I need to clear my head.
Thankfully, I know a perfect place for just such occasions…
My room is dark — the fireplace has long since burned down to embers — but my feet know the way. I move on auto-pilot — walking to my desk and locating the small key I stashed in the top drawer nearly a month ago; grabbing my riding jacket from the back of my chair and pulling my arms through the sleeves. I make my way to the door and crack it open in painfully slow degrees, praying it doesn’t creak and alert any nearby guards patrolling the hallways.
Something tells me they won’t be big fans of me going anywhere alone in the middle of the night.
I wince when the door clicks closed at my back, a bit too loud for my liking. For a moment, I wait in the threshold, listening hard for the sound of incoming footsteps. There are none. It’s utterly silent in the hall. Dark, too — except for the occasional dimly-lit wall sconce, the entire castle appears to be shuttered for the night.
Taking a quick glance in either direction, I suck in a steadying breath and start walking. My slippers are silent on the stone floor. I keep to the shadows, avoiding the shafts of light as best I can, lest a guard happens to round a corner without warning.
Luck is on my side, though — I make it all the way to the tapestry without detection. Even in the darkness, the Lancaster crest embroidered on its surface stands out clearly against the thick fabric. I trace a finger over the lion’s proud profile, a half-smile tugging up my lips.
Looking at it, you’d never know about the secret doorway it conceals. And even if you managed to stumble upon it by chance… it’s is sealed shut. There’s no getting in without the key.
Which, thanks to Alden Sterling, I now possess.
Hand tightening around the small brass key, I push aside the tapestry and cough as a cloud of dust wafts into my face. No one’s been through here in quite some time. Probably not since Alden first brought me to the top.
I haven’t seen him in person since my coronation, but he sent me the key several weeks ago, along with a rather forward note that made my cheeks heat.
In case my Princess ever needs to escape her castle… Feel free to borrow my favorite turret. And if she’s ever in need of a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on… feel free to borrow my body as well. I’m at your full disposal, Your Royal Highness.
He signed it with his official seal, as well as his direct phone number. At the time, I was certain he was making an advance… but in retrospect, I’m not sure whether he was flirting with me or just being kind because of everything I’ve been through. After all, he was there the night my father was poisoned. He saw how devastated I was when Linus fell to that platform, frothing at the lips. He witnessed firsthand the shrill horror of my screams…
Shaking off the memories, I slide the key into the lock. When I attempt to turn it, I meet resistance. It’s stuck.
Damn.
I lean forward a bit, squinting to see the keyhole in the dark, jiggling the key. If I could just get the alignment right…
I’m concentrating so hard on my task, I stop paying attention to everything else. So, I don’t hear the approaching footfalls. I don’t hear the soft exhale of breath from someone else’s lips in the abandoned corridor. I don’t hear anything at all, except the soft click of the lock as it finally gives way, the dull screech of ancient hinges as the panel pops open, allowing me entrance.
“Yes!” I exclaim in a hushed whisper, victorious.
My victory is short-lived.
So fast I don’t have time to scream, so fast I don’t have time toblink… an efficient hand claps itself over my mouth and I’m hauled backward, into the shadows.
Fuck.