The Runaway Princess

Chapter 12

-Ester's POV-

"Rise and shine, your majesty!" Came the cheery voice of the hat man, as I'd been mentally calling the man in black with the hat for the past day. They took off the sack once I was in the brig, a damp and musty brig. They gave me a bucket to do my business in, and gave me some oatmeal midway through the trip. I overheard them saying that my father wanted me alive, but that they didn't need to go out of their way for me. "It's time to say goodbye to each other."

He opened the cell door and grabbed my arm and dragged me to my feet.

The trip from the ship to the palace passed quickly, I was taken immediately into a black inconspicuous carriage with hat man so that I'm not recognized on the way there.

"No one really knows you left except the riff raff that were notified to come collect you." He explained somewhat bitterly as we entered the carriage. The rest of the ride passed in silence. It had only been a short while since I was here but it no longer had the feeling from before, that I felt safe and content. I thought of Cula and hoped she was okay and that she wasn't punished too much.

I didn't get any more time to think of her before we arrived at the palace. The palace was an ancient building, made hundreds of years ago out of refined marble. The main area of the palace was one level, but since it was on a hill, there are many stairs between rooms that are physically on different levels, but not technically. The roof was out of red clay and there are bamboo doors and leaf windows to let natural light in but keep bugs and creatures out. We have leopard rugs from before they were banned.

Guards greeted us at the entrance and took me one way, while leaving one to bring hat man a different way. I recognized that they were taking me to the throne room, where my father enjoyed staying in, even when not doing his royal duties.

The stationed guards at the entrance slowly opened the ornate gold and white doors showing the throne room in the same pristine condition that it was in the last time I saw it. I spotted my father sitting on the throne. We didn't look similar in appearance, he had brown hair, light green eyes, and was on the large side physically due to his weekly feasts and for practically living in his throne. The throne in question was made from emerald, apparently taken from an island off the coast, and it had intricate swirls carved into it.

Seeing me, my father straightened up, glowering at me.

"Ester." He said loudly, disapproval in his face but surprisingly not in his tone. "You have returned at last. Did you enjoy your vacation?" Before answering I looked around the room and saw an abundance of nobles. Things clicked in my brain. He wanted to cover up my disappearance with a vacation. Two could play at this game though.

"It was wonderful father," I said, adding all the fake sweetness I could muster in my voice. "I can't believe you're letting me move to Idi after letting me take a vacation there to improve relations!" I turned to the nobles. "Won't that be such a cool experience?" Most nodded among, though there were a few who looked either amused or suspicious. Turning back to my father, I found him even angrier.

"But of course, my sweet daughter. However, all of this will have to happen after the wedding. Zephyr is already on his way."

"Ah but of course, the wedding. I had nearly forgotten. But father, isn't it time to reach back out into the world? Idi has royalty of marriage age and it would help with technological advances for Aregium. Don't you want what's best for the country?"

We parried back and forth with our words for some time. My mother died when I was young, so it was my father and brother who taught me everything. The last few years however, my father gave me tutors and avoided me and my brother joined our military and was hardly around. After a few minutes, I excused myself, and my father instructed the guards to bring me to my room. Essentially, I was going to be stuck in my room for the foreseeable future.

I entered my room after the guards unlocked it and surveyed it. It was very interesting that just a week could change who I was, all of a sudden the pink drapes and silk paintings on the wall didn't feel like me anymore. I had a large pink canopy bed with maroon carpet, a marble vanity, and a wooden bookshelf. On the other side of the door were three doors, one to my closet, one to my bathroom, and one to my servants quarters. I walked up to the third door and knocked, hoping beyond hope that Cula would open the door.

Instead Lismo, my other servant, opened the door with a young girl I didn't recognize. When Lismo saw me her expression darkened and she turned to the girl beside her.

"Fila, this is the princess. Don't get too close to her or you will end up like Cula." My stomach dropped and I staggered back to the chair in front of the vanity as Fila's face paled.

"What happened to her?" I whispered, searching Lismo's face. For a moment there seemed to be some sympathy to me, but then her expression closed off.

"The guards killed her after you left." She said, quietly and coldly. "They gathered every servant and killed her in front of us with the message to never get close to the nobles. Most of the servants didn't even know the truth, they just knew that she died because of you and didn't know you were even gone."

I was horror struck. Not only did my fear come to pass, but now most of the people in the building probably thought she died because of a petty incident.

Ignoring my reaction, the girls started to change me out of my clothes, putting me into a loose light green chiffon nightdress before starting on fixing my hair. I came back to reality with the powerful yanks to detangle my hair from days of not washing it. They piled up my hair into a high bun pinned back with a crown like headband, a current fashion style, before leaving back to the servant area.

I sat for a few minutes in the dress before getting out of it and drawing myself a bath. The servants in the palace were more for helping with food preparation, but my father said I was to have two from the time I was very little so I wouldn't get lonely but I was still lonely most of the time.

As I soaked in the bath I thought about how to get out of my situation. The servants door was still here, but I doubted that Lismo and Fila would just let me walk past without alerting the guards. The windows were also not possible, guards were stationed on the hill in front of them. That just left for when I'm seen in public, and I didn't know when that would be next. Apparently my fiancé was on his way, which would mean I would have to leave my rooms to meet him. I could potentially bring to the gardens and make a run from there, but my father would see through that ahead of time and prepare for it with extra guards. Then there would be the wedding. I'd only been to one wedding, it was a duke of somewhere getting married to a noblewoman from the capital and she was a member of what I called the gossip group. They were a group of women who would gossip and always had the latest drama. They were overly friendly to me in hopes of favor, so I was a bridesmaid at one of their weddings.

The wedding would be the perfect chance to slip off. They were full of commotions and chaos that would work in my favor. With that thought in my head, I didn't have to act much when the servants came in later with measuring tapes and wedding dress designs. It was a pity that I wouldn't be sticking around for the wedding, the dress they had planned would look great. It was red, as was traditional in Aregium, and the perfect mix of fitted and flowing. The red reminded me of Storm, and the dress she wore to the moon festival that felt so long ago.

After the dress fitting, the ladies readied me for bed, heating a pan of coals to warm my bed, undoing my hair, and dressing me in a nightgown. I picked out a book from my bookshelf to read before sleeping, and I thought of Baylen and their passion of reading as I skimmed through. The servants ignored me the whole time they were in the room, even as I tried to start conversations. After they left I continued to read for a short while before I drifted into an uneasy sleep with a heavy heart.