Gabriella sensed change in the air as soon as she opened her eyes. Judging by the look outside of her small window, it was just after midnight and as a result, the draft swirling through was chilly. Gabriella drew the warm cloak tighter to her and turned her gaze to her cell. The shadows had darkened and the only source of light was a candle bobbing down the corridor. Gabriella wasn't sure which direction it was heading in, but she focused on it and sat up as she realized that it was coming towards her.

And she recognized who was holding it.

Gabriella began to shake and she cuddled tighter into her corner, wishing that she were invisible. Troy's father approached the cell and then looked through the bars for a moment. After exchanging a few words with the guard he lit a torch beside the metal bars and Gabriella winced as she was exposed within the reaching fingers of light.

"Gabriella." He said, his voice surprisingly quiet.

Gabriella stood up and curtsied, manners still in tact. He beckoned her forward and Gabriella cautiously ventured up to the front of the cell, making sure to keep out of reach of Troy's father. She doubted that he would hurt her, but she could never be too careful.

"Yes sir?" She questioned, trying to keep her shaking hands out of sight.

"You will follow me. You will make no noise and you will do what I tell you to do, understood?"

Like I can refuse. Gabriella thought, bitterly.

"Yes sir." She repeated, waiting silently as the door to the cell was opened.

Gabriella stepped through the gap in the bars and then quickly looked around her, trying to get her bearings. She had no idea where she was, but she knew that she was lower than she had ever been. Maybe even underground. The floors were damp and so cold that Gabriella could feel the chill through her slippers.

Without another word, Troy's father spun around and began to walk, leaving Gabriella to follow him down a hallway, a torch bobbing along beside him. Gabriella kept her eyes glued to her feet and followed him down the hallway, being careful to keep a distance between the two of them. She was surprised that there were no guards following them, a sure sign that they trusted Gabriella not to run away. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

Gabriella's heart began to pound as she got her bearings at the top of a flight of steps. She knew where she was now and with a shuddery breath Gabriella glanced to her right and saw the familiar courtyard, basking in the light of the moon, abandoned. Gabriella searched the shadows around her but neither her eyes nor her ears suggested that Troy was hiding somewhere near.

Stop thinking about Troy, you'll never see him again anyway. Her mind scolded. The thought scared Gabriella, but she knew it was possible.

Gabriella didn't realize that Troy's father had stopped until he turned towards her, a cold and stony expression on his face. They had stopped at the door to the manor and Gabriella knew what he was getting her to do. She took a step forward and then stopped as he moved to block her way.

"Gabriella, there's something that I want to say to you." He started, his face pensive. The expression was one that Gabriella was accustomed to seeing on Troy and she took a deep breath, trying to focus only on the man in front of her even though her heart was aching for his son. "I know that you care for Troy and believe me, I do not wish you any harm or discontentment, but I simply cannot have Troy socializing with someone that is in your social class. I mean no offence against you or your family, and from what Troy's told me, you are an incredible person, but you are still a peasant and I will not sacrifice my family's social status. It would mean great trouble for everyone."

He paused and Gabriella nodded to show that she had been listening. Troy's father looked at her for a moment and then continued.

"So I am asking that you leave the manor, you will not be ridiculed or punished. I wish for you to do well in life and you are a very capable person so I know you will be okay. When I am done talking to you, you will walk out of these doors without so much as a look back and that will be that. Are we clear?"

Gabriella winced but nodded, knowing that it had to be done.

"Yes sir." She breathed.

"Very well. Here is a sum of money that should do you well until your next choice of income."
Coins were dropped into Gabriella's palm and Gabriella robotically put the metal into the coin purse she wore around her apron strings.

"Now, be gone."

Gabriella slipped past him and struggled to hold in her tears and she descended the marble steps, her footsteps quiet as she tread softly. Gabriella heard the door shut behind her and it was at that moment that the first tear slid down her face. The door shutting behind her was a very large door indeed. That one door represented many things to Gabriella. That door was her link to income, to protection, to nobility, but most importantly to Troy. And that door and just been snatched away from her, never to be seen again.

The moon was high in the sky and under it's watchful gaze, Gabriella dragged her feet all the way back to her village, tear drops marking the path.

* * *

As soon as Troy rounded the last corner, he knew he was too late. Troy knew which cell his father would have kept Gabriella in, but the door was open and there was no guard standing in front of the bars, much to Troy's dismay. Troy darted through the rest of the dungeons, checking the other cells to guarantee that she wasn't here, but the entire dungeon was empty and eerily quiet.

Troy shuddered and slowed his pace to a walk, the adrenalin gone in a hurry. He heard thudding footsteps coming towards him but Troy marched onwards, fury causing his eyes to flash coldly.

"Where is she?" He growled to his father, shoving his way through the guards that came first.

"If you had waited until I was done speaking to you Troy, I would have told you that I moved her elsewhere."

"Where is she?" Troy repeated, his hands curling into fists.

The older man sighed and cradled his head in his hands, as if dreading telling Troy the answer. Troy's heart began to pound and he took deep breaths, forcing himself to remain calm.

"She is gone Troy." He finally whispered, his voice sounding defeated. "I told you I would put an end to it one way or another."

"Gone home?" Tory clarified, already starting to walk up the steps to go to her home. "Back to the village you mean?"

"You know the penalty for disobeying orders, Troy. The rules for peasants are much worse then they are for us. She has been punished the way one of her social class would be normally for disobeying a direct order for her superior. There is no use going to the village. She will not be there. I gave my order hours ago"

Troy felt as if his knees had turned to jelly. He understood what his father was saying and a ripple of fear tingled down his spine, causing him to shudder. Troy forced himself to put one foot in the front of the other, faster, faster until he was running down the corridors, getting as far from his father as he possibly was able to. Finally at the tallest tower of the manor Troy collapsed in a heap on the chilled stone, the wind whistling around him. Troy dragged himself to his feet and braced himself against the banister of the tower, his eyes searching for the gleaming metal.

It jumped out at him, his eyes tearing up as the reality of the situation. Troy could barely believe that his father could be so cruel, that he could be such a monster. Both father and son knew the severity of the punishment and Troy understood the truth of the last statement.

"I gave my order hours ago."

Troy took a shuddery breath and the gleaming blade of the guillotine* blurred before him as a tear rolled down his cheek. Troy knew he would never get a chance to save Gabriella from the horrors of her destiny – it was too late now. Her fate had been determined by none other than his own father and now she had joined others of her social class who had disobeyed in a shared fate;

Death.

AN: Alright so I know that was a long chapter but I couldn't split it up. I hope you all enjoyed it! For any of you who are confused, Gabriella isn't actually dead, Troy just thinks she is because of what his father said. Troy's father is telling Troy this because he wants to deter him from going to search for her. I hope you enjoyed it!! Thanks for reading!

Guillotine* - contraption used in the 1700's as a 'humane' way of killing those they did not want. Basically it's a giant blade that cuts off people's heads.