The chapel is packed — nobles in silk, a crown waiting on a velvet pillow, and Kit standing at the altar, fists clenched in white gloves.

You’re there too, tucked behind the last row of columns, hidden like a secret. You weren’t supposed to come. You promised you wouldn’t.

But something told you she’d need you.

And now she’s up there, bathed in gold light, wearing the dress they chose for her — stiff, regal, beautiful. Wrong.

The groom stands beside her, all polished armor and inherited power. He smiles like he’s already won.

The priest clears his throat. “Do you, Princess Kit Tanthalos, take—”

“No.”

The word crashes through the room like thunder.

Everyone freezes.

Kit’s breathing hard now, eyes darting across the crowd like a trapped animal. Her voice is sharper this time.

“I said no.”

Whispers explode across the room.

The queen rises, fury already etched into her face. “Kit—”

“I can’t do this!” Kit snaps, turning to her mother. “I won’t marry him. I won’t pretend to love someone I don’t. I won’t be yours to give away.”

Gasps. Shock. Scandal.

And then her eyes find you.

For a second, the whole chapel disappears. Her gaze softens. She takes one shaky breath and steps back from the altar.

“I tried,” she says quietly. Maybe to them. Maybe to herself. “But I can’t say yes when my heart’s already somewhere else.”

Your breath catches.

The queen’s voice rises again, sharp and cold: “You are disgracing this entire kingdom.”

But Kit isn’t listening. She’s already stepping down, away from the altar. Away from the man. Away from the life they planned for her.

Toward the door. Toward you.

She brushes past the guards like wind. No one dares stop her. Not when she moves like someone who’s already lost everything — and finally has nothing left to fear.