Elara's pov
We walked for another hour in silence. The mist started to lift slightly. The grey sky got a bit lighter. But it never cleared.
My mind churned the whole time. Thinking about what I'd learned. About what I needed to do when I got back.
The hinterlands had given me what I came for. I'd seen the truth. Seen how my people actually lived. Seen the suffering that reports and council meetings had hidden from me.
But it had also taken more than I'd expected.
My sense of safety. My naive belief that I could move freely among my people. My foolish hope that distance from the palace meant distance from danger.
All of it gone. Stripped away by a hand over my mouth and a calm voice promising death.
"You can't tell anyone," I said finally.
Kaelen stopped walking. Turned to face me. "What?"
"About what happened," I said. "Last night. The man in the house. You can't tell anyone when we get back."
His jaw tightened. "That is not your decision alone."
"It is," I said. "I'm the queen. This is my choice to make."
"And I'm your guard," he said, his voice hard. "My job is to protect you. That means informing the Captain of the Guard. The council. Everyone who needs to know that someone got close enough to put their hands on you."
"If you do that, it will cause panic," I argued. "Don't you see? If word spreads that someone reached me out there, that someone got past all our precautions and put a hand over my mouth, it will confirm weakness. The court will fracture. Malakor will use it against me."
"Malakor will use everything against you," Kaelen shot back. "That's what he does. But this is your safety we're talking about. Your life."
"My reputation is my life," I said. "If I return home looking weak and frightened, if I admit that someone nearly killed me while I was out playing peasant, I'll lose what little authority I have. They'll say I'm too young. Too reckless. Too foolish to rule."
"You are young," Kaelen said. "You are reckless. And yes, this was foolish. But you're also the queen. And someone wants you dead. That matters more than your pride."
"It's not about pride!" I said, my voice rising. "It's about power. Political power. If the council sees me as weak, they'll take more control. Malakor will push harder for that marriage. They'll use this against me in every decision I try to make."
Kaelen was quiet for a moment. His eyes searched my face. "So you want to keep it secret. Pretend it never happened."
"Yes," I said. "Just for now. Just until I can figure out who's behind this and why. Once I know who wants me dead, then we can deal with it properly. But not before."
"And if the attacker strikes again before then?" he asked. "If he gets to you in the palace? What then?"
"Then I will face it," I said quietly. "But not as a rumor-ridden queen limping home in fear. Not as someone everyone already sees as weak."
He stared at me for a long time. I could see the war in his eyes. The guard who wanted to protect me at any cost. The man who understood politics and power. The person who knew I was right even though he hated it.
"Very well," he said at last. His voice was tight. Controlled. "But this stays between us only until I determine whether silence puts you in greater danger."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"It means if I see any sign that keeping quiet is going to get you killed, I'm telling Captain everything," he said. "Whether you like it or not. Understood?"
It wasn't perfect. It wasn't what I wanted. But it was something.
"Understood," I said.
He turned and started walking again. I followed, feeling both relieved and terrified.
We'd made a deal. A compromise. The kind of calculation rulers always made, whether they admitted it or not.
Hide the truth to protect the image. Hope the silence didn't cost more than the revelation would.
I just prayed it was the right choice.
The hours passed slowly. We stopped once to eat. Once to rest. But mostly we just walked.
The road seemed longer going back. Maybe because I knew what waited at the end of it. The palace. The council. Malakor. All of it pressing down on me again.
Out here, at least, I'd been free of that weight. Even with the danger. Even with the fear.
But now I was going back to it willingly.
Because that's what queens did. They faced things. Even when they were terrified.
The sun started to set. Or rather, the grey sky started to get darker. We still couldn't see the actual sun through the clouds.
And then, through the mist and the growing darkness, I saw it.
The palace.
Rising up in the distance. White stone walls. Tall towers. The whole massive structure sitting on the hill like it owned the world.
Home.
Except it didn't feel like home anymore. It felt like something else.
A fortress. A prison. A place where I could hide behind walls and guards and pretend I was safe.
Even though I knew better now.
Kaelen stopped walking and looked at it with me. "There it is," he said quietly.
"Yeah," I whispered. "There it is."
I should have felt relief. Should have felt glad to be back. Safe behind walls. Protected.
But all I felt was weight.
The weight of the crown. The weight of decisions I didn't know how to make. The weight of secrets I was keeping. The weight of threats I couldn't see but knew were coming.
The weight of everything pressing down on my chest until I could barely breathe.
I'd left the palace thinking I could escape it. Could be free, just for a little while.
But the palace had never let me go. The crown had followed me everywhere.
And now I was returning to it. Not because I wanted to. But because I had no other choice.
The third attempt was coming. Whether I was behind walls or not. Whether I was ready or not.
And when it came, I would have to face it.
Alone in a crowd. Unprotected despite the guards. Vulnerable despite the crown.
I felt the weight return, heavier than ever before.
And I knew it would never leave again.