"A what?"
"An escape plan? Haven't you heard of those before, Tin Man?" She asked sarcastically.
"Of course." He spluttered. "Why do we need one of those?"
"Well,
if we want to keep my life intact, which I believe is the truth, we
need to get out of here by nightfall."
"Why?"
"The revolts against the crown are my men. I am their leader and the Queen and Prince Consort would go after me. Again." She sighed. "I still have the scars from last time." She grumbled.
"Scars?"
"Never
mind. I just got tortured for an hour."
"Just got tortured?
By who? I wanna rip them limb from limb!" He boomed. She smiled
sadly.
"How did I know you were going to say that? Well, he quit after so no matter. He lives in Central City. It wasn't his fault, he was doing his job. He thought he would be torturing convicts and Long Coats. He wasn't expecting to torture the crown princess."
"He didn't?"
"No, but my parents ordered it so whatever. The pain's gone."
"I'm
going to kill them."
"Wow. You got mad at that? I didn't
even tell you everything, just one incident." She grinned at his
snarl.
There was a knock on the door.
"It's
Jeb."
"Enter." She said. He smiled at her outfit.
"Well, glad to see you're in normal clothes and not those stupid dresses."
"The ones without corsets aren't bad. It's the ones with corsets that I want to set on fire." She smiled at her best friend.
"Me too. Well, here are the plans." He handed her a roll of papers. "Az and Glitch will be visiting you in a few hours. Your parents have no conferences with you today." Cain could see the relief in his eyes
"Perfect. Thank you Jeb." He hugged her suddenly. "What's with the sudden invasion of personal space?" She said in surprise, awkwardly patting his back. It was apparent that she wasn't used to physical contact. That wasn't like the DG he remembered. But she let him touch her like they used to and vice versa. He didn't understand.
"I need you to be okay." He whispered. She hugged him.
"They can't break me that easily." She smiled at the kiss he pressed to her forehead.
"Go get the others. Raw and Isabella. We'll need both of them. Someone has to keep you company at night." She pinched his cheek and dodged the swipe he made at her. Cain noticed his furious blush. "Aw look, Cain. Your son is blussshinnnggg!" She taunted. Jeb huffed and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. She laughed. She flicked her wrist and put up a silence spell.
"What was that about?"
"Nothing. I was just making fun of him."
"Sounds like flirting to me." He said in a jealous tone.
"With
Jeb?" She laughed. "He's like my brother, or my best friend.
He's too young for me anyways and he's been courting our head
healer, Isabella for a year and a half. They're so close to
becoming engaged, I can tell." She smiled and spread the plans over
the desk. "Why? You jealous?" Cain glared at her and ignored
that question, focusing on something else.
"He's courting
someone?"
"Yeah. He didn't last long. He has his daddy's looks but not his coldness. Women swarm to him like flies. He was attracted to Isabella and her spunk. Isabella likes me." She shrugged and hummed under her breath.
Cain came behind her and looked over her shoulder. It was impressive. They were hourly plans for an escape plan. It had DG's style written all over it but she had a lot more thought behind just hiding from her lessons. She had serious reason to get away. They were coming after her. Cain hated to admit it but she was right, she needed to get away from here as soon as possible.
He was surprised that she didn't say anything about his closeness. Maybe she was comforted by it like he was. Ozma knows how much he missed her smell, the trouble she caused, her hair, her blue eyes that held so much innocence but not naivety and the feeling that he got whenever he was around her. All he wanted to do was just wrap himself all around her and kiss her into submission. But he knew he couldn't. There was a lot that had happened since he left. Maybe leaving for two years wasn't such a hot idea. But something kept coming up and he was forced to stay for that long. Was that her parents? Or was it even DG to keep his arrival prolonged? He had no idea. But he didn't blame DG for anything that involved her parents. He realized that her parents probably had a lot to do with the fact that the fire that once burned behind her eyes was almost gone. There was alittle more since she blew up at him but not as much as he remembered.
"JEB!" She let down her shield long enough for him to hear. He entered the room at her urgent call. "Get Anderson to retrieve Tutor by nightfall. I will need his help through this." He bowed and went to do her bidding.
"Anderson?"
"He's one of my men that works in the dungeon. Tutor was
jailed two months after you left and mother gained control."
"You and your sister are supposed to be in control." He was so wrapped up in his thought of DG and her parents that he didn't realize two people arrived.
"We see how well that worked out." Az said sarcastically. Cain turned at the sudden voice and pulled his gun on the intruders, only to realize that it was her sister and the Royal Advisor. He pulled it away with a sigh. Already he pulled a gun on someone. He blamed DG. She was a magnet for trouble. Sometimes he wondered why he kept coming back to her so much. Well, there was no time to debate that now.
DG smiled and ran to her sister. She pulled Cain along with her, begrudgingly. He didn't blame Azkadellia for anything that the witch did. She was as innocent in all of this as DG was. But that didn't mean he didn't blame her for the fact that DG is in less than perfect condition than when he left her. He blamed a lot of people for that. But mostly himself. He needed to work on this blaming himself for everything wrong thing he had going on.
"Did you tell your darling fiancé?" DG asked excitedly, practically bouncing up and down on the heels of her feet.
"Yes." Glitch answered, wrapping his arms around Azkadellia's waist and nuzzled her neck from behind. DG aww'ed.
"Cain! Look, do you notice the glow?!" She grabbed his arm excitedly when he stood next to her.
"She's pregnant?" Cain asked shocked. He would have never notice it until DG pointed it out to him.
"YEAH! And I knew before she did, isn't that exciting?" She said really excitedly, pulling on his arm.
"Oh yeah, super." He said sarcastically.
"Oh, Az. I am so happy for you!" She said forgetting Cain's sarcasm. Az smiled.
"I know, Deeg. You told me like four million times." She smiled at her little sister.
"That child is going to be spoiled rotten." Az smiled lovingly and rubbed her not yet swollen stomach.
"We actually came here for a reason." Glitch said. DG grinned at him.
"Okay. Go." She said at him, crossing her arms leisurely.
"I will talk to Cain." Az said. DG nodded at her sister.
"DG, I fear you'll need me." Glitch started. Oh god. Here he goes. He's going to give me a mirror and tell me that 'I will be there for you whenever you need me except –insert a million reasons here-' He feels guilty that he wasn't there mentally when she needed him.
And on cue, out came the mirror. "Here is a mirror. This will help you communicate with me whenever you need me. Except when I'm sleeping, or with Az, or with the Royal Couple, or doing my duties and making inventions to better the Ozian life…" He trailed off.
"I get it, Glitch, Ambrose. Whichever one you are. I am not even sure." Glitch grabbed her in a hug. "Definitely Glitch right now." She muttered.
Az was about to talk to Wyatt Cain and she finally had his attention. She summoned a tub of some kind of lotion.
"When you start your journey, DG will be in pain. She hasn't been able to breathe in a while. This salve with help with the pain from the corsets that didn't even fit her that Mother made her wear."
"Why didn't you stop it?"
"I couldn't. I have as much power as DG here." At his confused expression. "AKA none." His eyes hardened. "Cain I know we haven't gotten along very well, but DG needs you and I need DG to come back alive. I have lived too many years without her to die now."
"I understand."
"There's a stone. The emerald. The one the
witch had?" He nodded his knowledge of it. "It disappeared after
the witch was defeated." Cain's eyes widened.
"When it
appeared the first time, the witch fused with it. It wasn't how it
was supposed to happen. DG was supposed to get the Emerald. But she
heard the witch's infusion and let go of my hand. Her dark magic
overpowers her light when she had her magic. That scares my mother.
You have to understand. My mother is not the best person. She never
was. I don't know how we came from her. Ahamo just goes along with
it. I don't think he agrees with what she does exactly. But he does
follow her instruction. DG is more powerful than my mother. My mother
sucked all of DG's magic out of her body by force. I was held
across the castle and I heard her screaming." All of the blood
drained from Cain's face. "What happened her while you were gone
is serious." He nodded knowing that Az was dead serious.
Later DG and Azkadellia shared a tearful goodbye. DG entrusted Azkadellia with Glitch and he promised he would protect her. Which she hoped he would live up to that. Isabella appeared next to Jeb, holding his hand, fingers entwined. Her lips were swollen.
She skipped over to them and gave them both a run down of what was happening. Isabella didn't understand why she was going and confided that to DG herself. Isabella didn't see DG as a princess, but as a person.
"Why am I going, DG?"
"Other than the fact that you treat me like a
person, not a princess? I need a girl there!" Isabella laughed. "I
will need a medic. Raw can heal but only basics. I need someone who
can help me. I don't know what getting my magic back will invoke
but I want you there in case it is extremely painful. It was when I
got it taken away."
"You had it ripped from you?" Isabella
asked incredulously.
"Oh hello, Raw." Isabella watched DG obviously avoid the question. Isabella looked at Jeb. He hugged her.
"I'm glad you're going with me." He said honestly. She laughed into his shoulder.
"Me too. I don't have to worry about you dying." He squeezed her tighter.
In the end, she had plenty of backup. Jeb, Isabella, Raw, Cain and Tutor were all going on her little venture. She was thankful that Tutor was okay. Tutor apologized profusely for her mother's behavior. DG really missed Tutor. He was like a older brother figure that knew all about the real world.
The guards helped them sneak out along the way. They went out down a hallway that DG opened with her magic and led them down. She lit a light to guide them with a snap of her fingers. She nodded to a guard who opened the door to the crisp, fresh night air. It was about midnight when they got out of the castle.
Freedom. Was the thought of DG's little posse, herself included.
