The castle corridors were quiet, but the air felt wrong.
A faint tremor of magic — old, familiar, and hated — crawled along the stone walls.
Ren felt it before anyone else.
He stood at the balcony outside his study, his gaze sharp as he stared at the far garden where the morning sunlight touched the roses.
"The scent came again," he murmured, voice low.
Footsteps approached behind him.
Alaric, the magician, stopped a few meters away, as if even he didn't dare stand too close to the prince's mood.
"It's faint," Alaric said quietly. "Barely strong enough to be noticed. But it's the same… as before."
Ren's jaw tightened.
Before.
That word tasted like blood.
He looked down at his hands.
Steady. Controlled.
Like always.
And yet something inside him trembled — an emotion he never allowed himself.
Not fear.
Not regret.
Something far more dangerous.
Hope.
Alaric spoke again, carefully.
"You can still stop it. If you give the order, I'll seal the scent. Erase it before it grows."
Ren didn't answer immediately.
His eyes lowered to the courtyard… where he knew she was right now.
Laughing.
Sneezing.
Complaining about spirits and tea.
Acting like she wasn't carrying the weight of a fate even she didn't know yet.
Ren's fingers curled slightly on the balcony railing.
"No."
Alaric stiffened.
"Ren—"
"It's useless," the prince said softly, eyes darkening.
"The cycle has begun. Whether we want it or not."
Alaric's expression shifted — worry, frustration, fear.
"It doesn't have to end like last time—"
Ren cut him off, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
A smile that wasn't warm.
A smile that was almost heartbreaking.
Almost hopeful.
"But this time," Ren whispered,
"I hope I will win."
Alaric's breath caught.
Ren turned away from the balcony, cloak brushing the floor as he walked past the magician.
"Prepare the wards," he said.
"Someone knocked on her window this morning."
Alaric's eyes widened.
"Already…?"
Ren didn't look back, but his voice lowered into something chilling and gentle at once.
"If the knocking grows louder… that means he is closer."
"And I," Ren murmured,
"won't lose him again."