Rosalind turned her attention toward the two figures seated at the back of the boat and immediately recognized her mother and Mallory. They were both awake now, though clearly disoriented and frightened from everything that had happened to them. Neither of them understood where they were being taken in the middle of the night.

"Mother?" Rosalind hurried toward her at once before crouching in front of her and taking her trembling hands into hers. "It’s alright... we’re safe now," she said softly while gently caressing her hand.

The night around them remained dark, making it difficult to see clearly except for the weak torchlight flickering across the boat, but despite that, the woman immediately recognized her daughter. Her hands trembled more violently as she reached for Rosalind and tried to speak, though the words came out broken and incoherent.

"I know... I know, I’m sorry," Rosalind whispered back quickly, understanding her distress even without fully hearing the words.

By now, Mallory had started piecing together what was happening around her and the moment her eyes fully settled on Rosalind, shock crossed her face instead of relief.

"Rosalind?" she called out in disbelief.

Rosalind turned toward her immediately. "Mallory, are you alright?"

"It can’t be," Mallory muttered, staring at her with confusion and growing alarm. Earlier, she had been dragged out of Calder’s mansion with a sack thrown over her head before being shoved into a carriage. She barely remembered the journey afterward because both she and Beth had already been knocked unconscious. It was only after boarding the boat that the sacks had finally been removed so they could breathe properly again.

"What do you mean?" Rosalind asked carefully.

Mallory frowned at her sharply. "Did you kidnap us?"

Rosalind inhaled deeply before trying to explain herself. "About that... I couldn’t think of another way to get you and mother safely out before the king returned. I wanted all of us to leave together," she explained, though even to herself the words sounded rushed and messy.

"Leave to where?" Mallory questioned incredulously. "And why would you drag us here without our consent?" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Beside them, Beth slowly turned her attention toward Mallory despite still looking weak and shaken. "At least let her explain herself first," she said quietly.

"Explain what?" Mallory snapped immediately, her voice rising as the boat continued across the dark sea.

Neither of the men interfered. One continued paddling steadily while the other kept his eyes turned away from the argument entirely.

Rosalind swallowed hard. She had not expected things to spiral like this. "I planned to escape from the palace," she admitted. "And I knew the king would punish my family if I disappeared alone, so I arranged for both of you to come with me."

"And who told you that you could decide that for me?" Mallory fired back, her eyes widening with fear and frustration. "Do you even understand what you’ve done? If the king catches us, we’ll all be punished for something we had no part in." Her breathing became uneven as panic slowly overtook her. "You should never have dragged me into this."

"But the king would have..."

"Then maybe you shouldn’t have left!" Mallory interrupted sharply.

"Did you truly think you could force me onto a boat and take me somewhere far away to spend the rest of my life hiding?" Her voice shook with emotion now. "I have a life back there, Rosalind. Did you even think about that before doing this?"

Rosalind’s heart sank heavily because the truth was that she had not thought deeply enough about it. In her desperation to protect everyone from Alaric’s wrath, she had only focused on getting them away safely. She had not stopped to think about what Mallory herself wanted.

"I can’t do this," Mallory said suddenly before pushing herself unsteadily to her feet. "I’m leaving."

"Mallory, please listen to me," Rosalind pleaded quickly.

"Enough!" Mallory snapped before stepping onto the edge of the boat, swaying dangerously as she prepared to throw herself into the water.

"We’re too far out already," Rosalind warned in panic. "There’s no way you can swim back safely."

"HELP!" Mallory suddenly screamed into the night.

"Help! I don’t know where they’re taking me!"

Rosalind’s eyes widened in horror. "Mallory, stop!" she cried, but the woman screamed again even louder.

"Help!"

Rosalind looked around frantically, panic rising rapidly inside her chest as she realized another boat was approaching nearby with torches glowing against the darkness.

Before she could react, the man paddling their boat abruptly stopped, stood up and moved toward Mallory. With one quick motion, he struck her hard enough to knock her unconscious before catching her body and lowering her back into the boat carefully. Then he calmly returned to his place and resumed paddling as though nothing had happened.

Rosalind stared at him in shock before whispering quietly, "Thank you."

Yet even as she said it, guilt twisted painfully inside her.

Everything was happening too quickly and for the first time, she truly realized how little she had thought through beyond escaping the palace itself. Perhaps she should have only taken her mother and left Mallory behind entirely.

The approaching boat drew closer.

Immediately, the second man handed Rosalind a shawl to cover her hair while Mallory’s unconscious body was covered as well. Rosalind quickly sat beside Beth, lowering her head slightly as the other boat came alongside them.

"Is everything alright over there?" one of the travelers called out while raising a torch as if trying to look into their boat more clearly.

"Yes, of course," the man holding the torch replied smoothly.

"We heard screams. Did you perhaps hear them too? It sounded like someone was in trouble," the traveler said as his gaze moved carefully over Rosalind, her frail mother, and the two men on the boat.

"It must have come from the other side," the man replied calmly while pointing toward the opposite direction.

"Alright then," the traveler answered, though his attention soon shifted toward the covered figure lying unconscious at the bottom of the boat after stretching far enough to see her. "Is there any problem with that one?"

"She’s exhausted and needs rest," the man answered smoothly.

At last, the traveler seemed satisfied enough to let the matter go. Their boats slowly drifted apart again, though before leaving completely, he cast one final glance toward Rosalind. She quickly adjusted the shawl further over her head until the other boat finally disappeared into the darkness.

Only then did she release a shaky breath of relief.

Turning toward Beth, Rosalind lowered her voice. "I’m truly sorry for doing this, but I wanted to escape. I hate the palace and there was no way I could leave you behind there to suffer."

"I can’t imagine what you’ve been through," Beth managed weakly.

A small smile crossed Rosalind’s face at her words. At least she had escaped alive. For now, that alone felt enough. "But this won’t be easy, Rosalind," her mother added quietly.

Rosalind nodded because she already understood that much herself.

"Where are we going?" Beth asked after a moment.

"Merovia," Rosalind answered softly as the boat continued across the dark waters.

****

By the time Calder stumbled back home later that night, excitement was written all over his face.

"I won... Beth, you wouldn’t believe it, I actually won," he said happily as he entered the house. "After all these days, I’m finally getting my luck back."

The house was quiet, which was normal at that hour, so at first nothing seemed unusual. He assumed his wife had already gone to bed to rest for the night.

Still, as he moved further inside, an uneasy feeling slowly crept into his chest.

Something felt wrong.

The house looked slightly disorganized in a way he was not used to, especially when Mallory always made sure everything stayed in order before leaving for the day.

"Beth?" Calder called out as he walked toward their room.

But when he pushed the door open, the bed was empty and untouched, the sheets cold.

His smile faded immediately.

Perhaps she was somewhere else in the house.

Even though he knew that was unlikely, he still checked every room one after another, only to find no sign of her anywhere.

Calder slowly stopped in the middle of the house, confusion turning into alarm. Before leaving earlier that evening, Mallory had been caring for Beth as usual and afterward she should have returned home once her duties were done. There was no reason either of them would suddenly disappear this late into the night.

Then his eyes moved over the scattered state of the room again and his stomach dropped.

No.

Surely not.

Why would anyone come for Beth of all people?

His heart skipped violently as another thought struck him. He hurried toward the spot beneath the floor where he had hidden his box of gold coins and quickly dug at it.

The moment he realized the box was gone too, all the color drained from his face completely.