If reincarnation had a customer service desk, I would quietly file a complaint.

  I was supposed to meet a prince, fall in love, and stay by his side as some half-human heroine.

  That had been the fantasy.

  Instead, I woke up as a racehorse, bled on the track, and became entangled in royal politics.

  Some stories drift toward romance.

  Mine ran toward disaster.

  I hadn’t meant to flee with Sir Antonie.

  I hadn’t even expected to see him that day, when I chose to run away.

  If anyone understood the bond between us, it was him.

  And now we were both prisoners.

  The border had been closer than I thought.

  Another kingdom intercepted us before we crossed it.

  Their commander spoke calmly about old alliances and mutual interests.

  An ally of Charlton.

  An old acquaintance of Sir Roland.

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  The word felt wrong.

  The rumor followed soon after.

  Sir Roland had collapsed.

  A coma, they said.

  The world inside me went quiet.

  Now I stood alone in a stone enclosure meant for animals.

  My muzzle tied.

  Three legs restrained.

  Even my tail bound as if I might turn into a weapon.

  I could shift only inches on the cold floor.

  Somewhere else in this fortress, Antonie was likely confined behind iron bars meant for human.

  And maybe because of me.

  I hadn’t wanted to suspect anyone.

  But I couldn’t forget the image.

  Lucien holding out the apple.

  Smiling, the way he always did when he trusted anyone.

  What if that had been the moment?

  What if I had felt danger—

  And still failed to stop it?

  "If that time I can stop him to eat it."

  I pulled once against the restraints.

  The chains answered with a dull scrape.

  “Quiet,” a guard muttered beyond the gate. “You’ll only make it worse. The kitchens are already informed.”

  Informed.

  Not even angry.

  Just procedural.

  So, this was the practical end of a racehorse.

  Not in a final race.

  But reduced to meat for a table I would never see.

  Fear crept in...

  Not sharp, but steady.

  I didn’t want to die again.

  Not before knowing whether Roland would wake... seeing him open his eyes and look for me.

  If he was unconscious, who stood at his side? His position had never been secure.

  Even at his strongest, the court had watched him carefully.

  Without him present, decisions would move faster. Smiles would grow sharper.

  And now I—

  I had vanished.

  The horse who ran beside him.

  Gone at the worst possible time.

  History would not record explanations.

  Only outcomes.

  I lowered my head to the stone.

  I had once been human.

  Now I was a horse.

  I wanted a miracle.

  Not a crown or glory.

  Just a simple story.

  Where a prince wakes, and the one who ran beside him is still there when he opens his eyes.

  If there were gods who wrote reincarnations, then let them write this part differently.

  I had been given a second life.

  I was asking for one more chance.