Regina had heard once, in her distant past, that the truth would set you free.

Since it had been accompanied at the time by one of the more terrifying elders trying to poison her if she did not tell him whether or not she had powers, she had not thought much of the idea.

However, when finally having the truth of her past laid out before her, Regina realized that there might be some value in knowing why her life had turned out the way it had.

“We deliberately raised the audacious proposal of an engagement with the crown prince to the elders,” her mother said, “because it was the only way we could keep you from being affected by the family after you wed. Then we pushed you forward as a quiet, obedient, and clearly magicless girl who was prepared to be the Sheridans’ royal emissary.”

“Of course,” her father dryly added, “your past willingness to meld with the wallpaper actually helped us push you to the crown prince. Neither the Alpins nor our elders wanted a bride that would be acclaimed in her own right… though you did change that last part remarkably fast once we came to the capital.”

Regina winced at the reminder that her public attempts to save her own life had made her the author of her current misery.

Then she closed her eyes and concentrated on the next point.

“So that is why you two,” Regina realized, “were also remarkably willing to do whatever it was that I asked you to once we arrived in the capital. You agreed to all my requests, whether it was giving me a debutante ball when I first entered the capital or allowing Artem to move in before we wed or even –”

Regina stopped, as a question bloomed in her mind.

“Or even,” she shouted, “supporting my engagement to the seemingly useless Artem over the Crown Prince! The elders are so desperate to have a Sheridan queen that you two must have –”

“Bribed and blackmailed our way into giving you the prince of your then-dreams,” Regina’s mother said with a remarkably humorless laugh. “You have no idea how many times I had to drug myself to sleep enough to receive visions of successful horse races to finance your revised dowry.”

“And I,” said her father, suddenly sounding decades older than his years, “forced myself to dream visions of every ledger on the continent to find the best investments with the money your mother raised.”

Having experienced the disorientating aftermath of her own visions, Regina could barely imagine how difficult it had been for her parents to force themselves into visions time and again.

“Even so,” Regina’s father added, “we were willing to make whatever sacrifices we needed for you, even if it erased most of the savings we had made for your future. We could see that you could never be queen after that disastrous debutante ball. Do not think we did not catch the mess you made of your ball gown, Regina Edmund Sheridan! You left holes in that expensive lace!”

Regina winced, anticipating a further scolding before she realized that none was coming.

Instead, her father just shook his head with wry… fondness?!.. and continued.

“We used our visions and our funds and all the connections we ever had to have you marry the second prince instead of the originally planned crown prince,” he said. “We thought being by Artem Alpin’s side would keep you safe and away from the troubles of a crown princess….”

“Only,” her mother wryly added, “you surprised us by rising to power anyway.”

Feeling raw, Regina said, “Gaining power or becoming a crown princess was never my intention – it was merely an outcome of my trying to avoid being assassinated by the Nevilles and Burens!”

Her parents both looked completely stunned, exchanging a bewildered glance with one another before they turned to Regina as one.

“What?!” they both cried, before her mother added, “The Nevilles and the Burens?! We assumed it was the elders or the Alpins all this time!”

“To be fair,” Regina said, sparing a glance at the still unconscious Queen, “I am quite sure both of those parties would also be willing to murder me. Unfortunately, at least for most of the attempts, it was the Nevilles and the Burens. It seems that they feared my growing power and influence because they assumed it would lead to our family plundering their lands.”

“That is a credit to their foresight,” her father admitted. “The Sheridan elders would happily take their lands at the first opportunity.

“Even so,” her mother asked, eying the queen with a knife in her hand, “why was this Alpin woman trying to murder you?”

“I… am not sure,” Regina admitted, trying to comb through her scattered memories of the Queen’s words. “She… said many strange things about Artem, about keeping him safe because he had been… condemned to die since his birth. She believed I had ruined his ability to survive somehow?”

Her parents exchanged another look at that before Regina conceded, “She did seem to think I had directly harmed her son today.”

Her mother smiled before Regina interrupted.

“No,” Regina added hotly, “I did not!”

Then Regina added in sheer indignation, “I only accidentally allowed Henrietta to cold-clock Artem with a vase before dragging his body off to… somewhere in these catacombs…”

Regina trailed off as her parents exchanged very annoying glances.

Wincing, Regina hoped that her mother’s blow had been hard enough to wipe any accurate suspicion right out of her future mother-in-law’s skull.

Then, Regina straightened as another sudden realization came to her.

“So you two did not realize that it was the Burens and Nevilles that wanted to murder me because they feared the power I was gaining!” Regina cried. “You thought it was our own family or the Alpins. You assumed the best way to safeguard me was to give me even more power and press as the people’s princess. That way, neither our family nor the Alpins could easily get rid of me!”

Judging from the grim frowns on her parents’ face, Regina had deduced that much correctly.

“Yes,” Regina’s mother admitted, “we thought the best way to safeguard you was to make you too well known and loved for our family or the Sheridans to easily eliminate. To be fair, we were able to stop any attempts made inside our townhouse.”

“You have no idea,” her father muttered, “how many butlers and maids had contracts we had to… terminate early. Eventually, we might have had to do our own dusting and cook our own meals.”

Regina tried to imagine her mother using her knife for anything other than destruction.

It was… not a pretty image.

“At least little Henrietta was a great help,” her mother added. “I always did like that girl, especially after she agreed to use her vision to support you.”

Regina startled again at that, which made her parents grimly laugh.

“You and Henrietta are clever girls,” her father said, “but do you suppose Henrietta’s ability to be the best gossipmonger in our family, or the rate at which our vase budget grew, went unnoticed?”

Shaking his head, he added, “No, your mother and I have paid very careful attention for some time to all your cousins. We have already rescued several who can help you. Henrietta will help you flee to the west border so you can shelter with cousins who have already ‘died.’ You two can stay with them for as long as you need to before you decide what you wish to do with the rest of your life.”

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Regina was not sure she had anymore shock to feel, but the thought that her beloved cousins might yet live, sent a jolt of feeling through her entire body.

Their deaths had haunted her for years. To know they might still be alive….

Unfortunately, the day could not wait for her to process her emotional turmoil. Her mother still had revelations to share.

“You see,” her mother murmured, “we have already given up on keeping you safe in this vile country. When two damned ducal families and a bloody monarch are trying to murder you, no amount of alliterative newspaper headlines can serve as your shield. We thought you would be happiest with that prancing prince of yours but if you cannot stay safe–”

“Then you need to leave Carcosa entirely,” her father said, looking faded once again. “Your mother and I… we will mi– we will cover your absence for you. All you need to do is meet Henrietta at the exit you have already planned. She has all the money and documents you need.”

Her mother looked oddly lost as she spoke. “We had planned to divert attention above, but when you did not arrive….”

“I am glad we could see you,” said her father.

Regina felt the words he could not say and the meaning of them chilled her blood.

“But…” Regina said, faltering, “what about the two of you? Surely by now people have noticed that you left the wedding hall to look for me. Will the Alpins and our elders not question you about what you happened to do or see?”

Her parents smiled at that and it was a sight as strangely sad as it was sweet.

“No one can question someone who is dead,” Regina’s mother calmly said. “The Sheridan elders’ visions are nowhere near as strong or as useful as any of ours, though those rusty bags of bones claim otherwise. Regardless, they cannot see what happens to you after we set this place ablaze with the Queen.”

As Regina stared at her mother, chilled by the plan she had revealed, her father sighed.

“You need not fear the elders once you run,” he said, sounding weary at the thought of them. “Change your name, wear foreign clothes, curl and dye your hair, and act as you would have been had you not had to hide. The elders barely even know what their own children look like, let alone their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Even if they see you in the reflection of a muddy puddle or the prow of a boat, you will just be another person in the crowd.”

“You are free,” her mother said, as the enormity of the gift that they were offering dawned on Regina. “You are finally free.”

For the first time in her life, Regina felt the words her parents had never said to her directly.

As the full realization of what they had done and what they would do came together, Regina wondered if this had been what happened in the never-future of her first vision.

In that first vision, Regina had seen her other-self be hauled away to exile by the royal guards during her engagement to Crown Prince Aaron Alpin… even as her parents had stood by silently.

Yet what if her apparent ‘death’ had not been a death at all… but her parents finding a way to hide her being smuggled out of the country?

Ava had seen the future through ducks – yet even ducks could not see everything. Could Ava have recognized her adult self with curled hair of another color and a foreign name?

Yet Regina could not live in the dream of a life she had not chosen.

Regina had to keep existing in the world where she actually lived.

Even so, two questions burned in her mind, even as she yearned for the freedom her parents offered… and shuddered at its potential price.

“If I leave,” Regina said softly, “could you two join me eventually? After you set this place on fire, can you not reach the exit with me?”

Her father actually chuckled at that, even as her mother granted Regina a bemused smile.

“Gin-gin,” her mother said, using a nickname that Regina had not heard in years, “you know the answer to that.”

“There is always a price to be paid,” her father quietly added, “and corpses that need to be seen. If our lives will keep you safe, then what will be will be.”

The coldness that had been spreading through Regina’s blood froze her entirely.

There were no words for the feelings that welled inside her, so she tried desperately to get her words out beyond the lump in her throat.

There was, she realized, still more horror to confirm.

Barely able to get the words past her lips, she asked, “Then would I at least be able to flee with Artem?”

The thought of leaving Artem behind made her previous pain seem like nothing at all.

From the garbled words that the Queen had told her, Artem had been under attack due to his name and possible role as heir his whole life.

Even in the vision of Artem as a child with Ava, he had a haunted look on his face. It was obvious that he had had to fend off assassination all too early in his life.

So to run without him would be…

“Impossible,” Regina’s father said, his face expressionless as he stared at his daughter. “I know you care for that boy and he cares for you, but if you left Carcosa with him…”

“You two would be hunted down immediately,” her mother said, just as evenly. “By yourself, you are powerless and too insignificant to trace. Even if the Alpins realize you still live, they would let you leave to smooth the path for their current crown prince. However, your Prince Artem is far too powerful for the Alpins to ever forget.”

Regina made a noise deep in her throat and her father sighed softly.

“We would do anything for you,” he said, “but we can do nothing for him. Even if we set the whole place on fire, the timing is suspicious enough for others to suspect that Prince Artem simply fled… possibly to his mother’s western homeland to gain political advantage there. This might well lead to a war, Gin-gin. Even if it did not, you two would never live in peace.”

“His cousins regularly try to murder him even in Carcosa,” her father added, and Regina could not help but wonder again how much her parents had always known. “What do you suppose they would do to him if you two leave?”

Regina closed her eyes, knowing they spoke a truth that even Artem might not know.

Worse, perhaps he knew that truth and yet still had hope that all that pain and struggle would be worth a future with her.

‘So Regina,’ a voice that sounded achingly like her sister’s said, ‘what do you think?’

When Regina opened her eyes, it was as though she could finally see the world clearly.

As she looked at her parents, their faces calm as they readied themselves to build a bonfire that would consume their lives to save her…

She finally realized how deeply loved she was by her father and mother, however much distance they had built between them out of the horror of their circumstances.

It was hard to look at them.

It was as if the world was blurring and shifting in front of her and she could not see them.

Angrily, Regina raised a hand to her eyes, wondering if she had gotten something in them-

Oh.

She was crying.

Then there were arms around her and she had arms around those arms and it was the first embrace Regina had shared with her parents since she was a child.

She could feel her father’s face buried in her hair and her mother’s breath against her ear and she knew what she had always needed to know.

They had loved her.

They had protected her.

That they had failed was not because they had not tried.

For the first time since she was a child, since Ava had died in front of her, Regina felt as if she were part of a family.

As Regina collapsed into her parents’ embrace, she wanted so many things.

She wanted the world to stop for a moment so that they could just be happy.

She wanted to be young again - young even as longed to know that she was loved in spite of everything.

She wanted Ava back with them again - to have their family be complete.

She wanted them all to live and be happy, to be free from the shackles that had chained them previously.

Then something as soft as a feather gently traced the curve of her cheek.

‘Regina’, a beloved voice softly asked her, ‘will you stay or will you leave?’

For once in her life, Regina knew exactly what she wanted to do.

Without hesitation, she pulled back from her parents' embrace, ignoring the lingering sorrow and regret on their faces.

"Lace me up," she said, holding out her father's shoelaces.

Her parents stared at her.

Regina felt a burst of impatience.

Her parents had proven that they were able to plan for years in advance.

Did they really not understand her?

"Lace me up," said Regina evenly. "I cannot attend a wedding with a corset so close to dissolution."

Her mother dropped the shoelaces when she took them from Regina's fingers.

Her father picked them up and dropped them as well.

Somehow, together, they managed to pick the laces up the third time and started their work on Regina's corset.

As the last of the ties was bound, Regina took a deep breath.

"I will see you in the audience," she said, looking straight ahead, not daring to look back at her parents for fear she would crumble.

"After all," she said, a slow shaky smile spreading across her face, "I need to find my beautiful, impossible, and amazing goldfish."

"Well," said a voice from the darkness, "I am glad to see you too, my love."