Chapter 7:
Death’s Idea of a Joke: Welcome to Life 2.0, Now Figure It Out
The forest swallowed us whole. Branches whipped past my face as Serine rode ahead, her posture rigid, her little frame almost bouncing with every stride of her mare. The girl was riding like her life depended on it—and, well, maybe it did.
I still couldn’t wrap my head around it. In all the years I’d known Serine, she’d been the picture-perfect lady-in-waiting: following Lyra’s orders to the letter, nagging me about my latest stunt, or—on rare occasions—looking at me like she wanted to throw me out the nearest window. She wasn’t lazy, exactly, but she was safe. Predictable. The kind of person who color-coded her socks and never jaywalked.
And now here she was, breaking palace rules so hard they might write a new law just for her. Helping me escape.
It should have made me suspicious, but honestly, there wasn’t time to overthink it. The urgency in the air was thicker than the mist rising from the forest floor. Sure, I cared about staying alive—a lot—but what dug deeper into my gut was the thought of Serine taking the fall for this. This girl I’d watched grow up, who’d somehow carved herself a little space in my very guarded heart, was risking everything for me. And if she paid for it, it would be on my conscience.
I wasn’t about to let that happen.
The path beneath us was narrow and wild, littered with roots and rocks that could trip a careless horse. I knew this forest, though. I’d studied every map I could get my hands on during my years in the palace—geography of the kingdom, the continent, the whole damn world.
“Serine!” I shouted over the pounding of hooves. “If we keep going north through here—”
“I know!” she yelled back before I could finish, her voice sharp, almost drowned out by the relentless rhythm of her horse’s gallop. “But there’s no other way!”
I nodded grimly. She was right. I hadn’t had time to come up with any grand escape plan, but the fact that she had—even if it was reckless—lit a strange little spark of pride in me.
Gods, she was starting to remind me of… me. That was dangerous. And annoying. And maybe just a little heartwarming. My chest tightened in a way I didn’t appreciate, and I had to blink away a suspicious sting in my eyes.
We rode through the night without stopping, the moon sliding across the sky above us, our breath puffing white in the chill air. My thighs ached, my hands were raw from gripping the reins, but we didn’t slow. Not until the first blush of dawn began to filter through the trees.
At last, we broke through the treeline into a clearing. A waterfall spilled into a crystalline pool, its spray catching the pale morning light. The sound was deafening after the quiet menace of the forest.
To the east, the castle—small now in the distance—sat like a sleeping predator we’d just barely escaped. To the west, mountains rose, their jagged peaks cutting the sky, ending in a wide valley that sloped toward the southern desert. And north… beyond the waterfall lay a treacherous climb into the cavern-riddled spine of the Meridional Range. Cross that, and we’d be on the far side of the continent.
Here’s your scene rewritten in English, in Rissa’s first-person voice, with the tone you wanted—her sarcastic edge muted by genuine care, Serine’s devotion clear but without making it sappy.
We sat slumped against the roots of an ancient tree, the bark pressing into my back. The horses were a few steps away, drinking from the shallow edge of the pool. No fire—obviously. If someone was following us, I wasn’t about to announce our location with a nice, warm beacon of light.
We hadn’t spoken much since we’d stopped. Still, I couldn’t shake the question gnawing at me.
I tilted my head toward Serine. “You want to explain how exactly you managed to plan a whole escape route without breathing a word to me first?”
She frowned, clearly offended. “I’m not a child anymore, Rissa. I could see you were in danger. I didn’t need you to spell it out.”
I raised a brow. “Sure. But you realize that put you directly against the Crown? And not just the Crown—against Lyra herself.” I let the name hang between us like a blade. I knew the ladies of the court—Serine included—held the princess in untouchable regard.
Serine’s eyes darkened. “Yes, I’m breaking my vow to the kingdom. For a monster. I know.”
The word hit me harder than I expected. Monster. I’d heard it before, countless times, from all the right mouths. But not hers.
She kept going. “A monster, yes—but a purer one than any human I’ve ever met. A monster who’s cared for me for years. Who’s made me feel like an equal. Who’s simply… loved me.” Her voice wavered, but her gaze stayed locked on mine. “I’ve thought about this a thousand times, Rissa. And I’ve decided—death isn’t worse than living without you.” Her breath broke, and she began to sob.
Before I even thought about it, I lunged forward and wrapped her in my arms. “Thank you for making me realize how important I am to you, Serine. My girl. My little sister.” I held her tight. “But from here on, we’re going to make it look like I threatened you. Kidnapped you. You can’t go down with me. I know what I was born to do—but I’m not dragging you into it, whether it leads to good or bad.”
“No!” she snapped, pulling back just enough to look at me, her face streaked with tears. “You’re always like this—condescending the moment someone tries to get close. You treat everyone like idiots or puppets you could use. Even Lady Lyra… I thought you cared for her. She thought so, too, in her way. I saw how she became obsessed with you. And you—” her voice cracked—“you still spent more intimate time with her than you ever did with me. Tell me, what do I have to do to be like her? If I have to run through a thousand forests at your side, I will!”
I just stared at her, her words sinking in. I had never thought… gods, I had never considered that I might have seduced the girl without meaning to. And she wasn’t exactly a girl anymore. She was the only one I truly cared for. Yes, I’d grown a certain fondness for Lyra, but Serine… Serine was special.
I couldn’t ignore her feelings—not now. So I did the only thing that felt right. I leaned in with a serious expression, pulled her close again, and held her as tightly as I could. She was small enough that her head fit easily against my chest, and she cried until her sobs grew faint and her breathing evened out. Eventually, she fell asleep in my arms.
Ahhh… great, I thought, staring out into the dim forest. Now I’ve got a whole new mess on my hands. The easiest thing would be to leave her here—but the damn girl matters to me. I can’t just abandon her.
Well. Worse situations had happened. Or, as a Spanish ex-lover from my past life used to say, “en plazas peores hemos toreao’.” Cute one, not clever one though. Rich one too, in many ways... I barely blushed remembering.
Without letting myself rest, I gathered the horses, shifted Serine into my lap like the small thing she was, and set us moving again. North, toward the Mist Caves in the shadow of the mountains.
Please log in to leave a comment.