make me stay.

thirtythree

♜

the stretched hallway, that currently made out my current location, could have used a dustpan and wet sponge.

it was, however, not narrow in any way, which made it easier to avoid cobwebs and such, as i moved along the heavy stone walls. above my head, beams were meeting in the form of arches that curved the ceiling upwards, and helped with the feeling of being squeezed so far beneath the ground.

my eyelids felt lined with lead, gaining weight with every blink, but tonight was the window i needed to move down into the undergrounds without any witnesses and hopefully, consequences.

beneath the castle was, as expected, a cellar. it was large, confusing as a maze, and the thick, dusty air offered no help. but i had finally gotten myself on the right track, down the right hallway, and in shallow light, i could catch glimpses of what was expecting me at the end; bars.

i would've brought belle alongside me, but just an hour ago he had been woken up by his sections general for a random midnight training. he had sent the message to me by a servant, not only to cancel but also to inform me of the increasing chance of being caught.

a larger portion of the new recruits were training on the grounds tonight, making it that much more difficult to carry this plan out without any witnesses.

i could indeed be executed for what i was planning to do during the night, but wesley had an even bigger chance of receiving the same fate if i didn't go through with it.

if i were to be completely honest with myself i probably didn't have much of a future, anyways, but wes did. even if i was rejected by north, that did not ensure me in any way. what happened to rejected royalty was never spoken about above a whisper, and i expected that there was a reason behind it.

mercer had loved me with his entire heart and seen me for who i truly was, and instead of attempting to simply ignore my difficulties, he had supported me in them. understood them to the best of his abilities, and never once looked the other way.

north only seemed to see how difficult it would be to have me change enough to fit into the frame of a queen that could lead the mountain alongside him.

the keyword here would be change.

my mind came to a pause, as i was suddenly made aware of the sound of a louder click. i pushed the shoulder closest to one of the walls up against the uneven stone, waiting to hear more.

it felt like minutes passed before much to anything seemed to move again. and it did not take me longer than the first minute to realise that the sound, the words that sounded were not coming from the cellar.

north suddenly felt a strike of panic run through his bones. he felt a need to pull himself closer to the wall he was nowhere near, standing in the middle of his office. he glanced around quickly, but calmly as to not alert the man before him currently.

it hadn't been his own fear. however, he knew that with as many troops as there were out on the castle grounds for the entirety of the night, maire-grace would not be able to leave without being noticed. perhaps, just a nightmare.

"hope does not suit you, my king." a darker voice spoke lowly, ending his sentence with a deep sigh. "not knowing when a battle is lost is displaying weakness,"

"and weakness should never be worn by a king, i'm aware."  north replied, his eyes straying away from the man directly in front of him.

general adams had been serving the kingdom as north's father's right hand for decades when north had taken over the position as king.