Chapter 2

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2

"Make sure on this time around you pull yourself up to the horses head, it makes it easier for the horse to carry you." Kate says. Kate wears the same outfit as I do, her red hair in a high pony tail with her bangs getting in the way because of the hot wind. She is the only paid trainer in the castle that has brown eyes; her eyes remind of my favorite dress that was my mother's. We are the same height so it makes it easier to look at her in the face. Sweat runs down my forehead and neck; the sun is high in the sky with no clouds to give me shade; I've been out here for hours it seems. It doesn't help having black hair; it just makes me even hotter. I can tell the horse is exhausted as well because she sways back and forth and her tail skims my back.

"Then can we be done?" I ask. I really just want this day to be over with, but it's far from being over. Kate looks at me and smiles. We have always seen each other as companions, she gets why I'm nice to people even though they have treated me wrong. Kate understands me, she knows that I try hard to obey everyone and respect them. If she wasn't my trainer she would be out in the streets scavenging for food, just like the rest of the village. My father was the one to bring her in as my trainer. He had seen her with horses out in the wheat field, and my father has a love for horses. He loved the way Kate was with the horses, it was like Kate could talk to them and they would talk back. I guess that was back when my father still had a heart because I know now that if this was the same situation, he would not care if I knew how to ride or not; he was not letting a present in to this castle.

"Sure" and she buffed the horse in the behind and she took off with me on it.

~

I sit on a gold fluff chair in the library with a book in one hand and tea in the other. My legs are swung over the side; I find this position more comfortable even though I would be scolded at if I was to be seen, but no one comes in the library anymore besides me. I take a sip of my tea and set it on the table behind me and I flip the page and continue reading. When I read I can't help but imagine it, like I'm in the book or like I'm dreaming it.

"I imagine the sunset, all the different colors, and the warmth on my body. Oh how I miss the warmth, it's so cold and dark in here. I run my hands on the cell wall, their cold and damp. I can't see past my hands. I don't know what day it is, or how long I have been down here, it could have been years or mouths. It's been a long time since I have been feed but a drop of water descends every so often in to my mouth. My feet are so cold I can't walk anymore, and I have lost a lot of my hair. My finger nails are over grown and dirt and disease has taken them. I sometimes hear voices sing, or it might just be in my mind, but I like to sing with them sometimes. When I sing it comforts me, when I sing it gives me hope that I might live a few more hours."

"Hey book worm." I jump in my seat and scramble to sit right, dropping everything. I never have to worry looking appropriate in the library. Once I know I'm appropriate I look up embarrassedly at the person who invaded my privacy, and Leo stands in front of me; He laughs at me.

"If I would have known you were going to be so frightened about my approach, then I would have approached you more mannerly; but it is nice to see you try to be as royal as possible." He says giggling. I can only sit there a look at him. I could take these two ways.

"That's not funny Leo! I don't want to be caught looking this way." I stand up and I am two inches from his face. I try to look mad. Leos' laugh is gone and he looks at me stolidly. I guess that my facial expression worked. I stare at him for as long I can until I can't help but start to smile, and I lightly push him away and I jog towards the doors. It's harder to run with a dress, I had to change after my horse riding lessons. I can hear his feet jogging after me and I run faster. When I open the door Leo is at my feet but I push him off and keep running laughing while I do it. I make my way to the front of the castle. Through the windows I can see that it is heavily raining outside; perfect. I run straight for the grand doors and pull them open before any of the servants can. As I run in the rain I look behind me and see Leo smiling as he shakes his head and runs in the rain after me. I laugh out loud and run towards the oak tree where I read, but before I can get there Leo grabs me from behind. I let out a playful scream. He turns me around and I stare at him. Our clothes are already soaking wet, my hair sticks to my cheek and neck and my dress gets twice as heavy. Rain runs down Leo's eye brow and into his eye. We are two inches apart once again and I smile.

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