Chapter 1

Kiara:

“Princess, you know the rules” mother said looking at me, I sighed, despite it being against the rules as well, a princess was never allowed to sigh.

“Mother! I am eighteen, I can’t stay locked up forever” I said getting frustrated, it was impossible how they thought that locking me up was okay, my curly brown hair bouncing as I walked behind her in her study, our emerald green eyes met and she shook her head wanting me to stop with the subject, but I wasn’t going to, not until I at least got what I wanted this time.

“Kiara, no” mother said sternly.

“Mother, please” I begged looking her in the eye “Lorenzo will be with me, and as will Giovanni, why won’t you allow it?”

“It is not safe for you out there!” Mother snapped before pinching the bridge of her nose and composing herself and taking a deep breath looking at me, my eyes wide as I stared at her, confused at her reaction.

“Mother, I am no longer a child, how long are you going to keep me locked in this palace like some prisoner?” I asked looking her dead in the eye, she never liked it when I talked back, especially when I looked her in the eye while doing so, for some reason her and father always saw it as me challenging them, when in reality I was just wondering why they were acting the way they were.

“I do not care Kiara, you are a princess and you will do as you are told, and you will stay in this palace until we know that nothing will be harming you” mother snapped, my eyes went wide and welled up in tears as I looked at my mother who seemed to be enjoying killing her daughter the way she was, I was an eighteen-year-old girl who has never seen the outside world, the only times I left the palace were to go to different palaces to attend balls when it was very necessary for me to attend, but other than that, I was not even allowed to ask why I was locked up the way I was.

“Mother…”

“To your chamber Kiara, I don’t want to hear of this or else your father will know of it, and you know what he’d do if he does” mother threatened, it was always that way anyway, mother would threaten to tell father, at times she would and father would end up locking me in one of the towers, the girl’s tower, is what it was called, one of the highest in the palace, they would lock me in it for days, not allowing me any contact with anyone, no one would be entering the cell I was locked in unless it was the maid who brought food for me and the guard who watched over me, neither of them would say a word, and I would be forced to eat and drink whatever I was served or else my feet would be beaten with a whip until I was bleeding, and if that didn’t work, then it would be my palms, the scars were still there to prove it.

Not saying another word, I bowed and walked toward the door and knocked twice, wiping the few tears that fell from my eyes before the guards saw them, and walked toward my chamber with Emily behind me, and Lorenzo in front of me, neither one of them said a word, though they could tell by my frown that I was annoyed.

Keeping my head high as I reached my chamber, the guards and maids bowing to me despite knowing my struggle in this palace, everyone here was a lot luckier than I was, at least they had their freedom where I was locked here being forced into what felt like a never-ending prison.

Natasha, my other maid, who was standing in front of the chamber’s door bowed and opened the door for me, and I walked inside without saying another word, not that there was anything to say anyway, they would just take whatever I said and go tell mother, hence why I rarely spoke to any of them in the first place, I made that mistake once, and ended up in the girl’s tower for a week, I was not repeating the same mistake again.

“Is there anything you need princess?” Emily asked entering the chamber behind me, I looked at her with a raised eyebrow, she was the one who had told mother on me years ago, I wanted to go, well technically, sneak out to the garden alone, just wanting to feel the breeze against my skin without anyone making me feel like I was being spied on, and I asked her to cover for me while I went out only to find mother and father waiting for me with three guards in the garden.

I did not allow the guards to touch me that night, walking toward the tower myself, my parents following close behind, nothing but disappointment in their expression, an expression that I’ve grown used to, but I promised myself that night that I would NEVER give anyone anything to hold against me, no matter who they were and how close I thought we were, no one was to ever know anything about me, and no one was told hold anything against me.

Emily did apologize after I was out that night, she claimed that she didn’t know that my parents would treat me so harshly, but I never spoke to her again, I didn’t lie to her about what I wanted, not that I spoke of it anyway, everyone in the palace knew that my only desire was to be free of this prison.

“Set the bath for me Emily, and my pink silk nightgown” I ordered, Emily’s eyes widened, we had just had dinner and the sun was barely setting, therefor for me to say that I wanted to go to bed at this time clearly surprised her, but I didn’t care, I wanted to be left alone, and the only time I was actually left alone was when I was asleep, as I did not like anyone watching me while I slept, despite the disapproval of mother and father, they knew that it was the one thing that they couldn’t force on me, as they tried and I ended up staying awake for three nights straight that I got ill and the doctor advised them that it was a bad idea for my health.

“Yes princess” Emily answered looking away from me, I sat on the couch in front of the fireplace like I did almost every evening, it was my favorite spot to sit, it, and the couch on the window as it showed me the beautiful view of the city, I was at least blessed with that view, at least I got to see how the world looked like from the outside even if I couldn’t really visit it.

It was a while before Emily came back from the bathroom which was inside my chamber, steam could be seen coming out of the door the scent of vanilla filling the air, and I nodded at her before walking to the bathroom with her following close behind, she helped me out of my dress and I got inside the tub allowing my muscles to relax as the warm water coaxed them, the vanilla scent filling my nostrils, it was my favorite of all scents that I had to admit.

Emily massaged my scalp as she ran the shampoo through my hair, she didn’t say anything, she knew that she was no longer allowed to speak to me, I wouldn’t be listening to her if she tried in the first place, and she knew that for fact, I had made sure that she kept it in mind whenever she forgot.

She rinsed my hair before going to my back, massaging it with body soap then the rest of my body, making sure to massage and scrub me clean, despite it sometimes being uncomfortable to have someone wash you while being naked in front of them, I knew I could say nothing about it as it was one of my parents’ ‘rules’ and I had no say in any of them, so why try.

Rinsing my body and emptying the tub, Emily washed my body from whatever was left of the soap before opening a towel for me to walk inside it and for her to dry my body, it sickened me how I felt so helpless at times that I was not even allowed to shower myself, but I knew that I also had no other option, she wrapped a towel in my hair and dried it too as she massaged my scalp but kept the towel on my head, my brown hair covered inside it.

Putting on the white bathroom slippers, I walked out of the bathroom to find Natasha already standing with my nightgown in her hand, the sun had already set completely, the moon illuminating the beautiful night sky, a sky that I only saw through the window or out in my veranda.

Helping me wear my clothes in silence, then fixing my hair as I sat in front of my dresser, looking at myself through the mirror, I wondered what I had done that was so wrong that I was locked up the way that I was, there was no way that a person would be punished for something that they did not commit, maybe I did commit a crime that I was not aware of, but whatever the reason was, shouldn’t have time been long enough for that crime to be forgotten, then again when I think of it, what crime could an infant be making, I never did go out of the palace, not that I remember anyway, but even if I did as I child, what mistake would I have done back then, that was forcing me to pay for it now.

“Do you wish or desire anything Princess Kiara?” Emily asked, I shook my head waving her off with my hand, I refused to look at her unless it was necessary, she knew that.

“Princess…”

“Feel free to leave, both of you, I’m going to sleep” I said coldly, the bed was already made and all I had to do was remove the blanket from on top of it to get under it, I could do that on my own without having them chaperoning me.

“Yes your grace” Emily said quietly, both her and Natasha bowed before I heard them knocking the door, Lorenzo, my personal guard opened the door for them and they walked out not saying a word leaving me alone in my chamber, my thoughts going wild, if I could just go out for one night, I only desired one night, not more.

Maybe, if I did?

No…

I looked at the window from my bed, tempted to do the craziest thing that I would have ever done in my life, but knowing that if I did that I would probably end up in the girl’s tower for the rest of my life.

But it would be worth it.

No!

My mental battle kept going on for a while before I got out of bed and walked toward the window checking how high I was above the ground, I was pretty high, but if I could just maneuver my way down to the throne room veranda, it would be easier for me to jump, but risking the fact that mother and father might be there only meant that I would be in more danger.

But I had run out of options, and if I were being honest with myself right now, I was willing to take the risk, no matter what the consequence, therefor with that thought in mind I walked toward my closet and changed into a pair of pants, I believe they were called jeans? I had gotten them as a gift from my cousin a long time ago, but of course I was never allowed to wear them as my parents thought that it was outrageous to even have them and have ordered that they were thrown out, Emily had helped me keep them as she pretended that she did throw them out, earning my trust back then only to break it when she told mother and father on me.

I put on a black long-sleeved shirt and white shoes which I tied the laces to in fear that they would end up opening and that I would end up losing a shoe.

Now, it was time for the hardest part, which was getting down from the window and to the throne room veranda, the veranda was on the floor under me, though the problem was that my room was too high up as the throne room’s ceiling was huge, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me as I took a bunch of scarfs and tied them to the bed post, then got one of my biggest and longest blankets, using it to help me as I tied it as well before throwing it out the window, it reached above the veranda and if my eyes weren’t cheating me, I could jump down without hurting myself.

Taking a deep breath, and quickly pulling the scarf to check that it was tied properly as I didn’t want to end up falling and injuring myself, that would not only mean that I had injured myself but that I had let my planning go down the drain, and I could NOT afford that right now.

I took a step toward the edge of the veranda’s railing as I climbed on it holding the scarf for dear life, I looked at my bed suddenly worried, but forcing myself to go down, not wanting to chicken out, not after going this far.

Taking a deep breath, I slid down the scarfs and sheets, fighting back the urge to yell at the sudden speed, it wasn’t until seconds later that I was in front of the throne room’s veranda that I felt every nerve cell in my body stop for a second before I took in the fact that the lights were closed meaning that my parents weren’t in there.

Hopping down from the scarf, I took a deep breath before jumping down from the railing of the veranda smiling at being free in open air without being chaperoned on, but I still needed to be careful, it was only a matter of time before they found out that I wasn’t in my chamber, and I wanted to be OUT of the palace before they did.

With that thought in mind I ran toward a secret door which was in the back garden, how I knew it was there was because I studied every part of the palace ground by map, therefor despite the door being hidden, I knew where it was, and knew that it was not guarded as that door has been closed for almost a hundred years now.

It’s now or never princess.