Before a Once Upon A Time

The 'Princess' and the Assassin...Er...Pea -A Happy Compromise

Story 4 - The 'Princess' and the Assassin...Er...Pea 

Part 6 - A Happy Compromise

An hour after the ball had begun, Marie grabbed a piece of paper she had been fingering and rubbing and folding for the past hour. It now looked at thought the paper was days old, had passed through many hands and had been read over many times. She crumpled the paper in her fist and walked calmly to the door to the stable where she paused and then rushed in, crying that she needed a horse immediately. A stable boy rushed to help her, saddling a pony that had pulled her carriage her and helping her up. She frantically rushed into the night, and straight towards the main entrance of the castle. She shouted at the castle guards, convinced them to let her out. But, there was one stipulation. Marie continued the next leg of her journey hindered by a guard that trotted beside her, trying to keep pace with her almost carefully controlled anxiety (Or at least that was how she would appear. Marie herself was cool as a cucumber. Or was it zucchini? Uh….Who knows?)

However, this obstacle was soon removed when she was out of view of the castle, where she promptly knocked the poor man out and dragged him off the main road, tying his horse up behind a thick, tall bush that would hide it fairly well from anyone who might want to steal a royal guard’s horse.

She rode all the way to town and collected the princess. Within the inn, which had been paid a great sum for discretion, Marie peeled off the princess’s skin with relief.  It had been so long since she had been herself and she was happy to see her lighter hiar and brighter eyes once more.  But there was also an undercurrent of apprehension. She had to go back to the castle. Would James recognize her? No. If he did, he was a master of decryption because it was a puzzle of the ages to work out without over half the pieces. And now, even if she wanted to, she could never be with James. He wouldn’t even know it was her and even if he did, he couldn’t be with her. Relief at being herself and no longer having to lead James down a path they couldn’t take fought with anxiety of discovery and melancholy. Over the past few days, awful as they had been, there had been happy moments, the moments she had felt herself, that she didn’t have to share with anyone. The moments with James. Now that he was no longer an option, she could admit it to herself. She had fallen, at least part of the way, in love with James.

And so, she had to conquer her feelings for just a few more hours. She still lacked all the rest she would need to get back at 100 percent but she knew that she could operate at a suitable level to complete her mission or she would have found a way to hand it over. Get the princess to the castle without anyone figuring out the switch, without any fuss. She almost sighed before she realized why. She almost wanted someone to realize that the princess was different- it would make her happy to know people could tell they were different. But her whole purpose was to not be different from the princess. She wanted self-realization when her whole purpose was to be a copy of the princess. At least it would end when she got the princess to the castle. The whole thing could end; she could move on, go home and find someone who was not a prince to love. Someone she had a chance with. She would give James up and…why? Why did that thought hurt so much? It shouldn’t. It was what she was trained to do-she was trained to live a day or a few days in the life of the princess and return to her normal one. But why did that have to hurt so bad now? Love was always made out to be sweet in stories-why did it hurt so much with her? Was something wrong in her heart?

Never mind. The mission. She had to focus on dealing with the mission. Then she could cry the tears that were slowly filling her heart. And then her heart would be empty. And ready to love again. Someone else. Someone new. Maybe. She hoped.  It would bad for her if it didn’t. She would forever be pining after something that would never happen. And with that happy thought, she got the princess on her horse and started the long walk back to the guard who would still be asleep; the clothes of whom she would steal and ride the horse of back into the castle. It would help make the whole thing less strange, the princess riding back with a guard, the same way she had left (and of course the guard would wake up, sneak back in, embarrassed and maybe be suspicious of the princess for a while before assuming he was just being silly and that he must have done something stupid and wandered into the woods without any clothes- drunk probably.)