The Burden of Freedom

Chapter 7

I shut my eyes, waiting for an impact that never comes. It takes me a moment to realize that I haven't fallen to my death, a moment to feel the warm hands grasping my arms, pulling me up. My shoulders scream, my feet scrabbling against the side of the wall.

My foot snags against a brick, allowing me to push up. My arms are over the side of the wall now, elbows scraping against the stone in my effort. Muscles screaming, I throw myself forwards until I am sprawled on the top of the wall. 

My breaths come in great heaves and I take a moment to orient myself, pushing myself to my hands and knees. 

I'm alive. Somehow, I'm alive. 

I smile in relief. 

"Are you alright?" My savior's voice is soft and concerned and I recognize it immediately.

Leopold.

"I'm fine," I say, keeping my face lowered towards the ground. "Thank you for that."

From under the rim of my cap, I can see the smile on his face, the dimples in his cheeks. He gives a little bow, sweeping his cloak around his slender frame.

I feel the blood rising to my face in shame. This is the second time in the past two days that a man has had to catch me from falling. First it was Silas in that tree. Now it's Leopold here.

My life is like a really bad novel and it sort of makes me want to rip my hair out.

"I do have to ask," Leopold says, hand scrubbing at his cheek. "Why are you leaving the castle?"

For a moment, I think that he recognizes me. 

Is that such a bad thing? I wonder if I should tell him the truth of who I am or if I should pretend to be someone I'm not. Making a decision I know I'll probably regret, I rip the cap of my head.

My braid falls down my back and I lift my chin, standing my ground. Leo just stares at me for a second, and I can see exactly the moment when he realizes who he is looking at.

"Evelynne? What are you doing out here?"

I wonder when he started calling me by my first name. It doesn't bother me. I climb to my feet, brushing the dirt of the knees of my pants and straightening up. I come up to his shoulders and I have to look up to see into his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I have to leave," I say to him, turning to face away from him.

Leo runs a hand through his hair, the copper curls sticking up at odd places. I want to reach up and brush them back into place, run my fingers over the worry lines on his forehead. My heart flutters and I squeeze my eyes shut to push the images away.

When I open them again, Leopold is standing next to me, leaning precariously over the wall. His shoulder brushes my own.

"You want to leave the castle," he says.

It is not a question, but I nod in response, not wanting to speak the words aloud.

"I wish you wouldn't go, my lady," he says to me.

"I have no reason to stay."

I look across the other side of the wall and into the city below us, my heart aching.

I don't normally see the city I live in, and I have never seen it at this time of night. It's beautiful, a quiet peace coming over the houses that are shrouded in thick shadows. The moonlight is weak, illuminating the tops of the buildings, casting cheerful but diluted light in the streets.