So she laced the pastries I loved most with the Barren Elixir, and I never suspected a thing.

"Lola, my stomach hurts so badly. I just swallowed it, there's still time. Please, go find a physician."

She didn't move. My voice cracked raw with panic. "I won't marry you, alright? I won't. I don't want to live like this, worse than death. Once I'm better, I'll leave. I'll go far away. I won't stand in your way, I swear."

No matter how I begged until my throat gave out, Lola didn't flinch.

She held out her arm. "Bite down on me. It won't hurt as much."

I shoved her arm away. "Go find a physician. I'm begging you, Lola."

"Alaric, stop talking nonsense. No royal physician is going to treat someone of your station."

"The drug's already taken hold. It's too late. Just be good. Even if you can never have children again, my child will still call you father."

I gripped her hand so hard my knuckles went white. "Lola, listen to me. I am the Crown Prince. The King's own son. Go find a physician to save me. Now."

But she thought I was lying. She wrenched her hand free, anger flashing across her face.

"You've really disappointed me. There's a limit to how far a lie should go. This is the capital, not some countryside courtyard of yours. One wrong word here can cost you your head."

She flicked her sleeves and turned on her heel.

"It's only barrenness. It won't kill you. Look after yourself."

I watched her walk away, and the last shred of hope inside me died.

I curled into the corner. The feeling below my waist began to fade, replaced by a pain so sharp I could barely breathe.

I would probably never have children again. And the one child I had prayed for day and night turned out to belong to someone else.

I drifted in and out of consciousness through the night. Below my waist, everything had gone numb long ago.

The door burst open with a single kick. Milton Stephens strode in with a handful of guards behind him.

He glanced at me, drenched in blood, then settled himself at the table and poured a cup of tea as though he had all the time in the world.

"Don't blame me. After all, the child in Lola's belly is mine. Can't very well have him calling another man father, can we?"

I braced myself against the wall, barely upright. "So you'd rob me of ever having children again?"

Milton let out a short laugh. "Now that's unfair. Lola was the one who laced the food. Lola was the one who decided you wouldn't keep the child. I merely... mentioned the idea."

I stared at him, nails digging into my palms until I felt skin break.

He rose and walked over to me. "Though, you should count yourself lucky the child isn't yours. Imagine it growing up and calling me 'Father.' How would you stomach that?"

"Bring the tonic over. Make her drink it. Help build up her strength."

The guards pried my jaw open and forced the liquid down my throat. I recognized the taste. Severance Root.

I thrashed, tried to spit it out, but they held me fast, fingers clamped around my face.

Milton crouched in front of me and patted my cheek, slow and deliberate, every touch a humiliation. "Can't have you coveting Lola down the line. Can't have you producing more heirs and stirring up trouble."

"My wedding's in two days. Still need to go try on my Golden Circlet. If you'll excuse me."

As he stood, the jade pendant at his waist swung into view. He made no effort to hide it.

It was Lola's. She had told me it was the only thing her mother left her. And she had given it to Milton Stephens.

He paused at the door, as if just remembering. "Oh, right. Lola transferred the deed to this estate into my name. I hear you're fond of the pastoral life. Just remember, you're living under my roof now. Mind my rules."

My whole body went rigid. When Lola burned down the cottage, she had told me this estate was bought for me. That I could fill it with fruit trees and vegetable gardens.

From the very beginning, she had never intended to give me anything.

"Milton Stephens."

I called after him, my voice scraped hollow.

"Has the young heir ever laid eyes on the Crown Prince?"

Milton froze for a moment. "What, you're going to claim you have some connection to the Crown Prince? The one who barely shows his face in public?"

I let out a bitter laugh. "I've heard he's fond of colored sky lanterns. If we could earn even a smile from him, get him to attend your wedding, wouldn't that be a feather in your cap?"

He looked half-convinced at best. "A lowborn wretch like you would know the Crown Prince's preferences?"

"Believe it or don't. If it turns out to be false, it costs you nothing."

After Milton left, I curled into the corner of the bed. My body burned with fever, and a vicious pain twisted through my lower abdomen, but no one came.

Looking back now, meeting Lola Black was the single greatest regret of my life.

Somewhere in the haze of unconsciousness, I caught a glimpse of the seven-colored lanterns drifting past the window.

Only then did I let myself breathe, and smile.

Long ago, my father and I had made a pact: no matter when or where, if colored lanterns rose into the sky, it meant I was in danger. Someone would come to take me away.

At some point, Lola arrived. She sat at the edge of my bed for a long while.

When she saw me open my eyes, she touched my forehead. "The fever's broken. Come on, sit up and have some porridge."

I dragged myself upright, every joint screaming. "Milton was here. He forced an entire bowl of Severance Root down my throat. Did you know that?"

Lola's expression stiffened. She lowered her gaze. "I knew."

"You knew?"

I fought with everything I had to keep the tears from falling.

She reached for my hand. I pulled away.

"Alaric, he was only protecting himself. If you and I were to have a child someday, where would that leave him and his family? Where would that leave the child? It's only human nature."

I laughed, hollow and sharp. Human nature. What a convenient excuse.

Lola set down the bowl and spoke again. "Milton's been doubled over with stomach pains ever since he got home. It's possible some dark energy from you affected him..."

She trailed off, watching me, choosing her next words carefully.

"There's a venerable monk at Everhold Abbey. I need you to go to him, have him perform a cleansing rite for you, and then climb every one of the nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine steps of the Celestial Stairway on your hands and knees to obtain a blessing charm for Milton. Do that, and we can put this whole matter behind us. All right?"

I stared at her, my eyes burning red.

"Lola Black, you and I are finished. If you want a blessing charm, go get it yourself."

I forced my battered body off the bed, trying to leave this wretched place.

But Lola blocked my path.

She ordered her servants to drag me away. They ignored my struggling, threw me onto a horse, and rode hard to the foot of Everhold Abbey.

"Take him up the mountain."

Two guards seized me, one on each side. I hauled my broken body forward, one step, one bow, one step, one bow.

Two days without food or water, freshly poisoned and wounded. I passed out and came to and passed out again along the way.

I have no memory of how I obtained the blessing charm. All I know is that the moment I saw Lola waiting at the bottom, my legs gave out and I collapsed.

She caught me and gathered me into her arms.

"Alaric, you've suffered so much. I promise, even after I marry Milton, you'll be the only one in my heart."

I closed my eyes slowly. Three days ago, I might have believed those words. Now they made my stomach turn.

"You have your blessing charm. Let me go."

But she ignored my plea and had me carried back to the cottage.

"Alaric, don't be stubborn. Tomorrow is my wedding. Milton has agreed to let you keep living in the cottage afterward. You'll stay out of each other's way. All right?"

Before she left, she added one last instruction: "The Crown Prince may attend the ceremony tomorrow. Stay in the cottage and don't cause trouble."

Shortly after she was gone, my father's covert agents found me.

I looked in the direction she had disappeared, then at this cottage that had never truly been mine, and a quiet smile crossed my lips.

Tomorrow, I hope you have no regrets.

On the morning of the wedding, the Stephens residence was draped in crimson silk, every corner bursting with celebration. Lola stood shoulder to shoulder with Milton in her bridal gown, radiant in red.

The ceremony was about to begin when a voice rang out from beyond the gates: "His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, has arrived!"