The Tale of a Princess Fallen from Grace

Chapter Seventeen

Rose hardly slept for the rest of that night. A maid had brought her dinner and a letter from her sister Aurora asking if she was all right, but neither Henri nor Nijah retired to bed. She settled down in a spare room in their quarters (which used to be Kinnette's room), but her mind refused to shut down, the echo of the realisation of her love weighing heavily on her. She had never been in love before, but she knew without a doubt that her feelings were that strong for Romi. He saw her as she truly was, during her most vulnerable times with no filter, no expectations, only acceptance, and dare she say it - love.

Nevertheless, did Romi love her? Was she a worthy recipient? It was no secret that she had committed sins in the past that had blackened her name against God. She had been praying for forgiveness for years, but was it enough? Was she allowed to be happy now?

Soon the sun started to trickle in through the window and the birds began singing to each other melodically. Rose could not wait any longer. She had to see Romi to make sure he was safe, and decide whether it was worth telling him her feelings. Of course, he was still mad at her, but Rose knew she would get down on her knees and beg for forgiveness if it came to it. He was far too important to her to let something like this cause a rift between them.

Hurriedly she pulled on the dress the maid had left out for her the previous evening, and made her way out of one of the secret exits, as there were most likely guards waiting for her outside the main doors. There were hidden escapes all over the place, and Rose only knew about a handful from Henri and Nijah, but she remembered that the fireplace actually had a hidden staircase behind it leading to a trapdoor hidden in the castle wall. It took a moment of fiddling to find the trigger that unlocked the secret passageway, but when she pressed on the third tile on the right of the fireplace, there was a whirring clicking sound, which opened to reveal a dark spooky pathway.

Rose did not linger for long and soon crawled into the space, jolting as she heard the door click back into place behind her. The air was freezing and Rose could hardly see anything as she scuffed her hands along the dusty floor - at least she hoped it was dust. Her gasp resonated through the dark space when she almost fell forward, having found the staircase. She rose on wobbly feet and clung at the wall for guidance before cautiously making her way down the winding staircase, which became awfully tight at some points.

After nearly slipping three times Rose hit a dead end. It took her a moment of earnestly scratching around to find a small bronze latch, which as she pulled it caused her to tumble out on to a gravel pathway. Thankfully there were no shocked eyewitnesses to her ungraceful entrance to the warm - yet still dark - outside world. She sent a quick prayer of thanks to the God above and closed the secret door (which blended in seamlessly to the rest of the wall) before collecting herself and wandering towards the stables. When she eventually found her bearings (after dodging three sets of guards patrolling the area), she managed to slip into the impressively large and grand stables. One of the other stable hands directed Rose into a stable on the far left, where she found Romi feeding a young, skittish horse.

She stood at the entrance and watched for a while, a loving smile blooming on her face as she watched him be so kind and gentle, soothing the charcoal coloured horse. She realised then that it was impossible for her not to fall in love with someone with such a pure and gentle soul. Romi must have caught a glimpse of her out the corner of his eye, as he suddenly turned and pursed his lips together, not allowing a smile to appear.

"Good morning Romi." Rose murmured with red cheeks, suddenly feeling extra nervous to be around him.

"Good morning Rose. It is rather early for you to be up." He commented, and she noticed his eyes strayed downwards towards her messy dress. She had no reason to believe her hair was in any better condition as she had left it down wild and free.