He stroked her cheek and his eyes watered. "Evangelina?" She laughed. "Actually, I go by Lina," She said. "Lina!" He exclaimed with a smile. Lina looked up at him, stepped forward, and hugged him. "But..." Her voice was lined with confusion. "You have red eyes. Doesn't that mean you would be in the dungeon? Or- you ran?" She asked. He winced. "Yes, Lina. I ran in fear. I've lived here ever since," Her dad said. "But," Lina thought out loud. "If you ran away when you were Conferred, that means you were 12. If you ran at 12, that means you wouldn't be married!" She exclaimed. Her dad took a deep breath. "I have a golden eye. They thought that meant that I wasn't all bad, And the Queen let me stay. But, after you were born, people started getting skeptical. I was scared of what they would do, so here I am." He finished. "You shouldn't run like I did. Go home!" he added. "I can't." She explained all that had happened. He listened to every word. "We should go back. Maybe we can convince everyone to change the rules. If a blue-eyed queen isn't good, there could be another queen!" Lina suggested. Her dad shook his head. "The rules are very sacrosanct. You can't convince everyone to change," Lina suddenly grew determined." we can show them to change," "How?" Her dad asked. She shrugged. "We can figure it out. It's almost nightfall. Where do you sleep?" She asked. Now it was his turn to shrug. "I just sleep wherever. You'd be surprised how comfortable this place is," He said. "Oh! By the way, I met a guard with violet eyes. He said his name was Mattias, and that he knew you," She said. "Mattias?! Yes, he was an old friend of mine." He said. She showed him the sword. He gasped. "He gave that to you?" "Yes. Is it yours?" He nodded. "I lost it when I ran out of Empeth." He gently took it and slipped it into a holder in his muddy jeans. Lina took a look around their sorroundings. "Have you lived here all this time?" She asked in shock. He shook his head. "I move around, but I'm here a lot," He said. Lina shivered. "All this time..." Lina didn't want to end up like him, away from the world. She was so scared... She felt a soft hand stroke her hair, and she fell asleep.

👑 👑 👑

"Dad!" A guard was pulling him away from her! They were in the Conferment room! Suddenly, the ground opened up and swallowed them. They landed in front of Beth, who took her to the dungeon. She dropped her crown and picked it up. Lina ran through the cell into the next, and the next, a lifetime of running...

A burst of cool air woke Lina up. I'm ok! It was just a dream! She took several deep breaths and sipped some water from a small river running through the cave. She looked over her shoulder. Her dad was sound asleep. Was this her life now? It couldn't be. She rubbed her eyes and stretched. "Dad's still asleep, and I'm hungry," She said to the wind. "Good morning," said a voice. Lina turned around and saw her dad, awake. "Soo, what do we do now?" He sighed. "I don't know,"