Sweat dripped down my face as I opened my eyes. The only thing in front of me visible was a cloudy white fog that seemed to billow and swirl amongst itself. Hacking, I swiped the air to clear it, but the fog only worsened, dancing away and then back immediately. Sweat dripped into my eyes, raising my irritation to a solid frustration as they stung. What was this place, the middle tier of hell?

Memories of what happened before resurfaced, jolting me up from my lying position to give the room another glance around. Even from a higher vantage point, I still couldn't make out much in the smoggy room but a door, a faint hint of chamomile, and something I couldn't place my nose on. It had a distinct tangy scent that tugged at the back of my mind to remember, but nothing came to mind no matter how hard I tried.

I swung my legs over the bed, onto the surprisingly chilled floor, and over to the door. Pushing all of my weight to the tops of my toes so as not to make any noise. I still didn't know anything about this place and that ding dong was I couldn't risk attention without finding out more information. Or it would just be better to get out of this place without being noticed completely. I never realized heartbreak could make me do such dumb things like riding with a stranger to a place I've never been before.

"Get yourself together, girl, who cares if Raike married another woman." my heart twinged at my pretend nonchalant whisper as I continued in the larger-than-expected room.

The door slammed open, and in the foggy doorway stood none other than the psycho from earlier. "Oh baby doll, you're awake." he rushes forward with open arms, and I hauled behind back the way I came. I didn't want him touching me before what made him think that I would want him to touch me now?

Grabbing a random item from the small table beside the bed, I aimed it in his direction." Don't you dare come a step closer!" his hands raised up in alarm, but he kept his easygoing smile.

Taking another step forward, he went to speak, but I didn't give him a chance before I waved my hand with the unidentified item. "Don't you do that! Where am I? Who changed my clothes? Why does this room feel like hot breath?" tugging at my clothes I took another step away only for my legs to meet the side of the bed.

He shook his hands in a calm-down motion that only made him more annoying. He took another step forward, and in my rush to get away, I flitted over the bed to the other side. He followed quickly after. My heart began to speed up when he blocked any attempt to escape. This side of the bed had a much more narrow walkway than expected.

Taking another swipe at him with the stethoscope I'd swiped, he jerked back, but there was no real fear of being hit. He let out a giggle that grated at my insides so much that I charged at him. He tried to sidestep, but he'd been too close as I bulldozed over him, and stumbled, stepping on his fingers as I bolted to the door.

His pained shout gave me satisfaction as I blazed through the door and into an overly fancy hallway. The ceilings were higher than the biggest oak trees in my village and I desperately wanted to pause to take a deeper look at the intricate paintings on the walls, but there was no time. I could hear Zio shuffling through the door I'd closed and his footsteps gaining on me as he raced to the end of the hall where I was.

Taking a sharp right, I raced down another fancy hall, looking for a door I could sneak through or an opening I could hide behind. This hallway had museum columns with marble heads, animals, and unidentifiable things on them. There wasn't a door or solution in sight, and by now Zio was shouting nonsense as he chased behind me.

"You know, we could go to jail for running in this place!" turning, I saw that he was barely a foot behind me and still gaining. Screaming, I turned back around only to run into one of the columns; the marble sculpture resting on it tumbled off and shattered. My foot caught on one of the bigger pieces that'd broken off, and I'd fell onto smaller pieces as I fell. Blood gushed from my hand, and intense pain soon followed. Zio stood over me with a concerned look and moved to help but footsteps from the other direction called our attention.

"Who goes there?" a man's deep voice called out as a group of about 7 knights turned the corner.

Knowing that Zio was friends with the guards and that they would probably lock me up this time, along with my aching hands and not knowing what was going on, was enough for the damn that I'd been barely containing to finally break. The ache in my heart I'd been ignoring came back full throttle to compete with my hands, and I couldn't stop the sniffling and gasping. Before long, a river of tears followed, and then the snot. Gasping interrupted any whining my body was trying to produce, and I was no longer in control of my emotions.

The knights and Zio all stood and watched as I had a complete meltdown unsure of how to respond but I could no longer care what they did to me. I was too tired to care.

The man standing at the front of the group took a sure step forward, ignoring whatever I had going on, and addressed Zio with a bow. His sword lightly clinked as he moved, and his long black hair fell forward to follow in his deep display of respect. "Prince Zio, we heard a disturbance and came running as quickly as we could. Do you need us to detain her 6th prince?" he gave a disgruntled look in my direction but I just continued crying.

Zio gave a soft laugh and waved the man away, "No, no, do not worry, Amyest she is with me. She's just a bit overwhelmed by the beauty of the palace, you know how girls get." they both laughed and ire had me pause my breakdown to throw him a stank face.

A guard standing in formation behind Amyest grabbed the hilt of his sword in warning when he saw my face, and revelation from their conversation ran through. "Wait, you're who?!" twirling around to face Zio, he looked down at me in amusement.

"Maybe we should focus on getting that hand sealed up before we talk about that yeah?" he leaned down to grab my hand and I snatched it away before he got the chance.

"How do I know you aren't lying? Anybody can claim to be a prince, you psycho!" before I could even move, the knights had their swords drawn and were surrounding me, Zio now standing behind Amyest.