Erica

×28×

When Erica stepped out of her room the next morning, all her senses were on high alert. Her heart was pounding frantically, and she was so tempted to turn around and hide away in her room where she felt safe.

It took everything in her to move. At the slightest sound she would be overwhelmed with fear and desperately try find a place to hide thus it took her much longer than usual to sneak out of the estate.

The hardest part was the crawling she had to do through the drainage tunnel. Her hands were way to sensitive and sore to be of any use so he had to use her elbows and manoeuvre her way in an uncomfortable manner.

She wished she had worn gloves or something to hide and protect her injured fingers but unfortunately she had none that would fit her disguise. It would be strange for a peasant boy to where gloves fit for a nobleman.

She had planned to only be out for a short while just enough to deliver Georgie's  letter and see Rick for one last time. Erica did not want to risk anything more.

"You came." His voice was soft and he held a warm smile.

Erica's heart ached when she saw him. She did not want to say goodbye to this man. She really liked him although she barely knew him.

She gave him a smile in return unknowingly revealing the sadness behind it. Aleric caught on immediately.

"What bothers you?" He was concerned.

Erica looked down at her feet before looking up again. She held out Georgie's letter for Louis to him. She remembered that they were cousins. She knew that he would deliver it for her.

Aleric ignored the letter and reached forward to brush a loose strand of hair that had fallen out of place behind her ear. His hand was warm and gentle. Erica's clear eyes met his own getting lost in them.

Her mind and her heart clashed. It was a battle for control. She forced herself to look away to regain her composure and reasoning.

She took a deep breath and looked back. She lifted the letter and presented it to him again. Once again, a smile adorning her face. It was a smile of farewell.

She was saying goodbye, and this was confirmed as she mouthed these words along with a thank you. Aleric could sense that she intended this for good. She was planning to never seem him again.

He took the letter from her but in desperation grabbed a hold of her hand. She winced at the action as her sensitive injured fingers ached at the agitation.

Noticing this, Aleric's attention was immediately drawn to her hand. That's when he saw her fingers. They were swollen and bruised. Before he could question her let alone even give it a thought, her hand was yanked away from him.

She was scared. He had noticed. She thought he must be disgusted with her.

Aleric's eyes were widened in concern as they focused on her hands that she was cradling in front of her chest. She was trying desperately to hide her fingers in shame.

This sent pang of emotion to Aleric and that's when he noticed something else. On her wrist, a delicate bracelet was tied. A bracelet he almost immediately recognised. It was the same unique bracelet that the masked girl had worn on her wrist who helped him that night at the Summer Festival. It was her.

Erica had forgotten to take her bracelet off. It was the bracelet she had made from the broken pieces of her mother's necklace that Sibyl had broken all those years ago. Erica wore it most days it as a sense of comfort.

Before the Prince could question Erica or even reach out to Erica again, two Palace guards came running up to them.

Erica's eyes widened. Her heart stopped as fear consumed her being. Without thinking she ran. Aleric was not fast enough to stop her.

Thoughts raced through her mind as she fled the scene.

Those guards are there for me. The Countess knows. I should have never snuck out. I should have never gone to see him...

The Crown Prince wanted to chase after her but the guards stopped him.

"Your Royal Highness. Thank goodness we finally found you." They both bowed low.

"Make it quick." The Prince's words were harsh and angry for not only being interrupted but for them scaring off Erica. Every second they wasted if his time, she was getting further away.

Both guards flinched. "Your presence is required in the castle."

"I will go back later. Now leave." He tried to dismiss them but they did not budge.

"Sir, I'm afraid that we cannot do that. It is an emergency."

Aleric narrowed his eyes at them noticing how there were starting to be quite a few curious onlookers that were passing by. They were drawing to much attention.

"Speak." He ordered. His words sharp.

"It's the King. We must make haste." The guard trembled.

Aleric looked back in the direction that Erica had run off in. He was hesitant to go but gave in when he heard the urgency of the guard's voice. Something had happened. His gut told him it was something bad and he prayed it was wrong.

Erica had rushed back to the Alvore estate. Her fight or flight reactions were beginning to wear down. She was beginning to feel the strain on her muscles and her fingers were starting to ache again as she slowly crawled back through the tunnel.

Her mind was still racing with what felt like a million frightful thoughts and her breathing was coming out in short pants as she tried to calm herself.

She could see the light at the end of the tunnel as she neared it. She was back safe. She let out a breath of relief. The guards had not caught her, she would be okay. She would go to her room and change, she would turn everything back to normal and on the chance they did recognise her and report to the Countess, she would make it seem like that had made a mistake. She would make it seem that she had never left her room.

Her plan was reassuring. It calmed her. Slowly she pushed open the grid on the other side and began to pull herself out of the tunnel.

Her movements were interrupted by the clearing of a throat.

Erica froze.

She was too scared to look up but forced herself to. She first saw the shoes, beautifully designed and tailored to fit. She knew who it was immediately.

Her biggest fear had come true. Before her stood the Countess with two guards, spears pointed at her neck ready to kill at the given command.