Castles That Crumble

eighteen

"Princess Mary? What are you doing down here?" A guard asks me as I'm making my way into the dungeons.

"Visiting someone." I say dryly. "If you want to free them please let me know." The guard says.

I nod and continue walking. I make my way into the cells and walk until I see a familiar face, the face I was looking for.

"You." I say quickly, fixing my posture. The man sits up from his bed and walks towards me.

"I didn't know you were a royal, princess." The man says.

"And what is your excuse for saying that to any woman in the first place?" I ask. This was the man who asked me such a rude question yesterday while I was shopping.

"I don't know, princess" The man admits. "I didn't mean to offend your future husband, give him my apologies, please." Sebastian says.

"Oh, it isn't my future husband you should be afraid of. It's me you should be scared of." I say, fiddling with my hands.

"Princess please, tell me your punishment." Sebastian pleads.

I giggle. "No punishment, I believe in second chances, and I believe people make mistakes."

Sebastian raises an eyebrow. "You mean, I wont die?" Sebastian asks.

"Of course not." I say quickly. "Guard, please release this man." I motion for the guard to come.

"Of course, princess." Once the guard releases Sebastian, I take him into the dressing room for new clothes.

"Try this on." I say to Sebastian. He tries it on and it fits. "Perfect." I say. "Now, how about a game of chess?" I say.

Before Sebastian can answer, I start walking to the hallway, where the chess tables are. Different people look at me and whisper, I know many were thinking "What is the princess doing with a commoner?" but frankly, I don't care what other people think.

We sit down at the table. "Why are you being so kind to me?" I look down. "I just need friends, it's hard being a royal." I say and Sebastian nods.

"Thank you, I am forever in your debt." Sebastian says. I nod. "Just don't let my father find out about what you said." I lean in and whisper.

A hand touches my shoulder and my heart almost stops when I realize who it is. "Good morning, Mary." Nicolas says with a smile.

Nicolas stops smiling and his hand brushes over to his sword when he realizes who is sitting with me.

I quickly stand up, in front of Sebastian. "What are you doing, Mary?" Nicolas grunts.

"Please, just give him a second chance, he'll be off back to the village in a couple minutes."

Nicolas sees the forgiveness in my eyes and nods, letting his hands rest. "I get where you coming from, I just-" I start, but Nicolas stops me.

"Wouldn't you act the same way if someone were to say such a thing to your future partner?" Nicolas asks.

I nod, because I would. I'd want to protect them from everything.

"Let's walk Sebastian out." I say to Nicolas and we make our way to the carriage.

Sebastian steps in the carriage. "Thank you again, Mary." Sebastian says.

"Of course, please, someday come back to visit." I say with a smile, bumping my elbow into Nicolas, motioning for him to smile too.

"Goodbye, Sebastian." I say, and wave for the coach to go.

Once the carriage is gone, I turn to Nicolas. "Thank you for giving him a second chance."

"I didn't, I just know you wanted to give him a second chance, so I trusted you." Nicolas says, taking my hand.

Without thinking, I throw my hands around him, pulling him into a hug. Nicolas, without hesitation, hugs me back.

"Thank you." I whisper into his ear.

When we finally break apart, I walk back inside the castle, with Nicolas by my side.

Anne and Catherine come up to me. "I want to go shopping." Anne says. "Well let's go!" I say, exited.

"Do guards have to come?" Catherine asks. Catherine is not a big fan of guards, she hates them.

"Catherine you know it wouldn't be possible for me to-" I start.

"I'll come. I'll keep you ladies safe." Nicolas says. Catherine and Anne smile and run off to the carriage.

I spin around to Nicolas. "But you hated shopping with me yesterday?" I ask, confused.

"I don't trust anyone else to keep you safe, I'd protect you with my life, Mary." Nicolas says, seriously.

In that moment, I knew he wasn't just using me. His feelings for me were sincere.

♡

"I like this one." I say. "It'd look gorgeous on you." Nicolas says.

Nicolas has been sitting down, with his hand on his sword, ready to defend me and my ladies at any minute.

He's been watching us scatter throughout the store, picking up dresses we like. I think it's safe to say he's been watching me the most though.

A couple stores ago, I hid behind a clothing rack for five minutes. Once Nicolas realized I was gone, he went crazy trying to find me. I thought it was funny but Nicolas didn't laugh.

"I'm going to go try these on." Anne comes up behind me with a stack of dresses. Her family is wealthy so she has no worries about money. "Okay." I nod and Anne walks away.

I take a seat beside Nicolas. Nicolas is still sitting down with all our bags. "Didn't find anything?" Nicolas asks.

"No, not really." I say, leaning my head on his shoulder. Part of me was waiting for him to move me, but he didn't. He just let me lie there.

"You guys are so cute." Catherine says. I giggle and sit up. I look at Nicolas who appears to be blushing.

"Anne should be back any minute, do you have anything you want to try on?" I ask Catherine.

Catherine points to her pile of clothes that she has already tried on. Catherine walks away to do one last browse before Anne comes back.

"Ready?" I ask Nicolas. Nicolas gets up and pulls gold out of his pocket. "Here, go pay for their things, it's on me."

I smile and nod. When I walk up to the store clerk she immediately bows. "Here you go." I say, handing her the gold.

The store clerk takes the gold and all four of us leave the store.