*Raylee’s POV*
Benson. His name was like a pulse in my chest, a constant beat that kept me on edge. It had been weeks since he’d disappeared, and every day felt like a knife twisting deeper. They said he’d run away, that he’d finally given up. But I didn’t believe it. Benson wasn’t a coward. He wouldn’t just leave without a word, without even telling Josh or me.
Yet everyone else seemed all too willing to accept the story. To them, Benson was an outsider, a misfit. A “freak” in their eyes, unworthy of the kingdom and its games of power. But he was more than that to me. He was a part of my life that I’d never let go of, no matter how much everyone—including my father—tried to make me.
Only Josh understood the only person who hadn’t turned his back on Benson. Together, we’d been searching
