Fairytale Love | Karlnap • Royal Au

Chapter 30

   Heavy strokes of pink brushed the dawn. Pink, like the ballet slippers worn by the dancers Sapnap had taken him to see only two evenings ago. A lifetime ago.

   Chimes from the clock tower rattled Karl's nerves. Six o'clock. Just yesterday, he'd been in the duke's' chamber, preparing for his first introduction to the king and his court. Funny how much could change in half a day.

  The clock tower went silent, and he wondered if that had been the last time he would ever hear its bells. Whether it would be the last time he ever saw L'manberg again.

   He pressed his cheek against his cell's lone window, staring at the palace. How near it was, so near he could make out the colours of the curtains drawn against each window, but so far no-one would hear him if he shouted for help.

   After I escaped Mr Laverre, I'd promised I'd never feel so helpless again.

   Hus fists clenched. But what can I do? He'd tried everything: pleading with the guards outside, pulling at the bars on her window, kicking at the door—all to no avail. His fairy godmother couldn't help her escape a locked cell and calling for him would only incriminate Karl further. The only person who could do anything was Sapnap, but if he'd gotten the duke's falsified letter from him and believed it...

   No. He wouldn't believe it. Karl clung to the hope that he was looking for him. He had to be.

   But would he find him before the Grand Duke sent him away?

   All night he'd dreaded the duke's return, feared being sent so far from L'manberg that Sapnap would never find him. Unable to sleep, he'd curled against the wall, squeezing the bars of his window as he waited for the outside world to wake. It was an ordinary day to everyone else.

   Everyone but him.

   Finally, he released the bars, his fingers so stiff it hurt to move them.

   Three mice nipped at the frayed remains of a rope snaking across his cell. He knelt beside them, taking solace in their company. In the weeks since he'd fled his stepmother's house, Karl had tried to forget his past life, but he suddenly missed the little friends he'd left behind,

   A faint but familiar pang of loneliness touched his heart and Karl pulled his legs to his chest, hugging himself close. It was cold in his cell, the  sleeves of his suit clinging to the goosebumps that'd risen on his arms.

   Just as he closed her eyes, trying to summon a happy thought that might relieve the heaviness in his chest, the sound of a key turning in the prison door made him lurch.

   He shot to his feet. Dared he hope it was Sapnap? Or the duke, perhaps. Alas, it was the duke. His tall, wiry figure emerged from behind the prison door, a frigid breeze accompanying him and jostling the blue tassels hanging from his shoulders.

   "Get!" He stomped on the floor, trying to scare the mice away. When they disappeared into the holes of the walls, he exhaled with relief and finally greeted him.

   "I thought you'd like to know that preparations are being made for your departure."

   "I am not a sorcerer," he said defiantly, "and you know it."

   "I am quite aware of that. If you were, you would not still be in your prison cell, obviously, and we would have taken no chances with your punishment, which would have been far more severe."

   His response surprised Karl. "Then why am I here?"

   The duke heaved a sigh, the corners of his mouth turning downwards. If not for the gleam in his eye he might have actually looked like he pitied him. "My role as adviser to the king is not an easy one. I take no joy in uprooting your life and causing the prince distress."