Page 26 of Down from the Tower

“That’s why we have Rapunzel, dear. With her, we’ll live forever.”

Rapunzel shrinks back into herself at his words, and their voices drift farther away. Wind or not, the next words are too soft for me to hear. They sound further away when I can hear the conversation again. “She’ll level the kingdom if she gets past the wall.”

“So long as the wall is in place, Tressa is safe. Her evil reign can’t touch these lands, not with the wall.” Midas sounds certain that the kingdom is safe, more so than the Queen.

I narrow my eyes. I’d swear they are discussing the Mad Queen, but they refuse to say her name. Perhaps that's a precaution in case people are eavesdropping, like us.

“We’ll double the guards on the wall. Anyone or anything trying to come through will be shot first, questioned later.”

“You think that’ll keep us safe?” Dorah asks, her voice pitching higher.

Midas shushes her, and they grow distant once more. “It’s always safe in Tressa, so long as our citizens obey the rules.”

There’s the sound of a door closing, and I decide to peer over the top of the roof. Rapunzel scrambles to follow me, her slim body sliding against mine and tangling into the cloak.

It’s a tad distracting, but I force my gaze to the walkway on the other side of the roof. There’s a door firmly closed, and one loan guard appears from the other end. He pivots into place before scanning the area, and just as Rapunzel pops up over the rooftop I grasp the top of her head and force her down again.

“Hey!”

“Shh. We don’t need the guards spotting us.”

She scowls in the moonlight. “I thought your shadows hid us.”

“It’s a different kind of task when we’re prowling around on the roof,” I mutter, staring at the peak of the roof again. I’d like to keep watching, see if the King and Queen come back out. That conversation brought up more questions than answers. “Where are we in the castle?”

Rapunzel frowns, peering around the rooftop. There’s a chance her parents kept her so isolated she won’t be able to tell. But after a moment she meets my gaze, her blue eyes sparkling with life. “Midas' wing. Dorah is further down. No rooftop walkways on her end. They supposedly have shared chambers, but I can’t remember ever going in there. If I visit, I’m hurried through one of their doors to discuss something they need me for.”

I study her. She’s being incredibly open with that information. Perhaps that conversation got to her more than I thought. “You know that for certain?”

“Yes. My father is the only one with access to the roof like this.”

I nod slowly, listening for a few more moments. Rapunzel is just as tense as I am, waiting for something more to happen. After a few minutes of silence she begins to shake from the wind, and I suppose nothing else interesting will happen tonight.

“It’s time to go back.”

Her eyes fill with despair. “But, I-”

“If you want to do this again, we have to be careful, Princess. If someone sees us up here we’ll have more problems than whispered secrets between the royals.”

I shouldn’t even offer that. Bringing her up here is a bad idea, but watching the quiet girl come alive for a few minutes is entertaining. She has life in her, if only the people around her would stop trying to crush it.

Sad eyes peer up at me. “What about the shadows?”

“They are a part of me, Princess. And keeping myself hidden throughout the day is a lot of work. My magic is almost spent. If you want to get back into the tower and not face your parents' wrath, we need to go back now.”

For a moment, she longingly looks over the roof. I think a large part of her wants to run away and escape. But that’s not a freedom I can offer her, not right now.

I can’t even leave this damn kingdom yet. And if they are upping security it’ll be even more of a pain.

Giving her a few more moments to bask in the outdoors, I hold out my hand. “Come on, Princess. Back to the tower.”

8 Rapunzel

For another three days I stew in my room, waiting for news. Dorah holds out on her threat for all of a day before she sends Anastasia in to help tend to me, and she simply scrunches up her nose the entire time we focus on the bath.

I keep looking, but I haven’t seen Zarev since the night on the rooftop. His absence is making me antsy, and between the secrets my parents keep and his disappearing act, my stress is ratcheting higher every day.

There’s nothing I can do about it, though. I blow through most of what’s left of my paint, and when mother sends Anastasia and Priscilla to dress me one evening, I know some special type of torture awaits me. These two sisters always have it out for me, and I don’t know why. They’re a few years older and always doing petty things like poking me with pins, over tightening my dress when I need to meet with guests, or spilling a meal so I have to wait longer some nights to eat.

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