Out of the Forest and Into the Castle

Hideaway

Eric. He reminded me of Eric. I pulled away the moment I realized that he wasn't Eric. I was still in his arms for a mere moment before I scrambled farther back ripping off the blindfold. King Idres watched me confused. "Aurora?" I tumbled the chair back as I fell to the ground. I felt horribly nauseous.

I got up and ran. I wasn't sure where I was going.

Out.

I held my necklace as I ran through the hallways.

Left.

Right.

Right. Left. It doesn't matter.

I kept turning wildly avoiding knights and maids. My feet hit the stone with all the strength I had. I kept pushing. I kept running. Eventually, I managed to make it outside and I didn't stop. I kept running. I stumbled through the garden before my nausea caught up with me. I tried healing it, but I couldn't focus and I threw up everything. Shakey, I hurled up everything I had eaten in the last day. At some point, someone came and pulled my hair, which I had haphazardly held, out of my way. I dry heaved some more before collapsing to my knees.

"You need to get up," a female voice shook me from my daze.

"Anna?" I whispered. I was glad to see the maid. Though from my knees on the garden bed, I could barely make out her outline in the moonlight. I really just hoped it was her.

"Come on. Get up Aurora." Anna tugged at my arm pulling me. I thought perhaps I should just collapse here for the night. The cool wind felt good against my burning skin.

I pulled myself off the ground and stumbled toward a nearby bush. "I can't go back." I pulled back against her arm that she insistently tugged toward the castle.

Anna looked at me long and hard before sighing. "I want to ask what happened. However, you shouldn't tell me, or any maid, anything."

"Why?" I whispered weakly. Having someone to talk to may make all the difference in the world right now.

She pulled me into a hug. "Because..." She made a growl of frustration. "Because we cannot protect you from Eve's Deception Magic. Anything you tell any of us will get back to her whether by our free will or by force." Deception magic. That would make it easy for her to get not only information from me but the maids as well. Something I hadn't considered.

I began crying. "Who can I trust?"

"No one." Anna held me crying in her arms for a long moment. "However, I have decided to protect you how I can. You don't belong in the castle." She patted me on the head.

I said weakly, "I belong—" I belong with Eric. I belong in the forest.

She cut me off. "I don't want to know. Don't tell anyone your inner thoughts or plans. No one. Do you understand Aurora?"

"I do." Eric, I was never prepared for this. "But I am not sleeping in that bed." I could not sleep across from the king again.

She looked me over thoughtfully. "You don't have to. Come." We entered the castle together.

I followed hesitantly up the stairs. We weaved through the castle expertly avoiding the majority of the people. She pulled me into the maid's quarters. I recognized it immediately. There were bunked beds lined up each with a chest by the foot of the bed. Not all maids stay in a castle, but those who do stay here and it is terrible. You get almost no room, but you do become very close to your new sisters.

"You can stay here tonight. There is an extra bed," Anna pointed to a specific bed.

"It won't be plush bedding," a blonde woman piped up.