The princess was unable to keep her eyebrows from shooting up at the soldier's blatant disrespect for the Queen. She would have laughed, had she not been so shocked by his brashness. From the corner of her eye, she regarded him curiously, a small frown tugging at her lips. She kept silent as he led her through the dungeon, immediately intrigued by this man. It had been a long time since something had piqued Cecilia's curiosity.

Her curiosity only grew when he led her away from the prison yard and up the staircase into the castle.

There were a thousand questions bubbling up inside of her, and it had been such a long time since she had been this close to another human being that was not the jailer or Malcolm. She was due to be executed. Prisoners were taken directly to the prison yard from the dungeons. The jailer had told her so himself, just the other day. Why was he taking her to the castle? Halfway up the stairs, she was unable to take it anymore.

"Sir, where are you taking me?" she blurted out. Even though she was unable to contain the question, her voice was a mere whisper as they climbed the stone steps. She had a distinct feeling that this was a time for whispering.