A Forgotten Love

Royals

Esperanza woke, to sunlight streaming across her face, and she gasped, sitting up quickly, and glancing around. She lay on a waist high bed, covered with a thick, heavy blanket.

She quickly threw off the stifling blanket and looked down at herself, realizing that she was wearing a dress and her hair was neatly combed and soft to the touch.

Confused and slightly frightened, her eyes landed in the clothes that she'd worn before, her ragged shirt and trousers, though they looked slightly cleaner. She sprang out of bed, almost falling when her feet tripped over the hem of the dress

She quickly moved over to her clothes and rummaged in the pocket if her pants, her slim fingers closing reassuringly around the knife that she had. Sh stripped off the irritating dress and pulled in her other clothes, fastening her hair into a braid and ripping a strip off her sleeve to tie it.

Then, she cautiously opened the door and peered out. People hustled back and forth in the hallway that overlooked a large area and she quickly steeped back, slamming the door closed, and leaning against it. Where was she?

The doorknob began to twist and she sprang away from the door, crouching the ground near the bed, ready to spring in the intruder. The door opened and a woman in a plain blue dress with a frilly apron on came in.

Esperanza's eyes narrowed in confusion and she slowly stood, her knife held out, ready to thrust into the woman's gut if she had to. As soon as the woman saw her, she let out a shriek of surprise and dropped the linens she was carrying, clapping her hands together in excitement.

Esprranza's eyes widened and she hissed, "What are you doing? Do you want to bring everyone in here?!"

"The princess! She's awakened!" the woman exclaimed running to the door and yelling it again.

"Shut up!" Esperanza yelled, glancing nervously over her shoulder and wondering if she could possibly make it out the square hole in the wall.

"Oh, this is fantastic! The duke's been waiting for you to awaken ever since you came home!" The woman gushed, picking up the linens she dropped and hurriedly putting them away into a smaller room that was connected to her room.

Esperanza's eye twitched and her arm tensed, wanting to throw the knife, but something held her back. Maybe because the woman posed no real threat to her.

The door crashed open, revealing an imposing man, that had to duck to get into the room. Her grip in the knife tightened as she stared him down. Now he was a real threat. "Daughter! How lovely to see you again" he said, smiling warmly and striding across the room towards her, his arms outstretched.

Esperanza ducked and rolled away from him, her entire being coiled, ready to spring away from him. The man turned around to face her, his face no longer open and friendly. The two stared each other down, neither wavering an inch. Finally the man turned the woman who was now standing placidly off to the side. "Are you sure this is my daughter?" he asked.

"Positive. It's just her memory loss, my lord" the woman said.

Espernaza's eyes flickered between the two of them, wondering what they were talking about. Making up her mind to not stay any longer, she turned around and bolted out the door. Her bare feet pounded the carpeted floor as she dodged people dressed similarly to the woman in her room and others who had swords and metal on their bright red uniforms. She heard a voice yell, "Stop her!" but she payed it no attention. All that she cared about was getting out of here.

She felt the vibrations of feet chasing after her but didn't look back, leaping over the wooden handrail and landing on the balls of her feet, plugging toward the double set of doors, wherever she could see bright sunlight.