The Fallen Prince

03

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Rowan's POV:

I don't know why this boy saved me, but I don't really care. If he is trying to trick me, my goal will be to murder him, but for now, I think I am safe.

If he is really helping me and wishes to free me, the least I can do is take him with me so that he does not endure whatever he has here. As time passes and we walk down the barren halls, I am more and more convinced that his provocative clothes and appearing as a prostitute is not his choice.

"Your king took my weapons. Where are they?" I ask, and he pauses to think.

His face falls. "He keeps his prizes in his trophy room. I can show you where it is, but I wish not to go in."

I shake my head. "I do not trust you. Not yet," I say, glaring at him. "You stay at my side at all times or I leave you behind."

He panics and agrees to stay at my side.

Even though he saved me, he also lied to me earlier about not speaking the same language as me and then doesn't want to stay with me.

He leads me to the trophy room he spoke of and I spot my weapons sitting on a table, so I snatch them and use the black strap that sits with them and strap them to my right arm because I am left handed.

I spot the boy staring at something at the wall, and I follow his eyes to... well shit, there is a human head in a glass box. Right beside it is a heart in another glass box, and I feel his breathing get heavier, probably leading to a panic attack.

Did he know the severed head when it was attached to its body?

"If you have a panic attack, I will leave you behind," I snap, making him look up at me, tears in his eyes and his bottom lip wobbling. "Oh, gods. Let's get out of here. Where is the nearest exit?"

He guides me down the hall and to a courtyard and points at a tree. "Can you climb?" he asks me, shivering a bit from the cold, especially because he is almost nude.

I nod, getting up on the tree before the boy, because if guards come after us, I am choosing my safety over his. If he's really experiencing horrible abuse here, I would feel bad leaving him, but it wouldn't be something that I would dwell on for very long.

To be honest, I just hope he does not irritate me on the journey back. I've killed people before, and if he annoys me enough, I'll have no regrets killing him and throwing his body in a river.

Once I'm on the stone wall, I turn around and find him skillfully climbing the tree and hopping up beside me on the stone wall.

He does not seem as helpless as I assumed, but it doesn't change my current opinion on him. I still don't trust him. If he's so skillfully climbing a tree, why didn't he escape in the past? If his life is so bad here?

Once we're on the ground, I guide him to the woods where I left my horse.

She is loyally waiting for me, and I help the boy onto her saddle before climbing on in front of him.

The boy behind me is so tense, and I don't know why that is. Does he have a fear of animals?

"Why are you tense?" I ask him, and he just shrugs, remaining silent.

Well, I won't waste my time for answers I don't care to have. I just wish to get home and tell my father about my lack of success and my plan for future infiltration.