Charlotte squeezed her slim body through the bars of the window in her room and thanked God for her fast metabolism, which ensured her slim figure, as she made her escape.
She found her friend Adam in the barracks. Training had been called off.
"So it's true?" he asked when they were alone.
"Yes, I suppose an announcement will be made later in the day, or perhaps tomorrow."
"What happened?"
"An Assassin."
"I'm sorry." He paused, trying to find the right words. "Fredrick was actually a decent person despite his position, he didn't deserve this."
But Fredrick was more than a decent person. He was a good person. She forgave her friend's ignorance. Most people, even in the castle only knew him as the crown prince. Royal, and in charge. Charlotte pitied them. Oh, how they had missed the chance to bathe in the grace of the most beautiful creature, inside and outside, that walked the earth.
"Yeah, well. Some would argue that no one does, but life goes on eh?" she smiled bitterly.
Her friend noticed her anger. After years of trying to stop her from fighting anything that disagreed with her, he was an expert. "Charlotte, I can see from your face that there is more, what else has happened?" He pressed, peering through her eyes into her soul.
"Not much," She answered, casually, averting her gaze, the pale blue sky suddenly very interesting. "Oliver will be king one day, and with his brother dead, the king saw it fit to find him a wife."
"And..? Why should this be any of your concerns?"
Charlotte took a deep breath. Bracing herself to acknowledge her reality in words. Her father always said that uttering something out loud was always the first step to acceptance. "I am to marry him."
"Why would you do that?" Adam asked, confused. "It's against you! It's against all your plans! Your future! Why would…"
"It was not a choice I made!" Her voice was louder than she would have preferred. "I have no choice in the matter Adam! The king has ordered it! I…" she trailed off, bursting into tears.
Her friend pulled her into his arms, rubbing her back and apologizing repeatedly, "I'm sorry love, I am so sorry Charlotte."
And when she had finally calmed down enough to be rational, Adam said, "We could run away." Forcing a giggle out of her.
"Where would we go where the king can't find us?" she asked.
"Why did it have to be you?" He changed the direction of the conversation.
"I don't know Adam, perhaps my father's position?"
"You could talk to Oliver, suggest someone else?"
"You think he had a say in the matter?"
"He wouldn't do that to you. Right?" There was an accusing and suspicious tone in Adam's question.
Charlotte stared at him blankly refusing to acknowledge his implication, and her friend immediately felt guilty. Trying to deliver himself, he stumbled about his words. " I just mean, you know how he feels about you..." A glare from Charlotte cut him halfway through his words.
He lifted his hands in surrender dropping the topic. "He wouldn't do that. Oliver is not one to betray someone for his gain."
Charlotte remained silent. There was an irony in the statement because Oliver was exactly the kind of person to betray others for his gain. No one mattered more to him than himself. She of all people, knew that.
And now, though her friend had dropped the topic, he had planted a thought in her head that wouldn't leave unless confirmed. Did her estranged friend have any part in her current predicament?
She pushed the thought away. Oliver would never. If he had, she would never forgive him. He knew that.
'No. Oliver wouldn't hurt me like this.' she convinced herself, moving on to find other options.
"Perhaps I could request an audience with the king, plead with him to choose someone more suitable?" She pitched to her friend, who was now staring into space, deep in thought.
"Who, Ameera?" He asked sarcastically. The ghost of a smile on his face.
"Well, she fancies the prince, and her father fought alongside the king during the great war," She said, seriously.
"So did your father, and she is not suitable, just willing. What would convince the king to choose someone else without sounding like you are trying to undermine his authority?"
She scrunched up her face, displeased. Though he was of course right, she hated his logical brain. She moved on to another idea.
"Perhaps, Elizabeth? Her family has many lands and many men. She is even named after the prince's mother. I could convince the king that it would offer moral support to the men to defend 'their' princess against the rebellion in the south."
"I'm sure the money and land is enough morale. But it wouldn't matter, they're obligated by law to fight with him."
"What do you suggest I do then Adam?" Charlotte asked burying her face in her hands, already giving up.
"We could run away before morning." This time, Adam was not joking.
But before Charlotte could consider his offer, two palace guards appeared around the corner, walking towards them. Their menacing regalia and focused gazes on them reminded her she was in the wrong place.
"Shit! I was supposed to be in my quarters awaiting the prince's proposal!" she said to her friend as they both stood up and faced the guards.
The palace guards stopped in front of them and one of them gave her a sealed envelope with the palace seal. She broke the seal and read the cursive message inside with her heart hammering in her ears.
She lifted her eyes to her friend, with mixed emotions, not sure whether it was a good or bad thing. "I've been summoned by the king."
"Well, here's your opportunity Charlotte." Then in a whisper, as they hugged goodbye, he added, "But please be careful with your words, the king has a very short temper."
She nodded.
She turned to the guards. "Thank you," she said dismissing them since they were still standing there. They did not move an inch.
"We are to escort you to the palace, ma'am, the king wouldn't want you to get… lost." One of them answered. Which to Charlotte, translated to, 'the king thinks you might run away.'
"I will need to dress then, we should stop by my quarters." She looked down at the training armor and tunic she still wore.
"The king specified that we were to escort you directly to the palace immediately."
Charlotte wondered if she would be able to survive belonging to the palace rather than to herself, suddenly understanding Oliver's rebellious nature when they were children. She took a deep breath, making it her mission to convince the king to find another candidate, and followed them.
She looked back fearfully at her friend as she walked away with the guards, wondering why the king would summon her when he had just seen her.
She didn't know that that would be the last time she would see her dear friend for a while.
She scoffed as she thought of the words of the guards, 'The king wouldn't want you to get lost.'
There was no world where Charlotte would get lost in the palace. She had been in the castle her whole life. As kids, the three of them, Charlotte, Frederick, and Oliver would roam and play in the palace all day.
Their mission had been to discover and conquer every nook and cranny in the palace. And once they had known the palace, the castle was theirs to have.
They found the old vineyard first, the best place to hideout and be in peace since no one hardly ever went there, and discovered the old, forgotten tunnels in the walls, most of which had long since been sealed off, and led nowhere.
At first, the three children only used the tunnels to play hide and seek, avoid their classes, or play tricks on the guards, who found joy in the children's mischievous nature and innocence.
Then one day, Oliver found the tunnel that led outside the castle. The tunnel must have been forgotten when the others were sealed off, Charlotte theorized when Oliver showed it to her.
They kept the secret from Frederick feeling that perhaps he was the more responsible of them and would tell before they had a chance to explore what the world beyond the castle was like.
He, however, found out only three days later. He had a way of making people trust him, and tell him anything he wanted to know. Of course, it took growing up for Charlotte to realize it was just manipulation, but back then, Charlotte had crumbled under his discomfort at being left out. It had not escaped his notice that the two went off without him while he was training.
At first, his responsibility as the eldest, and the crown prince, weighed heavy on him. He knew that the existence of such an unguarded opening into the palace was a security breach. But in the end, his curiosity and leniency towards his partners' pleas won, and the three gradually ventured out into the world.
Frederick was wise enough to help them study and commit to memory the routines of the archers on the walls. He also got them different clothes to wear when they left. Oliver and Charlotte never bothered their little brains with where he'd gotten them.
The three only ever went to the woods near the castle to sit, stare, and talk and after a while, they ceased completely as they discovered there wasn't much to do for children out there.
Soon after, as Frederick got more caught up in his lessons and duties, he forgot about the small opening.
The other two also got caught up in their training, the small opening rarely in their thoughts.
Charlotte smiled at the fond memories triggered by the walls of the palace as the guards escorted her through.
It would be a while before she knew that Fredrick's assassin had used the same opening they had convinced him to ignore.