You're a spoiled princess who keeps flirting with this one guy who's visiting court with his master, and he keeps rejecting you. You're parents, the king and queen, were brutally murdered by assassins barely half a decade earlier and you and your brother (your parents biological son) were lucky enough to have been spared. However, upon your brother's succession to the throne, he began to ostracize you from royal matters, treating you as a senseless and frivolous individual, and as a consequence, that's what you became.
You continue to flirt with the visiting apprentice, and to your increasing frustrations, he continues to reject you. Your relationship is tense, until finally you decide "screw it! I've got better things to do than hang out with rat-brained scum" Then late one night, after a ball you walk in on your brother, the king in the act of killing the aforementioned master. You haven't been noticed yet, but you hear mention of the apprentice being next.
You don't know why, but you immediately tear off to find him, in the process dropping one of the many ornaments that anoint your dress and alerting them to your presence. The guards are immediately sent after you and you run faster, kicking off your dancing shoes in the process. You find the apprentice and call out to him, when he sees you he immediately scowls, you hear guards further down the hall behind you and you don't have time to catch your breath. The apprentice moves to walk away from you but you grab him by the arm and move to his yourselves behind a large flower pot.
Annoyed, he struggles against you but you tighten your grip on his wrist, with fierce eyes you manage to convince him to make less of a scene. Your whole bodies trembling, but you don't let go of his hand, you don't break eye contact either. You try your best to steel your nerves, and you quickly tell him about the conversation you overheard. His face turns serious, he looks like he doesn't believe you, and yet still, as the guards approach he grabs your arm, shoving you both into what you assume is a storage closet.
As they pass by you both hear mention of your brother's in order to not only kill the apprentice, but you as well. You're shocked. So shocked even, that you don't protest when the apprentice leads you out of the castle, into the rain. You say nothing of the cold or the mud as you follow him to the stable or as he readies himself a horse. You cannot fathom it. Your brother wants you dead. The brother whom you loved with your whole heart, would so quickly resort to killing you. You hear yelling in the distance, and can make out the faint glow of torches from the front gates. You watch as the apprentice boards his horse.
Despite the ache in your chest, you're glad for him. You're glad that he will not die a death he did not choose. Not like your parents. Not like you. He rides his horse up beside you and after a moment, he holds out a hand to you. You stare at it. What does he want? You look up at him, his scowl is deeper than you've ever seen it before, but there's something else too. Something in his eyes. Before you can open your mouth to say anything he speaks.
"Don't get the wrong idea princess" the word is bitter against his lips. The same way he always says it. "I cannot very well have you caught, and exposing my whereabouts to save your own skin." You glare at him, immediately smothering the thought that you had seen something else in his eyes. Some kindness or sympathy. You hear the stomping of boots once again. They're closer now. So close you can see the glow of torches slips through the cracks of the wooden stable illuminating it with a faint gold. I'm going to die.
You think to yourself. I'm going to be murdered on the king's orders. My brothers order. A heavy sense of despair washes over you once again. In the corner of your vision you see the apprentice's hand again as he makes a gesture for you to take it. His horse takes a few steps, as it grows more agitated. Someone bangs on the stable door but the apprentices holes the reins steadfast, gesture for a third time.
Never once does he take his eyes off of you. Another bang. And another. It all happened so quickly, you grabbed the apprentice's hand as soon as the front doors burst open to reveal nearly two dozen of the kings men he pulls you onto his horse, seating you between himself and the reins, and then in one swift movement, the two of you are on your way. Covered by the blanket of night and soon to be protected by a canopy of trees as you enter the forest. Your ride and you ride and you ride.
Away from the life you've known. From the home of your mother and your father. If your brother. As the intensity if the night begins to wear off, you can't help but silently cry to yourself as the apprentice urges the horse forward. Your glad for the rain, as it camouflages your tears, hiding them from this non socialable stranger, who probably just saved your life. Whether he meant to or not, you couldn't be sure.
