Chapter 5

CHAPTER TWO

He managed to find his way back to the kitchen with no problems, noticing as he went a hall that he realized he should have turned left in, instead of right. But he hardly thought about it, so caught up in self-scolding was he. If only he had brushed his hair before he met the princess. If only he had asked Carlo outright about being a page. If only Carlo hadn’t been so enamored with his bride that he had forgotten Ander. If only, if only.

There once was a very brave king and a very brave queen. This king and queen were so chivalrous that their daughter, by nature, was born a very timid girl. However, the king and queen did not know this, and raised the princess in the bravest ways they knew.

But princess Fae did not become any braver through her years. She could not sword fight, was as timid as a mouse, and disliked all things courageous. And to the king and queen's greatest disappointment, her favorite pleasure was always strolling in gardens.

CHAPTER ONE

Ander Collins never knew the palace had so many rooms. Well, after all, as a kitchen boy, he had never been allowed into the royal quarters before. His life was safely spent in the depths of the smoky, stone-walled kitchen, far away from the nobles and their riches. The closest he had ever come to the royal family was rubbing his grimy fingers over the stamped portrait of King Juston on the coins he was paid once a season. But today, Missy – the girl who usually took Princess Reina her tea – had a summer fever. So guess who got the job.

The rain drizzles down the window pane in front of my face; my breath makes a faint fog on the cold glass. Across the field is Mingus Mountain, normally a dark blue silhouette against the sky, now a rolling bank of misty grey clouds and falling rain. Another rivulet of water trickles past my eye, and I glance up at the sky.

Oddly, I didn’t see myself as a suicidal nineteen-year-old girl standing in front of the bathroom mirror with a gun to her own head. I saw myself as a slave, standing before her god, with one last command to fulfill before being granted her freedom.
Even though I had never heard of anyone committing suicide standing in front of a mirror, I knew that I had to. I wanted it to see me.

The moment we get back to the cell, the door behind us slams shut and we make our way slowly to the back corner of the stone room. My sister gently and quietly helps me to sit down and lean against the wall. She does not speak. Even when a guard enters carrying a pile of hay which he dumps in the corner opposite us, she doesn’t make a sound. “This is so you can be more comfortable.” He says, “I’m to stay here and make sure that the boy tries to walk.” He looks sad, like he doesn’t really bear us any harm. “I was on your father’s side.

Chapter the Twenty-fifth

The rain drizzles down the window pane in front of my face; my breath makes a faint fog on the cold glass. Across the field is Mingus Mountain, normally a dark blue silhouette against the sky, now a rolling bank of misty grey clouds and falling rain. Another rivulet of water trickles past my eye, and I glance up at the sky.

Chapter 4