The night was unnervingly quiet, the campfires casting faint shadows. You had avoided him all day, but Rhaegar found you at the camp’s edge, his presence as heavy as the silence between you.

“Why are you out here alone?” he asked softly, his voice carrying a mixture of concern and weariness.

You didn’t turn to look at him, your arms crossed tightly over your chest. “I needed to think.”

“And what conclusion have you come to?” he pressed, stepping closer.

Finally, you turned to face him, the weight of everything threatening to crack your resolve. The man standing before you, clad in black and red, was no longer the Rhaegar you had known—the gentle, melancholic prince who played haunting melodies on his harp. He was a man consumed by prophecy and ambition, a man who had shattered lives to pursue his vision of a better future.

“I don’t know who you are anymore,” you said, your voice trembling. “The Rhaegar I knew would never have started this rebellion, would never have torn apart families and kingdoms for the sake of a prophecy.”

Pain flickered in his violet eyes. “You think I wanted this?”

“You had a choice,” you said, voice sharp with anger. “You always had a choice.”

He stepped closer, desperation in his voice. “I’m trying to save the realm—to unite it, to ensure it survives. Everything I’ve done was for that.”

“By abandoning your wife? By dishonoring your house? By throwing the entire kingdom into chaos?” you countered, tears brimming in your eyes. “You speak of saving the realm, but all I see is destruction. You’ve betrayed everything you stood for, everything I believed in.”

His shoulders sagged, lips pressed in a thin line. “You’ve lost faith in me,” he whispered.

For a moment, he stood there, staring at you as though the weight of your words had crushed him. Then, slowly, he reached out, his hand trembling as it hovered near your face. “If you’ve lost faith in me,” he said, his voice breaking, “then I’ve lost everything.