She felt blessed, like the Stars themselves had granted her this. There was no limit, no rules or constraints. She was boundless; she was home, safe and secure in his unbreakable embrace.
~
Shackled in an abrupt and demanding upbringing, Althera is...
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She was leaving. She was leaving this wretched place, and no one was going to stop her.
Althera threw the last of her things into the makeshift pouch she'd created using an old gown. She didn't have much to pack - there wasn't really anything she owned here except for some dresses which weren't hers in the first place. She still needed food for the journey (it was more of an escape) so that she wouldn't starve on the way. The kitchens weren't far, so she just had to somehow maneuver her way past the guards on their shifts in that area.
It'd been utterly pointless for the king to call her to him when all he'd wanted to tell her was... She didn't even want to think about it. It would only make her more exasperated than she already was. Surprisingly, she'd gotten her temper under control and didn't attack him like she secretly hoped she would. And that Captain of the Guard! He was equally as infuriating as the king. The very thought of both of them together made her blood boil.
Althera's nails dug into her palms. She couldn't recall ever escaping from a place before, so she had to rely entirely on instinct. She was sick of the palace, and her mind was set on getting out of this hellhole. Even if she had nowhere else to go.
Slinging the bag over her shoulder, she trampled out of her room, pulling the hood over her head. She'd been terribly angry and flustered when she arrived back at her rooms and wanted nothing but to rid herself of everything that had been close to the king. She'd stripped out of her nightgown and tossed it into the embers of the fire blazing in the hearth, for once appreciating the lighting of her fireplace by her maids that morning. It served as a great way of destroying things she wanted gone. She glanced at it now - the flames had died down and microscopic pieces of wrinkled and ash-covered fabric stuck out of crevices in the timber.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Althera pushed out into the foyer. Kartella wasn't sitting in the rocking chair knitting like she normally would be, which was a relief. She would have been the biggest flaw in her plan. The last thing she desired was to have the head maid's intelligent blue eyes turned to her and making her feel guilty for ever thinking of leaving.
She'd taken her time walking through the castle and memorizing the different routes for future reference. From her newly furnished room, she could slip along the hallway and stay out of sight from anyone who came by if she kept close to the walls. The blackness always created enough cover for her to move about freely without getting spotted. But the rest of the way was more complicated. She'd need to find a way to distract the guards for a sufficient amount of time for her to creep past without notice. She couldn't risk being caught. She would think of something.
Drawing the dark cloak tighter around her frame, Althera slithered out the door, gingerly closing it behind her. She wouldn't make the same mistake of alerting anyone of her sneaking out like last time. She'd been too naive to calculate her chances of not alarming people around her.
