Mattias held onto her laced hands, unfortunate fate put him in these shackles and kept him from holding her hand properly out in the world. He was happy to see her even in this position. A glimpse of her beauty would help him last years in this cell. He would never speak of the truth. He decided long ago that dying for would be an honor–loving her was an honor. “I didn’t think your brother would let you come, but I see he has grown soft for me.” It was a joke, something to lighten the mood as they sat in an empty room, letting his laughter accompany them. “I prepared myself to never see you again the moment I stepped into this hell. I knew you could never come and see me, which is why I’m telling you now that you should never come here again.” Mattias was well aware of the trouble Aera would encounter if the world found out she was visiting the man who killed her husband, allegedly. “What if this news reaches the Gods? If they find out about the death of your husband and you plan to free the man who killed your husband. What do you think will happen? To you? To Haneul? Your sisters? Your mother?” His fingers grasped her gently, leaning in as closely as he could without making a sound as he stared at her features blankly. A woman whom he loved for years, even in his past life. He could hear the scream of horror the night of the accident. He never sprinted so fast towards her, not knowing of the crime committed and not caring as long as Aera was safe. The plan was simple: Mattias covered himself in Hale’s blood and carefully took the knife from Aera’s hand–the number of stabbings would make it clear to authorities that he did it out of jealousy. Mattias knew the day of his arrest would come; a staff member would have seen it all, but he had to silence the one who witnessed Aera murdering her husband. He planned everything, but now he was hearing words of freedom, which made him smile. “I could never change your mind, you stubborn woman.” Before pulling away, Mattias placed a single kiss on her forehead. “I’ll bite. What’s the plan? Do you have a plan?”
“If the Gods hear of it then it is my head that will be buried, not yours, not Haneul’s, not anyone else’s but my own.” The desire to raise her hand in front of the various councils of Euphoriam and allow the blame to rest on the guilty head had grown now that she had laid her eyes on him. “Hale is… was, he was cruel and my life was already over the day I married him, so to give up my physical life for yours wouldn’t cost me a second thought.” Her breath had grown unsteady, shaken by the singular thought of leading her life without him; even if their chances of being together were sunken lower than they had been on her wedding day. Eyes desperate in their scan of his features, committing them to memory in case the tides turned wholly against them. It was Mattias’ smile that broke the waves in her mind and allowed the weight to sink off her shoulders even if temporarily. “There’s a plan but it’s very much, you have to trust me, kind of plan.” Aera had been haphazard at best, twirling loose strands of connections together and tugging at all the favours she’d ever been owed. “I don’t know if you met Minji, always with Snow and gives you the idea that she’d snap your neck if you looked at her wrong, but anyway she knows someone who can help us.” She drew his hands to her lips, to quail the rising panic seized her throat at the plan she had spun on her own; and continuing to speak against his skin. “But that part doesn’t matter yet, there’s been a bribe to the guard that’s currently coming on shift and he’s giving us a ten-minute window to get out.” Her hands shifted grasping for his wrists and the chill of metal stunned her; the component she hadn’t placed thought in as she tugged on his restraints. “Oh.” At attention, her feet planted firmly on the floor as she shot upward, fingers still laced around metal while her eyes left him as a secondary planned formed once she settled on the box marked for emergencies only. “Oh, you’re really going to need to trust me.” She released him to seek out her intended target, setting her elbow against the glass to find the alarms had already been cut for their escape. “And I really hope you don’t love your fingers too much, Haneul always said I aim like a drunken goose.”

















