The Forbidden Princess [Paused]

Chapter 10: The Guard Takes Me Back Home

Jesse and I immediately let go of each other and stood up. I was so scared that I couldn't run away or even say a word. I stood completely still, not even breathing.

"Excuse me," the guard said. "I believe you are trespassing in the princess's room." The guard's voice sounded slightly familiar...

"Arthur?" Jesse asked, stepping forward to greet our friend. "Why the heck are you in a guard outfit?" Jesse grabbed at Arthur's clothes, examining the sleeves and the coat he had on.

"The king gave them to me," Arthur replied obviously embarrassed. "He wanted me to get changed and there were no other nice clothes to fit me besides these. So here I am, wearing guard clothes."

"Makes sense," Jesse said. "Now where can I get me one?"

I slapped Jesse jokingly on the arm. "Jesse," I said. "You can't get one. Number one, you aren't a guard. Number two, we have to get out of here. And quick. Anyone have any ideas?"

"I do."

Jesse and I turned to Arthur who seemed very ready to take on any trouble ahead. The guard clothes helped with that image of course. "My idea," he continued. "Was to sneak down the hallways, you two acting as prisoners while I take you to the dungeon. When we arrive at the kitchen, we can just sneak back outside and back into the village."

"Easy enough. Let's do it!" Jesse exclaimed.

~~~

We made it all the way down to the kitchen without seeing a single soul. When we entered the kitchen, some of the ladies gasped. (Probably because of Arthur's clothes.) We simply explained that he wasn't a real guard, the king just gave him the clothes and they let us go on out the door.

Outside was a little harder, but we managed fine. We passed a guard and Arthur immediately grabbed Jesse's and my wrist, pulling them together to look like we were criminals being escorted by a guard. To make sure the guard didn't recognize who I was, I dropped my head down and my hair flowed around my face. The guard just shrugged and moved along with his business.

We reached the hole that let us come in the palace and crawled back through, immediately turning from a crawl to a dead sprint in a matter of seconds.

We raced through the woods, tree limbs whipping us in the face. As we weaved between the trees, twigs snapped and leaves crumbled under our feet. About ten minutes later, we somehow stumbled across Paradise and decided to take a break and rest there.

"That," Jesse said, breathing very heavy. "Was more than amazing."

"What part?" Arthur asked.

Jesse thought for a minute. "All of it."

I didn't say anything to either of them. I was too scared. Too scared of both of them. I liked Jesse. I did. But I have to marry Arthur. What am I suppose to do? I don't like Arthur that way and I don't even know if he realizes that I know about our arranged marriage. Maybe he thought it was a joke. Maybe he just went along with the plan, oblivious that it was actually him.

And it had to be him. Why else would Nina have acted weird by the mention of his name? It seemed odd that Arthur wasn't aware of his royalty.

But what if he has known all this time and actually knew what he was saying when he was speaking with my father? What if he is acting dumb around us? That would mean he did know about our arranged marriage....

My brain was about to explode from all of the confusion that I had to sit down. I made my way over to the nearest rock and plopped down on it, completely exhausted.