Chapter 61


    The breeze was cool as the day slowed down, and all the servants prepared for dinner and end-of-day


    tasks. Tugging the white sheets from the clothesline with Abbie, we folded them, bringing the corners


    together and cing them in the basket. We had been t out most of the day, and she had been quiet


    for most of it. I know she was itching to tell me something because she tried a few times, but then she


    would fall quiet because someone was always around.


    A guard, another servant, so amongst the blowing winds and the pping sheets, she moved closer to


    me before reaching over and dropping something into the front pocket of my apron. I nced down


    before putting my hand in the pocket and feeling around for what it was. My fingertips brushed something


    cool and metal, and I twisted my wrist in the oversized pocket and looked at what it was. It was a watch.


    “When the big hand is on the twelve and the little seven, I am leaving,” she whispered, and I looked at


    her. She chewed her lip before ncing around nervously before reaching into her shirt and producing a


    small key from her bra. She dropped it in my pocket.


    “I stole the key from Gannon; it’s for theundry door,” she whispered, nodding to the one we just came


    out of. Behind the kitchens, it ran alongside the far gardens where the fruit trees met the forest.


    “Run along the river and head west. Keep going, and you will find a bridge. Meet us at the bridge. He


    said he would help me get you out. You have to be there at 7 PM sharp.” she whispered, and I nodded,


    pulling another sheet down from the clothesline. My lips quirked in the corners.


    “You convinced him,” I smiled.


    “Yes, but he said if you’rete, we can’t wait. He said he doesn’t want to be caught waiting outside the


    town limits,” she told me, and I nodded. Looking at the sky, the clouds were moving in dark and heavy


    and it was going to be one h**l of a storm when it hit. I just hoped I wasn’t going to get caught in it.


    “And you’re sure he won’t tell on me?”


    “He promised me,” she whispered before reaching over and gripping my arm. “We will be free, just not


    the freedom we used to long for, but actual freedom, freedom to live” she whispered with tears in her


    eyes.


    “Always and forever,” Abbie whispered.


    “More than my life,” I said in return.


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    “More than my life, always more,” she repeated. We finished dragging the clothes in off the line and


    walked back through theundry doors when Abbie shrieked. I turned to look back at her as she rubbed


    the spot on her back and growled. Laughter reached my ears, Abbie turned, and I noticed the rotten


    apple sttered against her back.


    “Peter, you little s**t,” Abbie hissed, dropping her basket and chasing after him, picking up rotten apples


    that had fallen beneath the trees. Peter was one of the stable boys. He was 15 and had a mop of blonde


    curly hair and was always up to mischief or making a mess any way he could: Abbie shrieked when he


    pelted another her way. She lobbed one back, and Iughed, watching her try to hit with the apples while


    her shrill cries and hisughter filled the silence.


    Abbie picked up another and tossed it where he went to dart behind the castle wall just as Dustin walked


    around. The mushy apple smacked him in the face, and he froze, stunned for a second before wiping the


    mush off. Abbie snickered, trying to muffle herughter at hitting the guard. Peter hid behind him before


    popping his out and sticking his tongue out at Abbie. Dustin wiping the mushy apple off his clothes


    growled, and Iughed, bits of apples sticking to his crisp, clean uniform and a chunk was stuck in his


    stubble.


    Dustin’s eyes go to Abbie, and she points at me; my eyes widen, and I shake my head, but he looks


    ridiculous with apple stuck to his face, and I chuckle. He raised an eyebrow at me.


    “You think this is funny, my Queen?” he asked, a hint of a smile on his lips. I snickered before stopping


    when he walked over to the apple tree, making Abbie squeal and rush toward me before using me as a


    shield. Dustin picked up a gross-looking apple that was nearly crumbling in his hand.


    Dustin tossed the apple in the air a couple of times, letting it mush up more before heughed and threw


    it. I shrieked and ducked, falling on top of Abbie only to hear him gasp, and Peter burst outughing,


    holding his tummy and pointing behind us. Abbie and I looked behind us to see rice covered in the


    rotted mush. We both tensed, waiting for the scolding as she stepped closer, examining her soiled apron.


    She looks back up, and her eyes go to us on the ground, and Abbie and I both pointed to Dustin standing


    by the apple tree with Peter. We looked in their direction to find Dustin pointing the me at Peter.


    rice red, and we all froze in ce as the old woman stalked toward us before she ripped her apron


    off. “Apple war it is then,” she huffed before running over and scooping up some apples. Abbie and I


    giggled before jumping up and joining the fray while grabbing some apples.