Chapter 57: The Great Escape

Astrid

Sunday evening felt quieter than usual, the dorm hallway mostly empty while Ivy bustled around checking her reflection for the third time in ten minutes.

I wasn’t nearly as excited. I stood in front of the mirror, adjusting the hem of a borrowed dress, wondering whether sneaking off campus to a party some senior organized behind the Headmaster’s back counted as a good decision or a spectacularly bad one.

I’d never been to anything like this. The brothel wasn’t exactly a normal childhood, and Moonshade had already thrown enough at me without adding an unauthorized party to the list. I nearly told Ivy I’d changed my mind.

"You promised," she said, catching my expression in the mirror.

I sighed. I had promised. I’d go.

While I fixed the strap on my shoulder, a thought slipped in uninvited. Would Reed and Xander be there?

I pushed it away immediately. They were seniors. They probably knew half the people going. That didn’t mean anything.

I refused to think about it again.

A knock came at the door. Ivy opened it to two girls I vaguely recognized from around campus.

"So this is the famous roommate," one of them said, looking me over.

"Don’t listen to them," Ivy said quickly.

They clearly knew each other well, teasing back and forth while the taller one, Martha, checked her phone nervously and the shorter one, Camilla, seemed entirely too pleased with the whole plan. They discussed Roshan, the senior who’d organized the thing, and Ivy pulled up his message with the location.

Off campus. My stomach tightened slightly at that.

We left the dorms together, careful and quiet since this wasn’t exactly sanctioned.

"No screaming, no running, no doing anything stupid," Ivy whispered.

"No promises," Camilla said immediately.

We moved through the corridors alongside other students clearly doing the same thing, slipping out through different exits in small groups. There were more of us than I expected. Apparently this wasn’t some tiny secret gathering at all.

I started to relax. For once I was doing something completely ordinary. Not thinking about my mother, the King, the bond, either of the twins. Just a student sneaking out with her friends.

I almost smiled.

We were nearly at the door when I noticed something wrong with my dress, the strap slipping again.

"Seriously?" Ivy said, catching my hesitation.

I told her I couldn’t walk outside like this. Martha and Camilla were already impatient, so Ivy told them to go ahead and wait, and the two of us ducked into the nearest bathroom to fix it.

We got the strap sorted quickly, Ivy checking the hallway while I adjusted the fabric. Everything looked fine.

Then we stepped back out and heard footsteps.

Measured. Unhurried. Coming closer.

Ivy froze. I looked down the corridor and saw Professor Aldrich walking toward us.

Neither of us had time to think. Ivy grabbed my hand and pulled us into the nearest classroom, dark and empty, the door easing shut behind us without a sound.

I pressed against the wall, holding my breath as best I could. Aldrich’s footsteps got closer, then stopped somewhere just outside.

He was on the phone.

At first I didn’t care much beyond being relieved he might stay in the hallway a while longer instead of walking in on us.

Then I heard him say, "Yes, Your Highness."

Everything in me went still.

Your Highness. The words dragged me straight back to that night, my mother’s room, the King’s men, the blood spreading across the floor, my mother’s voice telling me to run.

I’d thought I’d escaped that. What if I hadn’t? What if Aldrich knew who I was? What if the King had sent him here?

My thoughts raced ahead of me, fast and ugly. Ivy noticed something was wrong but didn’t understand why. I couldn’t make a sound to explain.

Aldrich kept talking, though I couldn’t catch most of it, just fragments. A title. Something about the academy. Something I couldn’t quite make out no matter how hard I strained to listen.

I tried telling myself Your Highness didn’t automatically mean the King. There were other royals. Other officials with that title. Plenty of reasons a professor might be on the phone with someone important.

My body didn’t care about logic. For one terrible moment I was certain of it.

They found me.

I thought about my mother. About everything I’d lost already. About what would happen if anyone here learned the truth.

I gripped Ivy’s hand hard. She squeezed back, silent, waiting with me.

The conversation dragged on a little longer, and I still couldn’t piece together who was on the other end. That uncertainty was almost worse than knowing.

Eventually his footsteps moved off, and the hallway went quiet.

I stayed frozen a moment longer before Ivy peeked through the door.

"He’s gone," she whispered, pulling back. "We’re alive."

Martha and Camilla were waiting further down, having doubled back when we hadn’t shown up.

"That was a close one," Ivy said.

Camilla joked about never sneaking out again. Martha wasn’t laughing. She was looking at me.

"Astrid?" she said.

"Hmm?"

She studied my face. "You suddenly look... I don’t know. Are you okay?"

I forced a smile onto my face, quick as I could manage. "I’m fine. Just scared of getting caught."

That seemed believable enough. Ivy gave me a small look but didn’t push, and I was grateful for it.

We started moving toward the exit again, and I tried convincing myself the phone call had meant nothing at all.

I wasn’t sure I believed it.

Outside, other students were already gathering near the treeline, some laughing, some hurrying like they expected a professor to appear any second. The air felt different out here, looser, nothing like the careful order of Moonshade’s halls.

I found myself enjoying it despite everything. Looking around at everyone sneaking off together like this, I felt, for a moment, like I actually belonged among them.

Ivy linked her arm through mine. Martha and Camilla walked ahead, following the directions on Ivy’s phone. My fear from earlier faded a little more with every step we took away from the academy.

We heard the music before we saw anything.

Then we stepped through the gate and I stopped walking entirely.

It was a pool party, lights scattering colors across the water, students everywhere, dancing, sitting along the edges, laughing in loose clusters with drinks in hand. I’d never seen anything like it. The brothel had parties too, but they’d been nothing like this, adults drinking for their own private, complicated reasons.

This was different. These were just students having fun.

"Come on," Ivy said, grabbing my hand.

I laughed and let her pull me forward, looking around at everything. For the first time in days I wasn’t thinking about the bond. Wasn’t thinking about the twins. Wasn’t thinking about the King.

I was just overwhelmed by how much fun everyone seemed to be having.

Someone handed me a drink, and I took it without asking what was in it. Ivy disappeared into the crowd. Martha and Camilla followed a moment later.

I took another step forward.

Someone brushed against my shoulder.

I turned.

My foot slipped.

My balance went out from under me, my drink flying from my hand, and I felt myself falling backward.