Selene's POV~
I stopped walking.
My feet refused to move any further, even though my father was still pulling me forward through the narrow passage hidden behind the palace walls. The stone beneath my shoes felt cold, damp, like a grave waiting to close. My chest felt tight, my breathing shallow, and every step away from the palace felt like betrayal.
Just as we were about to enter another dark passage that would take us far away from everything I loved, I finally opened my mouth.
"Father," I said, my voice shaking but clear. "I'm not going."
He stopped so suddenly that I almost crashed into his back. In the next second, he turned sharply toward me, his eyes wide with disbelief, his face hardening like stone.
"What did you say?" he asked in a deep, dangerous voice.
"I said I'm not going," I repeated, my heart pounding violently. "I can't leave like this. I can't abandon them and hide while everyone I love is left behind to die."
