Prologue
Valentina was tired of living a life that never felt like hers. The palace called her a princess, but she had never felt the freedom that word promised. Her days had been shaped by rules, scripts, and expectations so strict that sometimes she forgot where the palace ended and she began.
Deep down, she kept waiting for a moment where she could finally breathe, finally choose, finally be something more than the perfect image her parents adored.
Today was her eighteenth birthday. Supposedly, it was the day she would step into her destiny. She should have wished for an escape or a sliver of space to find out who she was beneath the crown, but she couldn’t. Not after Elijah walked away from his arranged marriage.
She couldn’t be the second child to break tradition. Freedom had always felt close enough to dream about but never close enough to reach.
As Clara and the other maids prepped her for the day, Elijah stepped inside the room. Valentina saw him in the mirror before she heard him.
“You’re staring,” she said.
“Should I be flattered or concerned?”
Elijah didn’t answer her.
Instead, he just folded his arms.
“I heard what you’re planning to wish for. Was it a husband?”
Valentina laughed.
“It’s what’s expected of me. Sooner or later, it’s bound to happen. It’s what our parents would have wanted.”
Elijah studied her reflection as if trying to figure out what she wasn’t saying.
After a long moment of silence, her mother entered the room just as Elijah slipped out. Her eyes lit up the moment she saw her daughter.
“By the stars, Valentina,” she said, one hand pressed to her chest.
“You look absolutely radiant.”
Valentina rose, smoothing the gown that made her feel more like a statue than a girl.
“Thank you, Mother.”
“Tell me, my dear, what will you wish for on this special day?”
Valentina met her mother’s gaze and smiled sweetly.
“I suppose I assumed I’d get a husband for my eighteenth-year gift?”
Her mother blinked, then let out a soft, delighted laugh.
“Oh, my darling girl. I had a feeling you’d say that.”
Later, the family gathered at the grand entrance to welcome their guests, with Valentina standing just behind her parents and brother.
“King Edmund, Prince Leo,” Valentina’s father said warmly as they entered.
He gestured beside him.
“My wife, Queen Adriana,” then to Elijah, “and my son, Prince Elijah.”
They all exchanged polite bows.
“Now, I present to you my daughter,” her father continued, stepping aside.
“Princess Valentina.”
She stepped forward and curtsied gracefully before them.
As they sat down at the tea table, their families slipped away into the adjoining meeting room. Prince Leo leaned back slightly, smiling at one of the maids. The maid smiled back.
“Friendly staff you have here,” he said. Valentina giggled softly as he set the cup down.
“They’re polite to everyone,” she replied.
He smiled faintly.
“You must be incredibly delighted to become queen.”
Valentina took a small sip of her tea.
“I’m excited and ecstatic,” she said.
They both sat there in silence for a moment.
“I’d be delighted to hear about your plans for policy once you take the throne,” Valentina said lightly.
Prince Leo laughed, the sound sudden and light. When he caught the seriousness in her expression, he straightened.
“Oh, wait. You were serious?”
Valentina nodded. For the first time, Prince Leo seemed unsure of what to say.
Back in Valentina’s chambers, Clara brushed her hair as Valentina stared out the window, lost in thought.
“Why don’t you just tell the king that you don’t fancy him?” Clara asked gently.
Valentina’s gaze shifted to the mirror, locking eyes with Clara through the reflection.
“You of all people should know why I can’t do that.”
Part of it was the fallout between Elijah and Princess Adeline, but more than anything, it was because of duty. Ever since she was a little girl, her mother had taught her what it meant to be a proper princess.
“As a proper princess,” her mother would say, “you will not offer opinions, you will not draw attention. You will not bring about scandal, and you will not raise your voice. You will be the essence of modesty and self-effacement.”
Valentina sighed, her voice barely above a whisper.
“I just wish I’d be offered some freedom before I get married,” she said.
“I know there’s a life beyond being a princess.”
Valentina sat on her bed, looking at photos of Halston Academy. Elijah leaned against the window, arms folded.
“So, you’re really doing it,” he said, voice low.
“You’re actually using your birthday wish to attend Halston.”
Valentina looked up.
“Why do you sound like that’s a crime?”
“Because it is,” he muttered. “or it might as well be. Mother and Father will never allow it. You belong here, Val. This is where you’re safe.”
She smoothed her skirt, forcing calm.
“Safe isn’t enough.”
“Yes, it is,” he shot back, sharper than before.
“Safety is all that matters. Out there, people won’t understand you. They won’t protect you. They’ll tear you apart the second they smell a secret.”
She tried to speak, but he kept going.
“You think you’re ready, but you’re not. Halston isn’t some dream waiting for you to claim it. It’s the real world, and the real world doesn’t care who you are.” Valentina’s shoulders stiffened.
“Elijah—”
“No,” he said, stepping closer.
“Don’t chase something that isn’t meant for you. Don’t run toward a life that will only hurt you. Stay where you’re supposed to be. Where things make sense.”
She didn’t answer. He exhaled, softer now, but no less firm.
“I know you want more,” he said. “but wanting something doesn’t mean it’s possible. Not for people like us.”
Valentina swallowed.
“I’m still going.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, frustrated but resigned.
“Fine, but don’t expect it to work out.”
Her breath hitched, but she held her ground.
“I’m not asking you to save me.”
“Good,” he said. “because saving you from yourself isn’t possible.”
He started for the door, pausing only once.
“Val?” he said without turning around.
“If you see me at school… pretend you don’t know me. The last thing you need is people realizing you’re chasing something you shouldn’t.”
Elijah started for the door, then glanced back with a faint smile.
“Happy birthday, little sis,” he said, and left her standing by the window, her reflection already imagining the life she was about to steal for herself.
As her brother left, she realized that this wasn’t as easy as she thought. She thought that she and Elijah would do this together, but it seems like she’ll have to do this on her own.
