Juliette's grip on her ribbon tightened. The choice should've been simple. Run to her rescuers. But instead, she whispered under her breath, almost to herself:
"Then I'll just have to make sure I don't get rescued."
Leo blinked at her, ears pricking in surprise, but she didn't take it back. The words tasted heavy on her tongue, but right.
Ash stood at the railing, shoulders broad against the drifting smoke. He hadn't moved, hadn't looked at her, and for a moment she thought he hadn't heard.
Then his voice cut through the quiet, low and even. "Careful, princess. You might think you've chosen freedom." Slowly, he glanced over his shoulder, black eyes glinting in the fading light. "But every chain feels different when you're the one who locked it on yourself."
Juliette's chest tightened. For an instant, she couldn't tell if it was a warning, a threat, or somehow the closest thing to concern she'd ever heard from him.
She met his gaze, refusing to flinch. "Maybe so. But at least this chain is mine."
Ash studied her for a long heartbeat, then turned back to the clouds without another word.
The silence that followed wasn't empty. It was the sound of a decision solidifying; hers, his, all of theirs on a path that could never turn back.
The airship's ruined engine hissed and crackled, smoke trailing into the gray sky. Axel kicked the side panel hard enough to dent it.
"Damn it!" His voice tore through the clearing. "That witch boy clipped us like we were nothing."
Cain dropped from the deck, boots crunching into the dirt. He dusted himself off, eyes narrowed as he scanned the tree line. "We're lucky we landed at all. Any closer to the village and we'd have had more than smoke to deal with."
"Don't call that luck," Axel spat, pacing like a caged wolf. His mechanical fingers flexed with a metallic click, restless, itching for blood. "He humiliated us. Again."
Cain's gaze hardened, his usual calm unshaken. "Then we learn from it. Charging in blind won't cut it. He's fast, cunning, and he's got that girl with him."
"Princess Juliette," Axel snarled, as if her name left a bitter taste. "If she weren't there, we could've finished him."
"Or she's the reason we will finish him," Cain countered evenly. "He's protecting her. That gives us leverage."
Axel froze, breath heavy. For a moment, his fury sharpened into something colder. "Then next time, we drag her out from under him and watch how long the witch boy lasts without his precious cage bird."
Smoke still rose from the airship behind them, but the fire in his chest burned hotter.
Cain crossed his arms, watching his partner's rage boil. "South," he said finally. "That's where they'll run. He can't risk the girl in open cities. We track the smoke trail from his house in the sky and we don't stop until we've got them cornered."
Axel's lips curled into a vicious grin. "Good. This time, the witch boy bleeds."
The broken engine sputtered behind them, its hiss a reminder of failure, but in Axel's mind, it only sounded like a promise of the hunt to come.
The house creaked as it glided through the upper winds, the engines humming unevenly after the barrage. Panels still rattled loose from the impacts, and scorch marks lined the outer walls.
Juliette stood at one of the wide windows, arms folded tight, her reflection ghosting back at her in the glass. Below stretched the endless canopy of trees, the village far behind them now.
"They were trying to rescue me," she said, her voice barely above the wind's whistle.
Ash, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, tilted his head slightly. His black eyes, dark as tar, gave away nothing. "Rescue," he repeated, slow, skeptical. "Is that what you think they were doing?"
Juliette turned sharply, heat rising in her cheeks. "What else would they be doing? They came for me. They..." Her voice faltered, the memory of gunfire echoing in her ears. "They risked their lives."
Ash pushed off the wall, steps soundless as he crossed the room. He stopped just short of her, his shadow swallowing the sunlight that spilled through the window. "And they shot at this house. At you. Collateral doesn't matter when the prize is more important than the pieces around it."
Juliette's hand shot up to grip the necklace, her knuckles pale. "So what am I to you then? A prize?"
For the first time, something flickered across his face, not anger, not softness, but something in between. "You're the key," he said at last, voice low. "And keys… are dangerous in the wrong hands."
Her throat tightened, the words sparking equal parts fear and confusion.
From the couch, Leo piped up, tail flicking nervously. "He's right, you know. Those guys weren't looking at you like a long-lost princess, Juliette. More like a… bargaining chip."
She wanted to argue, but the image of guns flashing across the sky silenced her.
Ash turned back to the window, gaze fixed on the southern horizon. "Rest while you can. They'll come again. And next time…" His fingers brushed the hilt of his sword. "…they won't be so polite."
Juliette hugged herself, staring at his back. She didn't know if she hated him for being right, or feared he was leading her into something even worse.
The landing had been rough, the house groaning like a wounded beast as its legs dug into the soil outside Brimhold. Smoke curled from the left engine, acrid and hot, while panels along the frame rattled loose.
Ash crouched near the damage, black eyes scanning every scorched seam. His jaw tightened. "This doesn't make sense," he muttered. "This place was built to take worse hits than that. Whoever they were, they had something precise. Targeted."
Juliette hugged her arms around herself, glancing nervously at the smoke still coiling into the evening sky. "So… they could come back?"
Ash stood, brushing soot from his hands. "Not if I have anything to say about it." His voice carried a hard edge, but beneath it was something else, calculation. "I'll need to reinforce the engines. Shielding, maybe a second containment layer. If they can hit us once, they'll try again. Next time, I'm making sure they won't even scratch it."
Leo tilted his head. "You sound almost excited about it."
Ash's mouth curved, not quite a smile, but something close. "I don't like being outplayed."
Later, as they slipped into Brimhold, the market noise covered their presence. Ash turned to Juliette. "You only had three changes of clothes prepared before. That's not enough. I'll get you something new."
Juliette blinked, caught off guard by the way he said it so flatly, as though it were just another errand. "…You make it sound like you're buying supplies for the house," she muttered, half teasing.
Ash gave her a sideways look. "Clothes are supplies."
She shook her head, hiding a small smile. "You're impossible."
After some quiet bartering, Ash returned with the bundle: baggy jeans stopping at her knees, a plain white shirt layered over a longer black one. He handed them to her without ceremony.
When Juliette reemerged, her hair tied with the ribbon he'd bought for her days ago, Ash's gaze lingered a second longer than usual. His eyes flicked to the ribbon, then away.
"You'll draw less attention this way," he said finally.
Juliette touched the ribbon gently, the faintest warmth in her chest. She hadn't expected him to remember, let alone care enough to get it. "It's… fine," she replied, a little too quickly.
Ash turned back toward the smoldering house. His voice was low, more to himself than her: "Next time they try, they won't get the chance."
Juliette studied his profile, the way determination hardened his features. For someone who claimed to care for nothing, he was already planning a dozen ways to protect the thing that sheltered them, and maybe, in some unspoken way, her too.