Princess Raeanne

Hundreds of beautiful birds chirp around me and I open my eyes to see the sun has fallen quietly behind the massive tree line. The sun has begun to set on my last day as princess. Come tomorrow morning, I will be a queen of an entire nation and will no longer have a chance to live a normal - or semi normal - life.

It is going to be dark soon. I must begin to make my way back to the castle before my dear mother has a heart attack in my absence. The poor woman is probably weeping at the thought of me being missing for this long without any trusted guards at my side. She just lost her beloved husband. I can not imagine what she might be thinking right now with me being absent from the castle for an entire day.

Her daughter, missing, out in the world with a man she does not call her husband sleeping next to her. She is going to kill me when she finds out what he did to me- if she finds out. I can only pray that she does not. I would be ruined. My reputation, soiled forever.

I stand myself up and grab all of my clothes. I begin redressing myself. Living with servants for my whole life, I have truly forgot how to put some of these blasted things on. It is no easy feat! I really should give them more credit.

I loosely tie my corset, knowing mother will see it. I did not know it was this hard to tie one of these by yourself. That must be the reason why I have three people whose specific job is to do this for me.

I lift my cloak and watch the shiny bracelet fall out of the folds.

I lift the delicate piece of jewelry gifted to me by my companion for the day and place it in the open palm of his sleeping body, closing his fingers around it slowly so that it does not fall from his grasp. I do not want to take it with me. He did not make me pay for it and I now know that his family is tight with money. I could never take it away from him like that.

I do not have any money or valuable items on me or else I would leave something to help him and his mother survive. I wish I could. He is such a sweet boy. I truly do care about him.

He was so nice to me. The entire day was a blessing. I am glad I got to spend my last free day with him. I would have never wanted it to be any other way.

The way he treated me, I wish I could experience that more often. The men mother brings to me as a potential husband have been nothing but a pretty face with a lot of money and land with a bad attitude and crude humor.

Michael is different. He complimented me the entire time we were together. He was gentle with me. He was a gentleman, even though he did not know of my title. I could have him executed if he treated me wrong. But even without the threat of execution, he was kind. Why is every man not like that in the slightest?

I would marry a man who carries himself that way. Not the arrogant men mother brings to me on a daily basis. I would marry Michael.

If I could. If my status would allow it. If mother would allow it.

I lift my dress to avoid getting it any more dirty than it already is and walk up the hill in to the more wooded area of the forest.

I look back at Michael, still peacefully sleeping on the patch of dirt we laid on after our swim. Hoping we can see each other again, I smile to myself.

Someday, we will.

I run through the trees, wanting to get back to the castle before night falls and thieves fill the forest.

I already had a run in with thieves today. I do not need to have another. Mother would kill me if I came home all cut up and bruised on the eve of my coronation. That is, if she is not already going to kill me for sneaking out of the busiest and most important day in castle, unattended.

I sigh and search for an alternate route as a group of my royal guards come in to view.

I run through the trees, trying to keep silent enough to stay unnoticed. It is dark enough that I may be able to sneak past them if I am careful enough.

I hide myself behind a tree to catch my breath. Dodging trees and bushes while running in the darkness is a lot harder than it looks.

I step away from the tree. My foot lands on a fallen branch, cracking it in half. I bite my lip, hoping they did not hear it. I stand still and wait for someone to speak.

Waiting a few seconds and realizing I must have gotten away with it, I begin to run towards the castle again.

"STOP! Right where you are!" One of the guards shouts, spotting me through the trees as I run.

I stop abruptly in my place, slump my shoulders over, and pull the hood of my cloak down. They caught me. There is no getting out of this now.

A guard grabs my arm and holds me tight. Another grabs my other hand to ensure I do not wriggle my way out of their safety. It's not like I have a history of escaping their grasps and running away or something... Okay maybe I do have a bit of a problem.

My mother's head guard walks over to where I stand, defeated, shoving his sword back in to the holder in his belt.

"Take the princess back to the castle. Her mother is waiting in the throne room to deal with her punishment." He speaks, booming with power.

I wonder if they will speak to or about me this way when I am queen? I guess we will find out tomorrow.

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