Hidden Princess

Chapter 1

*Apolônia's dress, hairstyle, and tiara are pictured above*

"Mamãe, Papai!" I run through the halls, holding my skirt in my hands. So much for the party, I hadn't even gotten to the ballroom and the entire palace is in a panic.

"Apolônia!" My mother's voice calls from around the corner. I quickly run down the hall to my left and I see my mother running towards me.

"Mamãe!" I run to her and throw my arms around her.

"Come quickly, Apolônia," she says in Portuguese, pulling me in the direction she just came from. She stops in front of our family portrait. She turns me to face her and she puts her hands on my shoulders. "You remember your English, yes?" She asks.

"Yes mamãe, I remember," I tell her, nodding my head.

"Good." She turns away from me and opens the secret passage that is in the wall next to the portrait. "Go through here, quickly." She pushes me into the passage. "Dário will be waiting for you on the other side. You are leaving, and we will not be able to come with you." She cups my cheek in her hand. "I love you so much my darling." She says before pulling back and shutting the opening to the passage.

"Mamãe!" I yell out as a pound on the entrance that just closed. "Mamãe, please!" I yell out as tears stream down my face. After a few more moments of beating on the entrance, I gather my skirt up and run through the passageway. I still don't know what's going on, but the entire palace was in a panic and I just wanted my mom and dad right now, but I knew Dário was waiting for me and he would tell me what was going on.

As I get to the exit of the passage, I slow down and approach it slowly. I pull open the door just a crack to peak out.

"Dário?" I whisper yell through the crack.

"Princesa," Dário says in Portuguese as he appears in front of me. "Come with me, Princesa. We have to get you out of here and safe."

"What is going on Dário?" I ask as he leads me through the gardens behind the palace.

"Eplea is not safe anymore, Princesa," he says, "King Aloísio is dead, and you are in danger. My father was also killed at the same time." I stumble over my dress, but keep moving, fresh tears falling from my eyes.

"Will you take me to Demétrio?" I ask. Demétrio is a prince from Agrana, and second in line to the Agrana crown. We are set to marry after I turn 18. He's three years older than me, and I've only met him in person once, three years ago, and that's enough for me. Honestly, the man scares me.

"No Princesa. We are not going to Agrana," Dário says. And I visably relax.

"Good. I don't want to marry him Dário. He scares me." Dário is like an older brother to me more than a guard. His father was a personal guard for my father, so Dário was trained to be my personal guard. He's a few years older than me, but we still ran around together until he had to start his training.

"I know Nia. And if there was something I could do about it I would have." He glances over at me as he reaches over and grabs my hand. "But right now, you just need to worry about getting somewhere safe. You can worry about Demétrio when and if that time comes next July."

"What about Amália?" I suddenly ask of my best friend, and Dário's younger sister. "We can't just leave her there!"

"Trust me, Apolônia. Amália can take care of herself," Dário says. "She's been trained to fight, and she knows how to stay hidden around the palace, and how to get out if she needs to. She also knows the general location of where we are going if she needs to come to us." He glances at me out of the corner of his eye. "I wouldn't have left my sister there if I didn't think she could handle herself in this kind of situation."

I sigh in relief when he says that. I always knew Amália was tough, and smart. She knew that palace better than I did and I'm the one who lives there. She was always showing me new secret passages, and now I guess I know why. If anything were to happen, those passages would be the only ways out of the palace, as they didn't show up on any of the original blueprints. I just pray that she will be safe.

Dário stops the car by the docks and turns it off. "We have to get out here." He gets out of the car then comes over and opens my door for me. He helps me out and takes my hand leading me towards one of the boats. "Come on, Nia." He pulls me onto one of the boats. As soon as we were on the boat. Dário let go of my hand and went ahead. A few moments later the boat starts and we are pulling out of the harbor. I sit down and after a few moments I lay down. I don't know when I fall asleep but I wake up to Dário shaking my shoulder. The sun is up but I "We're here, Apolônia. You need to go change before we get off the boat though."

"Where are we?" I ask as I sit up, rubbing sleep from my eyes.

"The United States," he says. "So from this point on, if anyone is around, we speak in English and we don't say anything about who you actually are. Though I doubt anyone in this country knows where Eplea is."

"Where are clothes that I can change into?"

"Down below deck in the bedroom. I set some out on the bed."

"There's a bedroom with a bed and you let me sleep up here all night?" I narrow my eyes at him.

"Sorry, Princesa," he chuckles. "You just looked so cute curled up on the bench like that."

"Oh shut up Dário." I roll my eyes at him as I stand up and head below deck. When I get to the bedroom I pull my dress off and let it fall to the ground. I take off my tiara and tuck it into the small purse I found on the bed. I pull my hair out of the updo as I head into the bathroom that is attached to the room. I took a quick shower before heading back into the room to change.

I get dressed quickly, pulling on the jeans and the black t-shirt that Dário set out for me. I run my fingers through my wet hair and grab the purse before stepping out of the room and into my new life.