While Escaping Fate | ✗

VII. A Certain Place of a Hand

Stepping out onto the street for the first time in twelve years, Relie felt a sense of euphoria unlike anything she had ever known. She could practically taste the freedom -- bite into it. Before she could express her overwhelming feelings by some sort of physical action (screaming, probably), Farren grabbed her arm and pulled her roughly away.

"We need to get out of the open," he said.

Relie reminded herself that what they were doing was most definitely not considered legal, even if it was the Prince of Aurelia who aided her. It would not be wise to scream from the thrill of being alive. If she wanted to stay at liberty, she would have to be as inconspicuous as possible. The only way she would extend her life was abandoning it: She could not be Relie anymore. That meant hiding in a new identity.

"Calm, be calm," Relie murmured to herself as Farren dragged her to the alley between her house and her neighbor's. She had never met them or any of the people who lived in such close proximity to her. Sometimes she saw them on the street from her bedroom window and sometimes even invented stories about them, but they were, at the most, characters from beyond the glass.

Farren heard her counseling herself, and glanced back with a hint of sympathy. Perhaps he understood her intense feelings?

But he was a prince. He could do whatever he wished.

It was late afternoon. The sun was not so bright now, and the clouds forming a blanket for the sky darkened the city. Relie was glad to be clad in her thick cloak. The wind whipped chilly air in her face, but the rest of her body was protected. It had been a mild winter, but perhaps this was the last cold snap they would experience before Spring was truly here.

Relie could scarce comprehend that she would be able to see it.

The looming brick walls bordering her manor and the dry wooden fence encircling the manor next to hers provided a barrier from which to hide from the winds. Farren looked uneasily up at the windows of the decrepit house around her. "I hope no one saw us exit your front door," he said.

"Wouldn't they think we were guests from the party?" Relie asked.

"Maybe," Farren said.

She searched his face, but found no confidence in it. Relie was not free yet, she realized. She could not be while so close to her old cage and therefore, she could be easily returned to it if caught.

"Let's keep moving," she said.

Farren nodded. There was no one on the street -- probably everyone sought shelter from the impending storm. The long shadows cast by the old houses seemed to stretch their wicked fingers toward Relie like they would grab her.

"Once we get far enough away, we should be safe," Farren said. "As long as we don't see anyone who knows what you look like."

"No one does but Daegan and his family, my family, Evonne, and you," Relie said, relieved.

"What?" he turned to her. "That's all the people you know."

"Yes."

His jaw clenched, but all that the Prince said was, "Come on, we'll take the back ways. It will be easier to hide."

He started to walk deeper into the alley, away from the street that was all Relie knew of the outside world. She vaguely remembered when she first arrived at the sacrifice's manor to stay. Her childish impression was full of panic and her father's voice whispering promises to her. She did not recall what he had sworn to her that day, only that he did not fulfill them. Since then, Relie had been confined to the draft rooms of her house and her garden -- which was spacious, but still enclosed.