He might suffocate inside my dresser...
But the emperor mustn't know of his breath. He must not hear his cries late in the times of slumber. The servants knew. For they cared for him while I was overwhelmed with royal dignitaries and flushes of unsolicited deals and penance for his traversal in my soul.
It felt like I never ending nightmare. The flicker of my candle light fluttering the smallest eccentric of flames, dancing around its hilt as if it knew as well to hide its entertaining from the presence of the emperor.
Not a dream. A silent auction wheeling around my heart, presenting it on display for a cheap token.
But I found a way back...a way back to my era ...a way perhaps back home...
I tip tied down the stone steps, the cold wind scarring my bare skin, the long thin frills on this dress did not present anything but the finest decor of beautiful. although my heels lay back on the fainting couch that did sit in the corner of my room.
I stumbled into the dining room..
A bejeweled chalice flattened the table cloth beneath it.
Inquiring the drink, was a small note written in the finest Calligraphy.
"To finer tomorrow's.. take one sip".
I did exactly that.
My body stiffened as i fell unconscious.
I awoke now, back in my bed, the green moss tunneling the base of my rotting balcony, the forest vines pressing through the windows of my bedroom made my heart melt with contentment. My favorite porcelain dolls lay clustered in the pile where I had last left them. The wooden shelf still tilted on an edge. I pondered the reality and took it all in, breathing in the cold winter air released the words I hadn't spoken in the longest time.
"I am... Home.