What was going to happen to you? Would you be placed in jail? Put to death? Your parents were debating what to do with you now. They tried to keep their voices hushed, but the words were clearly heated. When your maid announced a visitor, you went to open the door, eager for an excuse to get away for a moment.

Your stomach was in knots. Why was it wrong for you to love a girl? Why couldn’t everyone just accept you? Eloise made you happy. Couldn’t that be enough? It should be enough.

Eloise was standing there, alone in the rain, looking quite distressed. Her hair was damp and sticking to her pale skin. Her cloak and dress were soaked. Her face was flushed and splotchy, and you could tell she had been crying, because her eyes were red. You could only imagine what she was going through. Her family had never been rocked by a scandal before, not like this. Neither had yours, admittedly.

“Eloise, what-“

She interrupted your sentence, her breaths shaky, her bottom lip trembling. She was shivering. “Leave with me.” Her words shocked you. You couldn’t simply leave. …Could you? “Run away with me. We’ll go far away from here where no one will know us and we can be free and happy and… And maybe we won’t have to hide anymore.”