The room had fallen into a heavy silence by evening. Elira hadn't touched the food left earlier. She'd paced for hours, stared out the window, tugged at the locked door once again.
No answer. No explanation. Just... silence.
Until—
SLAM!
The door burst open, slamming into the wall with a thunderous crash.
Elira jumped up from the couch, startled—and furious.
Prince Elric stood in the doorway, no cloak, no royal calm—just storm.
His silver eyes burned with fury.
"What the hell were you thinking?" he snapped, stepping inside and slamming the door shut behind him.
"What?" she blinked, stunned by his sudden rage.
"You ran. Out of the palace. In the middle of the night. Into the cursed forest." His voice was sharp, controlled—but cracking. "You could've been killed, Elira!"
"You don't get to barge in here and yell at me like I'm your property!"
"I saved you!" Elric snapped.
"I didn't ask you to!"
"You would've died out there—"
She cut him off, voice rising into a scream:
"You didn't save me — that beast did!"
Silence fell.
A tense, awful, cutting silence.
Elric's face went completely still.
Elira, breathing hard, barely noticed the flicker of pain that crossed his eyes.
"He—it—came out of nowhere and tore those monsters apart to protect me. Not you. That thing risked its life to save mine. What were you doing? Sitting on your throne deciding how to control me next?"
His jaw tightened, but he said nothing.
She didn't know.
And that truth struck him harder than her words ever could.
Elric's fists clenched. "That's not what this is about."
She laughed bitterly. "Oh really? Because from where I'm standing, it looks a lot like control. You announce we're getting married without asking me, you lock me in your room, and you get mad when I try to escape? You don't own me, Elric!"
His eyes narrowed. "I never said I did."
"You didn't have to," she spat. "Every time you make a decision for me, every time you trap me behind these doors like some... some prisoner wrapped in silk, it screams that you do!"
He moved closer, voice low. "I was trying to protect you."
"I didn't ask for your protection!" she screamed, tears finally pricking the corners of her eyes. "I didn't ask for any of this! I don't belong here—I don't want your kingdom or your curse or your crown!"
"Elira—"
"I'm going home!" she said, voice breaking. "I don't know how yet, but I will. I will find that mirror, I will tear this palace apart if I have to, and I will go back to where I belong!"
His expression flickered—pain, guilt, maybe something deeper. But it vanished just as quickly beneath his usual hard mask.
"You think you know what you want," he muttered.
"I do," she hissed.
He stepped even closer, inches from her face, eyes unreadable. "Then why did you look back when you ran?"
She froze.
"What?"
"In the forest," he whispered. "You looked back. Before I found you."
Her lips parted, but no sound came.
Because he was right.
She had looked back.
Just for a moment.
But that didn't mean she forgave him.
"I looked back," she said quietly, "to see if I was being followed."
"By me," he said, voice almost soft now. "And you were."
Elira's chest rose and fell with fury, confusion, hurt.
"I hate you," she whispered. "I hate how you twist everything."
He stared at her for a long moment.