“Running away was easy; not knowing what to do next was the hard part.” Glenda Millard, A Small Free Kiss in the Dark.

---

Prologue

Spain, 1841

Ten year old Elena winced as the cold, wine soaked rag was pressed onto her lash wound.

“I am sorry,” whispered her maid and companion, twelve year old Marisol.

Marisol continued to dress Elena’s bloody wounds. Elena cried silent sobs as the pain hit her over and over. She could not see the lashing wounds but she could imagine that they were large welts. They would leave nasty scars.

“Why did you do it, Elena?” Marisol asked after she had finished dressing her injury. “You know what your father is like.”

Elena had behaved very foolishly. She had embarrassed her father in front of his Royal Court and so she had been punished with five lashes.

Elena’s father was the most powerful man in Spain. He was the King. King Juan Del Fuego. His temperament was that of their surname – fire. He was a very angry man who expected complete and total obedience from his wife and five children. Elena’s mother was born to the Danish royal family, once known as Princess Louisa. Upon her marriage to Juan, she had adopted the Spanish name ‘Lupe’, and had born the Spanish royal family heirs. Elena’s mother was very beautiful and proper, the exact opposite of Elena, which was why the two did not get along.

Elena was the youngest, and least loved of the five Spanish royals. What little affection her parents had for her had most likely evaporated with the display that she had put on in the throne room that morning.

Elena, like all of her siblings, had been betrothed. Her husband to be was a Portuguese prince and was twenty years her senior. They were to be married on her eighteenth birthday but the man had come to Spain to view his future bride for the first time. Elena had refused to see him publically. She had declared before the Court that she had no intention to be wed to an “old man”. Elena could agree that her rudeness did indeed require punishing, but the five lashes she had received had hurt more than anything that she had ever experienced.

“My father desires my blind obedience,” murmured Elena, her voice still thick from weeping.

He received blind obedience from her four elder siblings. The first born of King Juan and Queen Lupe, eighteen year old Infanta Gabriela, was Elena’s older and only sister. Gabriela had inherited her mother’s Scandinavian appearance. Her pale skin, hair and eyes made her one of the most desired women in Europe. Gabriela was her mother’s favourite. Elena did not much like Gabriela. She had been very cruel to Elena in her infancy. Elena could remember being pinched and poked so that she would cry. She was glad that Gabriela would soon be married off.

Her eldest brother, Joaquín, was the Prince of Asturias, and was so the heir to the throne of Spain. Joaquín was her favourite sibling, the only one who was kind and protective over her. Her sixteen year old brother had offered to take the lashing for her, but King Juan had refused, insisting that Elena had to learn her place. Nevertheless, Elena loved her brother for his bravery and kindness.  

Like her sister, Elena did not much like her fourteen and twelve year old brothers, Javier and Jorge. There was barely a moment of her childhood when her hair was not being pulled or burned. She and her brother’s shared their father’s characteristics. Like her brothers, Elena’s eyes were dark brown and her hair was very thick and the colour of charcoal.

“You have to behave at Court, Elena,” Marisol whispered as she pressed some more of the wine soaked rags on to her back. “You do not have the freedom to speak your mind.”

Elena hugged her pillow and sobbed. How she knew that. Her fate had been decided the day she was born. Daughters were of no use to a king. He could only use them as political pawns, manoeuvring them around the European kingdoms to solidify alliances. “My father wanted to unite Spain and Portugal. I am among the gold and trade travelling in eight years. I am mere cargo.”

“I am sorry,” Marisol said again.

“How I envy you, Marisol,” Elena whispered, wincing again at the pressure.

Marisol’s feather light fingers did their best to soothe Elena’s pain. “What do I have that a Spanish princess could possibly want?” Marisol’s father was a wealthy don. His connections at Court had made his child a companion to Elena as a child. Marisol was now her maid but she was more than that to Elena. She was her friend and most trusted confidante.

“I am betrothed, Marisol.” Elena wiped her tears on her pillow. At that moment, Elena’s betrothed was in the palace in a room somewhere. He had come to view his bride. Elena had publically refused to see him, but she would continue to refuse privately as well. “If I could wish for anything, I would wish to leave this place. I wish I was never a princess.” To the common man, Elena’s life had been blesses, and in a way it was. She had never gone hungry and she had never been without clean clothing and a comfortable bed, but she had always been denied the simple pleasures that her father’s subjects enjoyed. Familial love.

“Do you mean that?” Marisol’s hands paused on Elena’s back.

“What?”

“Do you mean that?” Marisol asked again. “Do you really wish to leave the palace?”

“Yes,” Elena said truthfully. What she would give to be a common girl.

“Then we shall make a plan.” Marisol spoke forcefully but in a language that Elena did not understand.

Elena believed that she had just spoken English, the native tongue of her mother. Marisol’s mother had been English, though she had died when Marisol was young. But her father believed it important that Marisol spoke both the languages of her parents.

Marisol covered Elena’s back with bandages and helped her to sit up straight. Elena looked into her brown eyes intently. “You will not be married until you are eighteen,” she began, returning to Spanish, “so we have eight years to prepare. We have eight years to plan and perfect your English.”

“But why English?” Elena asked.

“It is the only Court where your father does not have allies or spies. If you are seen in England, you will not be known as you would be if we travelled to Germany or Prussia.”

Were they seriously going to flee Spain?

Marisol took hold of Elena’s hand and squeezed it tightly. “Infanta,” she said softly, “you are my friend and I do not want to see you sad. I can help you. We can leave together.”

Elena was not sure. Her father would be furious. If he found out prior, or if he found her after she left, she would be whipped within an inch of her life.

“Elena,” Marisol said insistently, “you risked your father’s wrath today because you did not want to see your betrothed. You will be married to him in eight years unless we escape.” 

“But what will we do?” cried Elena. “My father will search the entire continent to find me. I will not be safe at Court!”

“We will not stay at Court,” Marisol replied. “We will go north and find work somewhere.”

If Elena was married into the Portuguese royal family, that was the end of her life. She would lose her identity and would be used to create heirs. It had happened to her mother, after all. She had come to Spain as a Danish princess. She had completely lost her identity. Her language was never spoken and her true name was never used. Elena had never met a member of her mother’s Danish family. If she had a small chance at a life away from Court, then she would take it. “I want to go,” decided Elena. “I want to go to England.

Marisol smiled triumphantly. “Repeat after me. My.”

“My,” said Elena, testing the word.

“Name.”

“Name,” repeated Elena.

“Is.”

Elena smiled, realising she was speaking English. “Is.”

“Elena.”

“Elena,” she finished.

“My name is Elena,” concluded Marisol.

“My name is Elena.” Elena knew what she had just said. Mi nombre es Elena was similar.

Both girls turned to Elena’s bedchamber door when they heard a knock.

“Say nothing to no one,” hissed Marisol as she went to the door to open it.

Elena’s elder brother, Joaquín, entered the room looking absolutely dreadful. He looked completely wracked with guilt. Elena suddenly missed her brother dearly, even though she would see him until she fled. Joaquín’s life would be different to Elena’s anyway. He was destined to rule. Elena was destined to reproduce.

“Elena,” he said sadly as he came to sit beside her on the bed. He sucked in a sharp breath when he saw her back even though it was bandaged. “There is no excuse for Padre. I tried to take it for you, I promise.”

Elena pulled a blanket over her shoulders to cover her exposed back. The movement was painful as her back was so tender. “I know, Joaquín,” she said softly, “but Padre cannot be reasoned with.”

Joaquín seized Elena’s jaw between his thumb and forefinger, forcing her to look into his dark eyes. “You must learn that, Elena,” he said seriously. “Until I am King, you must obey his rules. He lashed a ten year old child.” Joaquín shook his head in shame. “If he is willing to do such an atrocity, then there is no saying how far he will go next time. Behave!” he begged. “Promise me you will behave, Elena.”

Elena would behave. She would be on her best behaviour until it came time to run. “I will behave, Joaquín,” she promised.

Elena could not know what was to happen in the years to come. She could not know if her escape would be successful. But one thing was for certain. She would go down in Spanish history as the runaway princess.

---

I know it's short but it's the prologue. It gives you a taste of my heroine's past :)

The next chapter will take place in 1849 in England :) 

We sold our house *cries*! It's nice that the stress is over but it's kinda sad knowing that the house I grew up in is going to belong to someone else in a couple of months. My pink bedroom which my mum painted for me when I was 7 is going to belong to someone else. The saddest thing is that we have to leave Bella here. Mum isn't going to let me dig her up to take her to the new house so that's going to be really hard leaving my baby. Crap made myself cry! Anyways, we have our eye on a house 12 minutes (we timed it!) from our house that goes up for auction next week so keep your fingers crossed everyone!! 

Let me know if you like it :) Elena will be 18 next time we meet her :) David will be 22. Can't wait to get started!