Eden had fallen into a daze, merely going through the motions of her day. She couldn’t focus on her grandmother’s journals and didn’t seem to have it in her to make the walk down to the lake to even attempt to meditate. Mostly, she stayed in her room, lounging about and staring into space as her mind played her date with Levi on repeat. As if things couldn’t have gotten worse.

When her cousins came to her room, for just a split second, she felt relieved to have a distraction. The relief instantly flushed from her body upon hearing what the activity was. They were going into the city to meet with a wedding planner. If Eden hadn’t been as mature as she was, they would have had to drag her out of her room. However, she obediently stood, dressed for the outing—not caring enough to take notice of what she picked to wear—and tied her hair up in a bun.

Ivy, Fiona, and Jeanette chatted excitedly as they walked through the estate and to the driveway. When a door was held open for Eden to get in, she put a hand up. “While I appreciate it, I think I’ll just follow in my car.”

The three cousins, who looked remarkably alike, exchanged concerned looks before nodding and getting into their car. They knew better than to fight with Eden. What mattered was that she was agreeing to go on the absurd outing, and that would keep them out of trouble with Carlyle.

Eden sauntered over to the garage and pressed the button to open the wide, automatic doors. It was the family car collection; the only people who had rights to their personal cars were the Tallants themselves. Plucking her keys off the rack, Eden strolled over to her white BMW and climbed inside. She inhaled the scent of the luxurious leather and fresh linen air freshener. It had been a while since she had gone for a drive, and she was looking forward to it.

Revving the engine, Eden followed behind her cousins at a leisurely pace. She yearned to drive around them and speed off into the distance, but she knew she would be followed and dragged back into their plans. It was better to simply play along and get it over with. She rolled the windows down, closing her eyes for just a moment to enjoy the feeling of the breeze. She also turned up the radio. She hadn’t kept up with music since the Jazz era, but she didn’t care. She liked the way the stereo blared out her relentless thoughts. For the first time in a long time, she was in the moment, not constantly weighed down by the future.

It was thirty minutes of tranquility. When she put the car in park outside of the wedding planner’s office, Eden sank into her seat. Closing her eyes, she took in deep breaths and told herself to just go through the motions. She had to, and there was no point of pitching a fit over it, though she was sure that there would be a couple of instances where her mouth would get the best of her. Her cousins would act like Disney characters and almost faint from her saying something out of line. The women of the Kingdom were held to a different standard than the men, especially the royal women.

Before she thought too much about it, Eden forced herself out of the car. Her three cousins swarmed her like gnats, gabbing excitedly about the day to come. Eden brought a chill into the room with her, forcing herself into a state of nothing more than existing. She sat properly: legs crossed at the ankles, face forward, and eyes focused on a spot in space.

The wedding planner came out into the spacious office and splayed binders full of different venues and styles for décor. All of the women around her discussed each with enthusiasm and interest, and Eden imagined herself in the water of the lake. When it came to finally asking questions, her cousins and the wedding planner had to call out to her multiple times. Eden remained beneath the surface of the water, only bringing herself out of the trance enough to hear and reply blankly.

Sadly, with her lack of sleep, her trick didn’t work for very long. Soon, their incessant chatter was full volume and at the forefront of Eden’s mind. She groaned inwardly, knowing that she was screwed when it came to escaping the day in her own capacity. She was then barraged with question after question. Playing her part, she kept her composure and bottled up every ounce of frustration that coursed through her veins.

At a certain point, Eden tried to participate in the conversation, but found herself irritated by the immense and unnecessary details that went into planning “the wedding of the millennia.” The colors of a royal wedding were traditionally blood red and ivory. Do you want roses or red orchids? How about jasmines or peonies? How do you feel about lilies? Should the centerpieces be lush and full, or minimalistic? You know, minimalism is very “in” right now.

Eden desperately wanted to pull her hair out and viciously scrape the flesh from her porcelain face every time her senseless cousins giggled girlishly over some insignificant aspect of the event to come. The ceremony could be held in an alleyway next to a dumpster, for all Eden cared. In fact, she may have taken more interest in the occasion if that were the case. She would have scouted dutifully for the alleyway that best matched her dismay. That was where her focus went to get herself through the hellish day, teeth clenched and all. She thought hard about what the perfect alleyway would be like. Probably dimly lit, but just enough to make out the piles of garbage and stains on the brick walls from how frequently drunken men had urinated on them. Perhaps some grotesque and raunchy graffiti, and an overflowing dumpster that had the horrendous bouquet of rotten and fermented food.

Next on the agenda was shopping for a dress. Her cousins and the wedding planner assured Eden that picking out the perfect dress would get her in the mood for the day, that all women loved trying on wedding dresses. The only problem was that Eden wasn’t all women, and she certainly wasn’t in the same circumstances as any client the wedding planner had handled before.

Then they tried to talk her into riding with them to the dress shop; they had champagne, and she could have a couple of flutes to calm her nerves. Eden wasn’t nervous, she was outraged. She supposed her cousins couldn’t wrap their heads around the fact that she didn’t want Darian. Every soulmate-less woman in the Kingdom would have died to be in her position. Eden had an extreme amount of privilege, but the one that she did not have was the freedom to choose her own destiny. It was something that her cousins would never understand.

Eden declined the ride and didn’t bother to give an excuse or explanation. She simply walked to her car, climbed in, and sank deep into the leather seat. Even though she had never been a smoker, she felt the urge to suck down an entire pack of cigarettes. Instead, she focused on her breathing and tried to find her long-lost center.

An impatient car horn sounded from somewhere in front of Eden, and her eyes opened in icy slivers. Fiona and Jeanette were waving at her excitedly to follow them. Silently, Eden wondered if they had always been so clueless or if her father had instructed them to act this chipper, no matter what Eden’s disposition was. Either was just as likely as the other.

Begrudgingly, Eden turned her car on and pressed her lips into a forced smile to show them that she understood. The car pulled away, and Eden followed behind it. During the ride, she began to prepare herself for what was to come: sitting with her airheaded cousins as employees of the shop brought out dress after dress, all of which Eden was certain to say no to. Then, once the employees began to grow fatigued, the wedding planner and her cousins would urge her to try on a few of them, just to see how different styles looked on her slender frame. Eden would then be swarmed, undressed, and shoved into dress after dress until she agreed on one just to get it all over with.

After a couple of stoplights, Eden purposefully allowed other cars to pass her and guided her car into the other lane. Her cousins would love if she got lost for a little while. Just long enough to get rid of the fiery ball of anger that was ready to explode in her chest.

As she took a few random turns and happened to pass her cousins’ car, Eden suddenly had the urge to cry. No, sob. Never in her life had she felt so helpless. Nobody from the royal staff, nor her brothers, nor anyone else who tended to her demands and needs could get her out of this. Neither could Levi.

The thought pierced her like a cold, unforgiving sword, and hot tears began to pour down her smooth cheeks. The lights and cars were all a blur due to the severity of her weeping, but she managed to navigate the roads safely. Why did life have to be so cruel? Eden was frustrated with herself. She was so exhausted of having emotions. She yearned to have the ability to reach inside herself and excavate them. She so wished she could be compliant and obedient, to feel nothing at all and simply go through the motions, to play the perfect daughter. And yet, she couldn’t. Every fiber of her body and soul screamed at her to resist, to keep fighting to end the arrangement. How could she, though? She saw absolutely no way around it.

At a stoplight, Eden lay her forehead on the steering wheel and let herself cry it out; she knew that impatient cars behind her would let her know when it was her turn to move in traffic. Her shoulders and hands shook with the force of her weeping. Eden was a woman out of control, and she was ready to shatter into a million little pieces.

The sound of her passenger door opening jolted her from her position. In the split second it took Eden to look up, she had been expecting it to be one of her cousins, asking why she had taken off like that. It wasn’t. Her heart leaped into her throat, and she stared wide-eyed as Levi buckled into the seat next to her.

“Might want to drive,” he commented, pointing out the orchestra of horns sounding off behind her. Eden drove forward but continuously looked to Levi, dumbfounded.

“Are you following me?” she demanded. Her tone was snappier than she would have liked, but after the day she’d had, she couldn’t hold back.

“Yes,” Levi answered plainly enough.

“Why?”

“Why do you think?”

Eden’s nose and mouth scrunched together with a surge of annoyance. Now even Levi was going to treat her like a child? Following her around to supervise her? It was dangerous and stupid, even if he had the best intentions in the world.

“You’re going to get us caught!” she barked. “At the next light, you need to get out.”

“Can we talk for a bit? I noticed you lost the flock back there.” When Eden didn’t respond right away, Levi added, “I won’t keep you long.” The backs of his fingers then caressed her cheek, brushing away her tears lovingly. It simmered her temper, something that Eden wasn’t used to being done so easily.

“Fine,” she muttered. “You have fifteen minutes. By then, they’ll be looking for me.” Levi wasted no time, jumping right into the thick of his conversation.

“Why are you accepting a life of misery?” Eden ogled him. “I mean it. There’s nothing under the sun that your father could force you to do. Not really, at least. Not when he loves you as much as I’ve heard.”

“His love for me is only outweighed by his love of power,” she replied. “He thinks that marrying me to Darian will aid him in retaining that power. I’m pretty sure we’ve been over this.”

“Would he kill you if you didn’t?”

“Possibly,” Eden murmured. Even as it passed her lips, she knew it wasn’t true. Her father would be outraged and ready to kill her, but he wouldn’t. “Probably not, though.”

“So, what would realistically happen if you outright refused to marry this Darian guy?”

“Well,” she breathed, using the ball of her hand to rub away the streaks of tears on her other cheek. “He would probably lock me up and keep me prisoner until I finally agreed to do it. Beaten and starved into submission, if it came down to it.”

“That’s if he catches you,” Levi inserted. “You could always… you know, run away with me.” Eden glanced over to him to see if he was joking. He looked embarrassed by the romantic cliché he had suggested.

Run away into the night with my rogue soulmate. “Live in exile with you?” she asked with a raised brow. “Exile isn’t exactly appealing, Levi.”

“What about it isn’t?”

“Um, the fact you have to be on the run and always be looking over your shoulder? How I could never be in contact with anyone within the Kingdom without risking their life and my own? Also, I don’t have any of the necessary skills or qualifications to exist within the mortal world at my age?”

Levi shook his head. “It isn’t exactly hard, Eden. It can be inconvenient, but not difficult.” He continued when she only responded with a doubtful look, putting the car into park once she pulled into a lot. “I live a relatively normal life. I live several miles outside the city’s limits. I own a cabin and have my own source of funds from all the things I have collected in time. I invest what I can to have a steady income. I do what I want all day, and yeah, if I come into the city, I have to look over my shoulder.”

“When we first met, you were burnt to a crisp and lying unconscious in the forest,” Eden reminded him. “And do you think my father’s never going to come after me? That I can live this simple life you speak of? Which, honestly, isn’t as simple as you try to make it sound.”

“We’d be on the run for a while, of course. Do you really think he would search for you forever, though?” Levi asked. “That it would be a good look for him to have in front of the Kingdom? Spending most of his resources to look for his daughter rather than bettering the lives of his people?”

Eden’s forehead had returned to the steering wheel by the time Levi finished talking. Her head was a balloon that was too full and ready to pop. “Why am I even talking about this? The entire thing is absurd, Levi.”

“Because you feel this bond just as much as I do,” Levi answered. “Even if we aren’t in love yet, I want to experience the entire journey that explains why we are soulmates. And I can’t just fold because the Mad King wants to sell you off like—”

Eden interrupted him by nearly striking him across the face, but Levi caught her wrist before she could do so. Her chest heaved with anger, instinctively feeling defensive of her father. Levi didn’t waver, however, staring her dead in the eyes. “Who are you really mad at, Eden?”

She crumbled as easily as a sheet of paper. As tears reappeared in her eyes, Levi pulled her into his chest. It was like he could see right through her, and that shocked, terrified, and depressed Eden all at once. His arms were locked firmly around her, and his head rested on the top of hers, completely enveloping her broken form.

“I’ve lost control of my own life,” Eden wept. “It… it crushes my soul. No path I have before me feels right. I’m going to be wrong, no matter what I do.”

“Don’t say that,” Levi insisted. After giving her a moment to collect herself, he held her at arm’s length with his hands firmly on her shoulders. “Do not give up on me so easily. I know that just running away isn’t the best solution. I’m not going to let you go that easily. I can’t.” His voice grew husky the longer he spoke, tears stinging his amber eyes.

Eden had to clench her teeth and focus on her breathing to keep from breaking down into tears again. She wasn’t this weak—she had never been this weak. With a trembling lip, she stated, “I don’t see a way out of marrying Darian.”

Levi’s eyes watched as her teeth sank into her bottom lip to cease her quivering. His hand rested against her chin, pulling her lip out of her mouth with his thumb. He studied her for what felt like hours, his face slowly softening from its usual stony composure.

“All right,” he conceded, tone defeated. “But, at least let me try. Don’t block me out, Eden.”

The urge to kiss him overwhelmed Eden, causing her hands to tighten around her steering wheel to lock herself in place. Every little thing Levi did was proof of their connection. He didn’t want to give up on her, on them. She needed him to be the firm one, the logical one. Maybe he was right. Maybe there was a reason they were soulmates instead of it being some twisted fate.

“Okay,” Eden breathed, giving a nod as weak as her voice. “You have until the wedding. After that… it’d be too dangerous.” Levi pulled her back into his arms and pressed a firm kiss to the top of her head.

“Thank you,” he whispered into her hair. They remained in their embrace for several minutes, breathing in one another’s scents and gently caressing one another. “Let’s meet tomorrow. I know that seems soon, but I want to know you’re okay. I can see this wedding planning stuff is getting to you.”

Eden would have normally fought back, insisting that they take more time before meeting face to face again, to ensure their safety. However, the thought of seeing Levi after the impossible day she’d had sounded too grand to pass up. She gave him another nod, and Levi pressed another kiss to the top of her head before slipping out of the car.

Yet again, Eden collapsed into her seat. Idly, she fished her phone out of her handbag to find over thirty missed calls from her cousins. She had been gone an hour.

What in the world had her life become?