Her heart beat fast inside her chest. Her palms were sweaty, and there was a clenched and sour feeling in her stomach. She didn’t know when the first time she realized she loved him was. Perhaps it was the day he defended her honor to the other boys at the stable. The ones who always teased her about her dead parents. The ones who teased her for her plain looks and the way her nose was usually in a book somewhere. Perhaps it was the day she cried into his arms after her world burned down around her. It had been her fault, but he had not blamed her. Perhaps it was the side of the man he wouldn’t dare show the rest of the kingdom. There was a softness and an edge he held only for her. He had shown her glimpses of his more vulnerable side, a side a future king should never have. Maybe it was his smell, or touch, or the way his voice danced over her name when he said it. She knew now that she had already fallen under the dark prince’s spell. She had fallen in love with the shadowed man before her. It was too late though. He was leaving for the frontlines once again. She didn’t know if he would come back alive. She clenched her fist, and took a small breath. He was looking at her. It made her heart flutter a moment. She didn’t deserve this chance. She was a commoner, and he, he was the crowned prince of the realm. Their worlds were as far apart as they could be. That didn’t matter right now. She looked up timidly and tried to hold her gaze steady. “Aldren… I…” she shifted over her words, trying to to find the right ones. “Lyrah, what is it? I need to go. If you have noth-“ “I love you.” There, she had said it. Her eyes pinched shut and she clenched her fists. She recoiled inwards from her confession. Her eyes opened again when he began to speak. The silence seemed to last an eternity. “This is not something that can happen. You know this. You have become too dependent on me. It is not love you feel. It is your misplaced feelings of abandonment. You are young and confused, and I do not have time for your foolish notions.” His icy gaze penetrated her defenses. “Y-you’re right, it was foolish. I was wrong, I’m sorry.” She twisted her hands in front her, a nervous habit. She wanted to run, she wanted to escape. She couldn’t get away fast enough. She turned as he reached for her arm. Her legs took her as far and as fast they could from the spot where her heart lain trampled and torn in the dirt between them.