The Crown cannot Help You

Chapter 16: The Innkeeper

Audelia couldn't remember much from that night once she closed her eyes. Her sleep was filled with no dreams as they had been as a child, but nor was it filled with her usual nightmares. It was merely a way to stop the pain, and that's all she cared about.

But right now, she was wide awake. The pain rushed back the moment her eyes opened, and it forced her to stay still as every time she moved it worsened. She was trapped in place by her own body, so she tried her best to look around using only her eyes, and from what she could see, it was evident that she was no longer in the alley.

Instead, she found herself in a small room. The room had a single window to the left of her which she was unable to look out of, but from the lack of light shining through it, she knew it was night. There was barely any furniture within the room, something Audelia found unusual being that her room at the palace with filled with various expensive items. Audelia noticed there was also no particular theme to the room, the walls were a plain white and the singular chest of drawers opposite her, was a fading colour of red.

Audelia had also found herself resting upon a bed that was barely long enough to fit her entire body upon it, her toes threatening to hang over the edge. The mattress was also far from the comfiest thing she'd ever slept upon, but after having slept on the hard floor for months, she was incredibly grateful for it. Her head then rested against a single deflated pillow and her body was covered by a thick woollen blanket, meaning she couldn't truly assess the damage.

She tried to push the covers off of herself, but her body refused to listen, and didn't move as asked. This made Audelia panic, and suddenly the blanket on top of her felt like it weighed hundreds of pounds. She felt herself suffocating, sweat forming across her forehead as the panic drove her body into a fight or flight response.

The adrenaline that was now rushing around her body, then geared her mind into overdrive and suddenly, everything hit her at once. The past few months with Flynn, her father's death, her mother's betrayal, the new bounty that was upon her head and how she had almost died.

She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. All she wanted to do was scream, to release into the world the hurt she was feeling. And so, she did.

A blood-curdling scream tore from her pink lips, as tears streamed down her face. Since her father's death her heart had felt as though it was made of glass, completely fragile, but now it felt as though that glass had shattered and was now tearing her body to shreds. So, she screamed, not thinking she would ever stop.

Tabitha had been cleaning the last of her kitchen when the screams began rattling through the wall. The hair across her whole body stood up as the cries sent ice through her veins. Tabitha sprinted to her room where she'd had left Audelia and shoved the door wide open.

The room was dark, so it took a second for Tabitha's eyes to adjust, but when they did, she saw Audelia laying upon the bed as she had left her. She hadn't moved an inch, and if Audelia hadn't been screaming, Tabitha would have entirely believed Audelia was dead.

Tabitha stepped into the room carefully, attempting not to alert the princess, as she watched tears pour down her hallow face.

Tabitha not knowing what else to do, ran to her. She asked Audelia if she was hurt but received no response, so Tabitha climbed into the bed next to her ad just held her tightly.

Audelia finally moved as she felt Tabitha grab her, she screamed and waved her limbs around wildly, but Tabitha just held onto Audelia tighter. Eventually, Audelia stop moving again and Tabitha just comfortingly stroked her hair until Audelia fell into a deep sleep that Tabitha knew she needed.

Tabitha had rescued her that morning. As after helping her hide and then providing vague instructions as to where to go next, Tabitha immediately felt guilty and ran out of the inn to offer the Princess more help. But instead, she ended up stumbling upon the Princess being attacked by a few ex-colleagues.