Chapter 15: Leap Into the Unknown

“I am thirsty,” I said, trying to keep my tone casual despite the violent pounding inside my chest. “And I want my original clothes back. There is something important left there. Can you get them for me?”

The two maids exchanged another glance. Their hesitation was obvious. They were clearly uncertain whether granting my request was worth the risk of leaving me unattended even for a short while. Reign had trained everyone in this place too well. No one moved without first measuring whether I could become a problem.

A sharp gust of wind swept across the terrace and struck my bare legs, sending cold crawling upward through my skin. I wrapped my arms around myself and glanced down at my knees, which had already turned pinkish from the night air. The chiffon dress clinging to me was too thin, too delicate, and far too inconvenient for what I was trying to do. I should have changed into something practical. I should have prepared while there was still daylight. But regret would not create another opportunity, and if I failed to act tonight, I had no certainty that Reign would leave me this much breathing room again.

After several moments, the maid on the left finally answered, “We can get those for you, Miss, but you will need to wait inside.”

I furrowed my brows. “Why?”

“To ensure that you do not attempt anything.”

I gave a short sarcastic laugh and unfolded my arms. “Attempt what? Escape? From this height? I do not even know where I am, and unless you think I suddenly grew wings, I doubt I can go very far.”

Neither of them reacted. They simply maintained their bowed heads, composed and annoyingly unreadable.

I could feel irritation building hotter inside me. Even without being physically present, Reign still seemed to control every direction I turned. Every servant watched me with the same caution. Every request passed through the same invisible approval of his authority. I hated how thoroughly trapped he had made me feel.

My sister’s face flashed across my mind, and the anger instantly sharpened into urgency. By now she had to be worried sick. She might be searching every place she knew, waiting by the door, refusing to eat, crying herself into exhaustion. I had spent years making sure she never felt abandoned in this world, and the thought of her being left alone while I remained imprisoned here made my throat tighten painfully.

The maid on the right spoke this time. “Please wait here, Miss. We will call someone to watch over you while we retrieve what you asked for.”

I lowered my eyes and forced my expression to remain neutral. That was enough. Whether they called someone or not, they still had to leave this terrace first, and even a few seconds without them directly beside me could be enough if I moved fast.

I gave them a silent nod.

Both maids bowed and turned around before walking quickly through the glass doors. The moment their footsteps faded deeper into the hall, every muscle in my body moved on instinct.

I ran.

The grass beneath my shoes bent under the force of my steps as I rushed straight for the railing. My hands caught the cold iron, and without allowing fear enough time to argue, I climbed. One foot pressed against the lower support, then the other, and within moments I had hauled myself high enough that my body was balancing dangerously above the dark drop beyond the terrace.

My breathing turned rough.

I looked over my shoulder once and found the terrace empty.

No voices.

No maids.

No one.

When I turned back toward the darkness below, the wind hit my face harder. Strands of hair whipped across my eyes, and my fingers tightened painfully around the iron. Beneath me stretched a black uncertain depth interrupted only by the vague shapes of treetops and pieces of lower stone structures. My whole body had begun trembling. The height was worse from here. It no longer looked like an idea. It looked like death waiting patiently below.

I swallowed and forced air into my lungs.

If I stayed, Reign would return.

If Reign returned, every possible path would close.

And if I lost this one chance, I would have to live with the knowledge that I had stood at freedom’s edge and chosen fear instead.

That was unacceptable.

I shut my eyes briefly, pictured my sister’s face, then opened them again and let go.

The world dropped beneath me so fast that I could not even scream at first. Wind slammed into my body as branches whipped across my arms and shoulders. Leaves exploded around me while I crashed through the upper crowns of the trees below. I instinctively reached for anything I could catch, but every branch snapped past my fingers before I could hold it. My stomach lurched violently, my breath tore out of me, and panic surged through every inch of my body as I kept falling.

Then the ground struck.

My feet hit first, and pain shot upward with such force that a scream ripped from my throat. The impact sent me tumbling sideways across damp grass and exposed roots until my body finally stopped. For a few seconds I could do nothing but gasp and clutch at the earth beneath me while agony pulsed through both legs.

Tears burned my eyes, but I bit my lip hard enough to stop them from spilling. My palms dug into the grass as I fought to steady my breathing. Everything hurt. My ankles, my knees, my shoulders, even my ribs from the violent collision with branches. Yet beneath all of that pain, one stunned realization slowly surfaced.

I had survived.

A shaky breath escaped me as I pushed myself into a sitting position. I was outside the mansion. Bruised, aching, and possibly injured worse than I could tell yet, but outside. Reign’s terrace was no longer above my head. No servant stood watching me. No double doors enclosed me.

That fragile relief lasted only until faint lights began drifting around me.

I lifted my head and watched dozens of fireflies float between the darkness of the trees, their tiny yellow glow slowly illuminating the surroundings. As more of the forest came into view, the relief inside me thinned into disbelief. Massive trunks surrounded me from every direction, ancient and impossibly wide, their branches stretching so high overhead that the night sky disappeared behind them. Thick roots crawled across the ground like twisted veins, while dense shrubs and layers of fallen leaves filled every visible space. I turned slowly, searching for anything that resembled a path, a road, a fence, or even distant lights from the mansion, but there was nothing except endless woodland and the looming presence of giant sequoias towering over me like silent guards.

My breathing faltered as the full truth settled in. I had succeeded in escaping Reign’s mansion, only to throw myself into the middle of a forest vast enough to lose me before dawn. The realization sat heavily in my chest, and a weak laugh slipped from my lips because the cruelty of it was almost absurd. Every desperate attempt I made to break free seemed determined to push me from one prison into another.