Elara's POV
The sun was fully up now, warm on my face as Tempest carried me back along the road toward the city. I had ridden for hours, through fields still wet with morning dew, along forest paths where the trees were just beginning to show their spring colors, past farms where workers were already out tending their animals.
I had felt free. Truly free. For the first time in months, maybe years, I had been just myself. No crown. No council. No expectations. Just a woman on a horse, making her own choices about where to go and when to turn back.
But now the city walls were visible ahead, and reality was settling back over me like a heavy cloak.
I would have to face the consequences of leaving. Lena would be furious. The council would have questions. Thorin would probably be insulted that I had missed our scheduled breakfast. There would be lectures about responsibility and safety and proper behavior for a queen.
