Queen of Ash

People who Dare to Dream

I want to start off this chapter by saying thank you to everyone who has read the book thus far. I can't believe that y'all are actually finding this book enjoyable. It's crazy to see how something I am writing can be enjoyable to someone else. I really don't know how to explain it but it means that world to me that you guys are reading my book. Thank you so much for all the support. It's you guys that make me believe that I could one day write and publish a book. From Emerson, Rye, and I thank you for letting us take you on this journey.

Emerson

One,

Two,

Three,

            Four.

Only four guards were put in charge to watch me. The miserable number could be dispatched in a few minutes. The first would have to be the guards outside my door. I would make the hallway instantaneously dark and stab them both swiftly in the neck with the letter opener they seemed to have forgotten to take out of my room. I would leave their bodies cloaked in darkness as I moved to take out the guard on the balcony next to mine. I could easily conceal myself in the darkness of the pillars, and throw the letter opener through his neck. However the fourth guard might prove to be a little bit of a challenge.

Jase currently occupied the room next to me, the one with the guard outside the balcony. If I was fast enough I could dispatch him cloak myself in darkness and jump off the balcony into the night before he would get up to check on the noise. However, if I wasn't fast enough he would either walk through the hallway to my room, which would then cause him to trip over the dead guards in the hallway or he would see me outside, shoot me, and I would die.

I played the different scenarios over in my head. Trying to find the best outcome for my escape.

I walked away from my balcony door and sat down on the Queen-sized bed in the other room. Even though I would more than likely make it out without a scratch, I just couldn't go. Maybe it was the fact that I had no where to go, that my only family member was here in the castle, or maybe it was just the fact that I was so tired of hiding. I was tired of hiding who my family was, what I could do, and even hiding under a false pseudonym at the guild.
I was exhausted and maybe I thought quietly to myself, that sometimes it's okay to give up.

There was also something else that made me want to stay. I couldn't explain it, like bond between Rye and I somehow kept me here.

I slid from the bed and walked back to the windows, Drawing the curtains, I cut off the guards view of me. I moved swiftly into the massive bathroom, trying to move fast so I could go to sleep. I turned on the shower head and stripped off my dirty clothes. They smelled just as bad as I did, so much so, I wasn't sure if the sewer smell would ever come out. I frowned, the clothes that I had were the only ones here. I would die before putting my clean body back in those dirty clothes.

I kept the water running and grabbed towel from a rack in the corner. It was plush around my body. I opened the bathroom door and saw Jase and another guard standing in my bedroom. I smiled, I figured that shutting the curtains would be a quick way to get them barge into my room.

"Good now that you're here can you get me another pair of clothes?" I still hand one hand holding up the top of my towel. I leaned against the door frame of the bathroom, trying my best to make them uncomfortable. The guard that was with Jase turned so red that I thought he would combust into flames. Jase on the other hand looked me dead in the eyes, his face as blank as normal. I tossed my head to the side and let my dark hair fall over one shoulder, still nothing.