The next morning, Rowan sat up in her bed. Quinn was asleep beside her, and a small smile crossed her face. Her sister had begged to hear the stories of her adventures, so Rowan had dedicatedly explained as many as she could before they both dozed off.

       Kaizen had confronted Adeline with his accusations, but she completely denied having any idea what they were talking about. She had also denied finding Kaizen's message on the carrier bird, saying no such bird ever arrived.

       With no evidence to prove her wrong, they had all been forced to let her go. But still, Rowan was relieved she hadn't been alone that night, fearing she wouldn't have woken up at all with Adeline lingering in the castle.

       Rowan vanished into the bathroom, finding the shower to feel absolutely delightful. The warm water cascading down her back felt amazing, and though brushing her tangled hair proved to be a challenge, it felt amazing once it had been dried and finished. The fresh clothing made her realize how much she'd hated being in filthy, mud stained clothes.

       By the time she emerged from the bathroom, she felt amazing. And she was glad to find her shoulder no longer ached unless she flexed it or exerted her muscles in any way. Rowan found herself enjoying soft carpet beneath her feet instead of rocky dirt or burr-filled grass, and the clean smell of food filled her nose as she slipped out of her room.

       The adventure had been amazing. She had been happy to have one before her time, but she tried not to think of that. Today was her last. But she was going to treat it like it was her best.

       "Rowan!" A voice barked behind her, and she turned to see Adeline behind her with a load of clothes, "Take these to the maids. Just because it's your last day doesn't mean you can get out of chores."

        Rowan smiled serenely at her, shrugging, "I don't really want to." She turned her back, running away before Adeline could grab her. She leapt onto the staircase railing, sliding down on it before landing on a thick red carpet. She was surprised at not falling once, but her moment was ruined as she tripped and fell hard towards wooden floors.

       She was caught in familiar arms and looked up to see Kaden grinning down at her, "For a moment, I was impressed," he teased, "Then you fell." She rolled her eyes, elbowing his stomach, but he dropped her to the floor.

       "Ow."

       "Sorry."

        "No, you're not."

       "You're right, I'm not," Kaden laughed, so she swiped her leg under his feet, tripping him up. He crashed down on top of her, but she brought her knees up to skewer his gut. He rolled off of her with an exclamation of pain, and she laughed.

       "Sorry yet?" Rowan teased, rolling onto her hands and knees to look down at him. He sat upright with a hasty nod, and she sat back.

       "So, uh," Kaden rubbed the back of his neck, "So what's the plan for today? I mean, it's your-" he broke off as she shook her head.

       "Nope. I'm not going to worry about anything today," she said adamantly, "If it happens, it happens. I don't care. But today better be awesome. Though how's your arm? I heard you got shot..."

        "Just a scratch," he drew up his sleeve to show her, "It's already scabbed over. It should barely leave a scar."

        "Rowan!" She heard Adeline scream from upstairs, and she sprang to her feet, "Ah! Here she comes! You want to escape with me?"

       "Yeah, she's scary," Kaden accepted the hand that tugged him to his feet, and they raced down a hallway. They had barely run far before they were tackled by Aliyah, who seemed delighted to see them.

        "Kaden! Rowan! Hi!" Her smile covered more than half of her face as she beamed at them, "Can you believe they let me have a room here? This place is amazing! And the bed was so cozy!"

        Rowan laughed, "Hey, we're escaping Adeline. Wanna join?"

      "Totally!" Aliyah followed them down the hall way into their family's dining hall. Rowan kicked open the door like a super ninja, just because it was something she had always wanted to do. The large set of double doors always got wedged and required a good shove anyway, plus they were light and swung open at high speeds once they were no longer wedged. When the door burst open, she stifled a laugh at her father's face.

       "Sorry," she shrugged, "I had to." She sat down at the table, Kaden and Aliyah hesitating until she gestured towards their extra chairs, then they sat down. She looked up to her father, "Good morning."

       "Happy birthday," King Alden spoke in a tense voice, and she could see the pain in his eyes. All he was thinking about was how he was about to lose her, though he didn't want to remind her again.

        "Thank you,"Rowan smiled, shoveling a mouthful of eggs into her mouth, "Mm, these are wonderful! Tell the cooks they're awesome once I'm gone." She missed the worried look Kaden gave her as she looked down at her eggs again.

       "Lord Kaizen stayed the night here," Alden said, and Rowan sprayed her milk everywhere. She had always wanted to do that too. Her father rolled his eyes as she exclaimed, "WHAT?!!"

       "Kaizen stayed the night," he repeated, "He wanted to see you the morning. I don't know how you've done it, but he has told me that he loves you."

       Her face slowly flushed red as she sank down in her seat, "D-did he?"

        Her father nodded, "He doesn't even give Quinn a second glance, as I've seen many married men do, but his eyes rarely leave you unless he's talking to someone else."

         "You didn't know this?" Aliyah stared at Rowan with a weird look on her face, "Ro, he is absolutely head over heels in love with you!"

       "He barely knows me," Rowan shrugged this off, trying to act casual as she stabbed her eggs with her fork, "I mean, he's really cool, but..."

       There was a knock on the door, and Kaizen entered. He was accompanied by a tall black man with a thick mess of black hair scattered across his head. He bowed low as he introduced himself as Isaiah, and Rowan found Kaizen grinning at her.

        "Hello, again," he said, "I have a surprise for you. Consider it a birthday present, if you will."

       "Oh, what?"

        "I can't tell you, it's a surprise. Would you like to come and see it?" He offered her his hand, and she took it without hesitation.

      "Heck yeah," she left the table with a glance back at her father, "I'll be right back, I promise. You guys just wait here."

        "Okay," Aliyah swallowed a mouthful of scrambled eggs, then sang after her, "Have fun with Kaizen!"

       Rowan rolled her eyes, but followed Kaizen and Isaiah out of the room.

     "Where are we going?" She felt compelled to ask as they walked out of the front doors, heading towards the forest.

        "The forest," Kaizen replied, "I want to show you something."

        Rowan followed them farther into the forest, enjoying the familiar trees and fresh breezes that washed over her face, "It's beautiful out here."

       Kaizen nodded, but held a finger to his lips to warn her to be quiet. Then he crouched down behind a bush, crawling forward to peer through the branches. He pulled some down to make a hole they could peer through, and Rowan's eyes widened.

        A small cluster of deer laid in a dip of the forest, a small clearing with a tiny stream trickling to it. The clearing itself was beautiful, lined with flowers and branching trees of different colors. But the deer were just as breath taking. There were four female deer, a large buck with an impressive rack of antlers, and a tiny, speckled fawn.

      Her eyes widened as she took in the beautiful picture, admiring the soft brown color of their fur, the magnificence of the buck, and the cuteness of the wobbling fawn. She admired them for a long moment, not realizing she was holding her breath until her lungs ached. She looked to Kaizen, who was smiling at her with a hopeful expression on his face.

        "You like it?" he whispered, and she nodded wordlessly. Then she slowly got to her feet, walking at a careful pace towards them. "Hey, careful! You don't want to scare them!"

         But the deer didn't seem to mind her approach, looking up at her curiously. Rowan reached out a hand slowly towards one of the deer, who turned its attention back to the soft, green grass.

         Rowan rested her hand on its shoulder, gently running her fingers through the coarse fur, "I have a gift, from fairies," her voice was soft like her touch so she wouldn't scare the deer, "They made me good with animals. And I think I like that better than gifts of beauty or grace."

         Kaizen slowly stood up too, and Rowan said quiet words to reassure them as Kaizen moved slowly towards her. The deer she was petting eased away as he got nearer, but she didn't mind.

        "I've never been this close before," Kaizen kept his voice low as a deer looked up.

        "Neither have I," Rowan said, gesturing for him to sit down. Once they had done so, she called towards the little fawn. It's curiosity lured it closer, though the mother kept it from getting within arm's reach.

        "You're magical," Kaizen decided as the deer began to drift off, and she smiled.

        "Thank you for showing these creatures to me," she looked up at him, "How did you know they were here?"

       "Isaiah found them, and I wanted to show you," he replied, giving her a quirky smile she had seen practically duplicated on Kaden's face, "So is it a good present?"

       Rowan smiled again, "It was stunning, and quite possible the best I've had. Thank you."

       He grinned, "Then let's get back to your castle, shall we?"