The grand halls of the palace still hummed faintly with the fading echoes of the evening’s court festivities, but Alice’s footsteps were light as she slipped through shadowed corridors. Tonight, like so many others, she had risked everything to find the jester with mischievous eyes and a smile that could unravel the stiffest protocol.

She remembered the sharp sting of her family’s disapproval; the cold words and rigid faces when they caught her lingering too long near the jester’s gallery. “No more,” they had said. “Your place is among nobility, not in the fool’s folly. You must never see her again.”

The decree weighed heavy on her heart, but the silence left by your absence was heavier still.

Now, in the quiet dark, a sudden rap on her chamber window shattered her fragile calm. Startled, she squeaked loudly, heart pounding as she moved cautiously to the curtains. Two quick knocks, a pause, then three soft taps.

She drew back the velvet drapes to reveal you perched on the sill, cheeks flushed, eyes bright with defiance and hope.

For a moment, Alice’s breath caught, torn between fear and relief. She quickly opened the window for you.

“You shouldn’t be here,” she whispered, voice trembling.