Just as the man instructed, Cecilia followed his lead. She pressed her back to the wall, her breath caught in her chest, and peered around the corner to see that the guard still had his back to the hall. Cautiously, she dashed towards her rescuer. Her eyes were wide as she looked back over her shoulder. The guard had no idea.

She nodded to the soldier and they continued their trek. By the time they reached the North Wing, Cecilia was unable to keep her attention on the task before them. Her head was on a swivel, taking in all of the once familiar sights around her. They headed wordlessly down a hallway that she had chased cats down as a young girl. A tapestry hung along a corridor that she had once attempted to climb, only to learn the cruel effects of gravity and sprain her wrist when it let go and sent her falling to the floor.

The walk through memory lane distracted her until she noticed that they were nearing the east side of the castle. They were almost at the stables.

All at once, she was snapped back to their escape. Her stomach twisted anxiously. All of the temporarily forgotten questions came flooding back. Where was the carriage going to take her? Who was this man?

She decided on only one question as the east exit came into view. “Why are you doing this?” Cecilia whispered. She didn’t want to sound ungrateful, but there were a lot of things that had yet to be answered. “If the Queen finds out...” She trailed off, not wanting to think too much about what exactly the Queen would do. If the princess had been thrown in a cell for five years, there was no telling what she would do to the people who rescued a traitor from her execution.