Silver Cage

She felt the music in her chest, her heart beating in time with the bass. She didn't know the music, she didn't know any music, only the songs that played at the dingy bar in the depths of Andovila the town just south of the castle. Her body moved in time with the beat and she felt free, felt like she could do anything she wanted.

She snuck out tonight cause the need to move, to get lost in the movements pushed her past the boundaries that were erected to keep her caged. Dancing was freeing, it stripped her of her title and allowed her to blend with the crowd and just move. No one knew who she was or where she was from.

The wig she slipped on over her natural blonde locks, itched and made her sweat even more on the crowded dance floor. But the beads of sweat dripping down the side of her face were worth it, the music erasing all worries.

She was nobody on this dance floor, in this little bar that was huddled between two large stone buildings. She could smell the alcohol that was being served at the counter and could see through the sea of people the bartender moving swiftly filling drink orders.

She didn't partake in the drinking, she couldn't, she needed her wits to get back into her room tonight. The castle was guarded but there was a fallen tree on the south wall that allowed her to climb over the wall and escape to this haven. She took a quick glance at the clock on the wall to ensure that she wasn't going to be caught when her maids came to get her ready for the morning.

The song changed right when the clock struck midnight and she wished she could stay and get lost in another melody, but she had lessons in the morning and Lord Davenport doesn't put up with dozing off in his classroom. Slipping through the crowd she ducked and weaved under arms and people making a break for the front door.

She could see the bright red door and was almost to it when something stepped into her path and body slammed into brick surface.

She felt the warmth radiating off the skin of the brick wall in front of her, her face was pressed into the hollow of his neck and her hands splaying across his chest. She took a steadying breath and smelt the sea and a hit of mint before it hit her that she was smelling a stranger. A man nonetheless!

Jumping back, she kept her head down, mumbling quick apology before stepping around him and for the door. She was reaching for the handle when she felt the warmth clasp of a hand on her wrist. Felt the tingle of awareness shoot up her arm and straight to her core.

She gazed at the wrist, the hand that could circle her wrist twice following that up his arm that covered in inked images, tracing the images that covered his arm to the sleeve of his shirt that strained against the bulging muscles of his bicep, the tan skin barely visible under all the ink. Her eyes sliced to his face, and she couldn't stop the gasp that fell past her lips.

His eyes were a murky green with a scar that cut through his brow and over one eye reaching for the middle of his cheek. But it wasn't the scar that startled her it was the rugged beauty that made the man before her speechless. His dark brown hair was cut close to his scalp on the sides and had decent length on the top, enough that the locks were constantly brushed away from his tanned forehead.

"I know you" His voice rumbled out of his chest, and she was captivated by the sound that it took her a second to decipher what he said. His eyes seemed to be scanned her face trying to place where he knew her from.

"No sorry, you got the wrong person" Her words rushed out of her and her panicked seized her chest. Ripping her hand from his grasp she turned back for the door and slide out into the autumn night. She rushed through the streets, glancing over her shoulder every few moments to ensure no one followed.

Once she was sure she wasn't being followed, she slowed her pace and took in the lights that twinkled across the blackness of the midnight sky. She always dreamed of being a star in the sea of blackness and wished for the longest time to be as free as one of gleaming lights.

Ducking between the small alleys between the buildings that made up Andovila, she imagined all the families sleeping soundly waiting for the first break of morning light to start their days.

She thought of the striking stranger and ignored the panic that bubbled in her chest but instead focused on the images of his face, the slight tilt of his nose almost as if it's been broken before, the jagged scar that marred his face but to her it added to his beauty. She thought of what she wished she could say to men as striking as him, instead of running out the door in fear of being found out.

She made a mental note to not visit the bar for at least a month and her heart wept lightly at the thought of not dancing to the freeing music for that long. A small bubble of disappointment for never being able to see him again. But she had to ensure that no one knew of her leaving the castle. She was after all the prized possession of King Gregor and wasn't supposed to leave her silver cage.

She could see the castle ahead and if she squinted hard enough, she can see her small window in the corner, the silver frame marking her cage for anyone who looked. She kept moving forward even though her heart begged for her to run away and be free. She pushed the emotions aside and reached for the locket that hung on her neck, the images stored inside the only reason she makes herself go back behind the bars of her cage.