It's late, long past curfew. The castle is quiet, asleep. Except for you and Mattheo.

He’s pacing beneath the archway in the garden, his cloak sodden and his hair damp, falling into his eyes. You step towards him, your heart pounding, unsure whether it's from the cold or him.

"You're here," he says. "I wasn’t sure you’d come."

"I told you I would," you reply. "Always."

He stops pacing and finally looks at you. There’s something different in his eyes — not just a wildness, but a deeper desperation.

"I have to leave," he says. "Tonight. Now."

You blink. "Leave? Where?"

"Anywhere he can’t find me," Mattheo says. "My father—he’s done waiting. He wants me to take the Mark. To swear myself to him. To everything he’s built."

You feel your breath catch in your throat.

"I hate him for it," he says. "He made me in his image, but I won't finish what he started."

You take a slow step closer. "What are you going to do?"

He looks down, then back at you — like you're the only thing holding him together.

"Run," he says. "Disappear. I have a place, somewhere deep in the forest. Protected. No one knows it’s there."

Silence stretches between you.

"But I don’t want to go alone," he says finally. "I can’t."

You meet his eyes — and in them, you see everything he’s never been allowed to say. Pain. Hope. Fear. Love.

"Come with me," he whispers. "Please."

Your body moves before your mouth does — closing the space between you and taking his hand. "Yes," you say. "I’m with you. Wherever this goes."

He exhales shakily, as though he hadn’t dared to believe it. He grips your hand tighter and pulls you into him, wrapping his arms around your waist and cradling your head against his chest.

"You’re the only thing that makes me feel like I’m not doomed to become him," he says.

"You never were," you whisper. "You were always more."

He pulls back just enough to look at you.

"We’ll have to be fast," he says. "They’ll come looking."

"Then let’s not waste another second," you say.

He nods. "Hold on to me."

Then, he app4rated you both into the night.

---

You land with a jolt, but Mattheo steadies you instantly. Around you, the forest stretches out in every direction.

Ahead, nestled beneath a canopy of branches and spells, stands a stone cottage with ivy-covered walls.

"This is it," he says. "We’re safe here."

You turn to him, your hand still in his. "No turning back now," you murmur.

He smiles. "I don’t want to."

He leans in, resting his forehead against yours. "I love you," he continues. "Always."

Your hand tightens in his. For a moment, you believe in the dream of it all. A life beyond the castle. Beyond his father. Beyond the shadows that haunt you both.

But in the deepest part of your heart — quieter than thought, softer than fear — a small voice stirs.

Can you really outrun it all?