Spinola dropped the royal official with a harsh thud before wiping her hands clean on her dress. "He is going to wake regretting his actions," the woman sneered, she turned around to meet the princess smiling. Spinola pinched her cheeks.
"You're still your mother's daughter after all." The woman commended. She didn't know the princess had fortitude left in her, like head-butting the man until his nose bled. Spinola reached for her slippers.
Izrina stared blankly into space. "My mother, what kind of person was she when she was not being queen?"
Spinola paused in her movement, lifting her head slightly. "Karissa?" She smacked her tongue. "I have never seen anyone so in love as your mother. See? She would cry the whole night when your father, the king, travelled to other kingdoms. She is so soft like that... the toughness others see is just....because nobody else would have protected her family if she never did."
Fastening the shoe strap around her ankle, Spinola took Izrina's hand, so they both walked side by side.
"I watched you grow....and until now I am certain you have Karissa's strength. The tenderness for those you love and the resilience in equal measure." Spinola commented with a wistful smile on her lips. "Karissa would have been proud of you...." she stopped.
Patting Izrina's hand gently, "We will go back home soon, so until then....don't break down just yet." It was a difficult thing to ask a girl who hadn't mourned her family properly, but it was needed.
Izrina nodded. She had told that to herself countless times already. She was going to stay alive and return to her kingdom. Bury her parents properly and take back her rightful place. She was going to do it for her mother. The problem was that things kept getting difficult, that she forget about her plan and just wish to give up.
"Now we need to sneak you back inside the room before these old sloths find you." Spinola scrunched her face in disgust when she remembered the man who had almost defiled the princess.
They hadn't walked so far when a guard wearing a helmet stopped in front of them. Instinctively, Spinola pulled Izrina behind her. Shielding the girl with her body.
"That's Cora," Izrina whispered from behind the woman.
Spinola frowned. "How sure are-" Right on cue, the guard removed his helmet. "Cora!" The woman exclaimed surprised on how the princess even recognized him.
Izrina smiled at herself with pride. She knew her personal guard from any angle. When he brought his hand down to his side, Izrina's smile seeped away. The memory of the young man's face when he killed the officia;s came replaying in her mind.
Cora noticed the change in the girl's expression, he lowered his eyes. After his encounter with the king at the fountain, the king had ordered him to join a group he only called hounds of Nero. And it was only a second too late that Cora realized they were executioners.
"Cora," Izrina said with a smile, stepping away from Spinola's back to stand in front of her guard. "I understand whatever you do....it is for me. My only wish is that you don't lose yourself. It will hurt me, knowing it was for me."
Cora stared down at the princess. She now looked small and... she had always had a petite body, but now she seemed exhausted. Her eyes had dark circles, and her hair looked dishevelled. The only time Cora had seen the princess like this was when she danced under the snow. The problem was; she wasn't dancing, and there was no snow in sight.
Getting his jacket, Cora placed it on her shoulder. "My life is only worth living if you are safe. My princess," he replied with a small bow.
Spinola pressed her lips to hold her proud smile. She was glad she wasn't the only person who cared for the princess. "Cora...we need to get the princess out of this palace. The King has noticed her and..." she turned to look at the place they dumped the official.
"And we can't have that."
Cora agreed to that. He'd almost jumped over to the king's throne when the young man touched the princess. And had readied himself to kill a king if he dared to take the princess for the night. And because of that concern, Cora had come up with a plan.
"What is that?" Spinola reached for the sack Cora was giving to her.
Cora cleared his throat. "I found it...on my way here." He chose to keep the rest of the details to himself. He didn't want to scare the princess more than he already did.
Curiously, Izrina peeked into the sack to see what it was. When Spinola raised a shirt and then a trouser, they both raised their faces in question.
"The princess can disguise as a man for now-"
Spinola wasn't having it. She threw the sack away. "My days! You want the princess of Ziadne to wear these? And walk around pretending to be a man?" the woman couldn't believe it herself.
Even Cora didn't like that he had suggested it, but so far it was the only option that sounded safe. The king and anyone at all won't notice a random boy working in the stable.
"Oh, Karissa, help me." Spinola cried, rubbing her forehead. "What crime have I done to witness your only child lose not only her dignity but her pride?"
Cora bowed his head in shame. He hated himself for not thinking clearly.
"We will escape tonight...now that everyone is drunk and lost. We can just make a run for it." Spinola mused. "It is better than humiliating the princess any further. First a whore, now a man? Heaven kill me now!"
Cora knew it was a dangerous idea. He had seen the heavily guarded gates, but he still agreed with a nod.
Izrina glanced at the clothes on the ground. She bent down and picked them. Dusting the sands on them.
"Izrina, don't bother with that. Throw it away."
Izrina didn't. She gathered it back inside the sack. "Spinola, I am not a princess, at least not in this kingdom." She muttered. Her voice laced with a weary kind of sadness, the bitter sort that comes after fighting too long.
"Cora, tell me more about your plan."
Spinola raised her brows. "Izrina!"
"Spinola...let's not make it worse. I know I have fallen beyond help, but deliberating more makes it even more difficult for me. So please..." she closed her eyes tiredly, an exhausted sigh escaping her parted lips.
Spinola clenched her fist. She was breaking in same pieces as the princess. The ache was same for the three of them at the moment. "You're right...it's a better plan than being a dove." Spinola tried to sound optimistic to clear the gloom air.
"Tell us, Cora, what do we have to do?" Spinola asked, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
Cora's hands fisted into balls at his side. "The princess gets dressed and acts as the stable boy every morning.... she will need to wake up before anyone in the palace. Thinking about it now....it'll be too much for her."
"It's not." Izrina replied with a smile. "I can do it. Act like a boy? That's easy. I can do it."
Cora and Spinola glanced at each other. They had a bad feeling about it.
Izrina, on the other hand, knew she was lying big. What did she ever know about being a boy? But it was better than watching the only family she had now getting killed for her sake.
"I will be the stable boy. I can do it." She chimed, this time she said the words more to herself than the worried duo.