"Surrender to what is, let go of what was, and have faith in what will be."

~Sonia Ricotti

********

Soren

"The prince is getting married in two weeks." Calypso observed one day as we chopped food in the kitchen.

"Good for him." I muttered, focusing a little too hard on cutting the carrots.

"You don't mind?" She asked raising her eyebrows at me in suspicion.

Of course I do, what kind of question is that?

"No," I lied, "I don't. Why should I?"

"Because." She scoffed, setting her knife down. "You're in love."

"We're not in love. I'm leaving and he's getting married, don't you see how problematic that is?"

My throat ached and I knew that I would cry if she kept speaking to me like this. It didn't take much anymore, since Aryan had started ignoring me.

"You are in love. You-"

"I'll lose it, Calypso." I said angrily, my voice dropping low, "If you open your mouth again, if you say his name again, if you mutter one more thing about us being in love, about him getting married, if you bring him up one more time I will lose it, Calypso. And I'm holding a knife, so I'd shut up if I were you."

She went silent for a moment before I heard the sound of a knife on the cutting board again.

Sighing, I resumed cooking.

But my mind wandered to where I hadn't let it before.

I was leaving, and I'd go to another kingdom, but I would never find a home. I would never have the same companionship that I did here. I would never have a...relationship with somebody ever again, not in the same way as I did with Aryan. Right now was lonely, but once I left? Ten times worse. Always missing Aryan, him and his dumb kingdom, his dumb jokes.

"Have you tried talking to him?" She asked out of the blue.

"He doesn't want me to try anymore, he told me. There's no going back from here. What's done is done." I said, my voice sorrowful and shaky.

"Everybody deserves a second chance."

"Not me." I sniffled.

"Yes, Soren. Even you."

********

It was June 5, and the prince was to get married in eight days.

Guests from kingdoms all over arrived on horses, in carriages, some by foot, to see the prince take the throne.

As everyone else entered, I was set to leave.

I had packed whatever belongings I owned and put them in a sack, mounted them on somebody's horse (they wouldn't miss it too much, right?) and prepared to leave.

But something wouldn't let me.

After stalling on the horse for several minutes, I hopped off again and walked towards the castle.

Not wanting to risk anybody seeing me, I slipped in the back door. The same door that Aryan and I had gone through two months ago when I had taken him to the town.

Dinner was already served and on the table upstairs. The kitchen was quiet and empty, all the servants were greeting the guests. Everybody was upstairs, save one person.

The prince.

As I walked in the door, our eyes locked.

"What are you doing here?" I stammered in surprise.

"I don't want to get married." He said. He was sitting on the counter, the way we always did, with tears rolling down his face.

"I... I know." I couldn't say much else.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked through tears as he looked up at me.

"Anything."

"Do you love me?"

A wave of an emotion I couldn't identify washed over me.

It felt like... it felt like the word finally. It felt like happiness and sadness and relief and regret rocking through me, all hitting at once. It felt like closure, an end, and a beginning.

"I have always loved you."

Tears welled up in my eyes, rolled down my face, and my heart raced.

"And I want you to come." I looked at him through soft eyes.

"You want me to come with you? To leave with you?"

"Yes. You don't want to get married, and I don't want to leave without you. Listen, Aryan," I cleared my throat. "I never wanted to leave you, I just needed to leave. Come with me, we can run away. Run off somewhere where your parents won't find you and we can live our own lives, together."

Aryan stared at me for what seemed like forever until he finally spoke up.

"I haven't slept in three weeks. I haven't been right. I haven't smiled and meant it, I haven't felt particularly motivated to live, I haven't felt any good emotions since we stopped talking." Aryan confessed in a tired voice.

"Is that a yes?" My heart rate sped up.

"Yes." He said, smiling through the tears.

The next few minutes went by in a flash. They consisted of Aryan running to his room to grab stuff to sell, me setting up a horse for him, and trying to evade everyone else in the castle.

"You're still here?" A girl's voice said to the both of us as we were about to slip through the door to the stables.

"Calypso." I frowned and turned to face her.

"I guess this is goodbye. Wait," she stuttered, noticing Aryan, "you're leaving too?"

"I'm not marrying Anastasia." He sighed.

"Are you gonna be okay by yourself? Like, here at the castle?" I asked, starting to feel guilty for leaving her all alone.

"I'll be fine. Go, before someone starts looking for the prince." She smiled at me as if to reassure me.

"Thank you for being my friend." I said, pulling her in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed back, before letting me go and pushing me out the door.

"Love you too, Soren."

Once she closed the door behind us, I turned to Aryan.

"Let's go, Romeo."

We mounted our horses and, as silent yet inconspicuous as possible, left the castle grounds.

"Are you going to miss your parents?" I yelled as our horses picked up speed.

"Not as much as I'll enjoy being with you."

We traveled through the woods, breaking the boundaries between this kingdom and the next. It was strange to take this journey with someone else.

It was dark before we took our first pit stop.

"Where exactly are you planning on going?"

"Somewhere far away. Is that okay?" I said to him, smiling as I leaned against a tree.

"It's awesome." He grinned back.

"You won't miss home too much?"

"That wasn't home. Those people weren't my family." He frowned. "I'm finally free now, it feels weird."

"Let's hit the road, we need to get to the next kingdom soon." I said as I mounted my horse.

Aryan followed in suit and our horses fell into a trot beside each other.

"We're going to live normal, right?" He asked as we followed overgrown paths.

"What do you mean? I'd hardly call anything that's happened to us normal." I smirked.

"No castles? No being rich? No people telling us what to do?"

"None of that." I confirmed.

The look on his face was one of contentment, and I knew that, for the first time, I wasn't running away from something; I was running towards something new, with someone new.

My very own Prince Charming.