The Pebble Path

"Dégage," With flashes of white I could see men in white screaming.

"Lève toi," The outline of my best friend appeared

"Reste avec moi," The nurses spoke.

"Hey.. Look at me, look right at me," was the only thing I could understand before all of the nonsense of words came back. It was my best friend, he wanted to wake me up?

Next thing I knew I was shot up in a bed panting with Ambrose at my side. However, he seemed to be asleep. Shifting out of bed I let my feet hit the cold wooden floor and silently creeped out of the room.

"They were in distress.." I spoke to myself. "I couldn't make out any of them or understand what they said."

'Somethings wrong I shouldn't be here.' I thought to myself as I let my legs carry me to what seemed like a window but the velvet drapes covered it.

Pushing them aside I sat on the freezing sill of the window and let the Curtains hide me from anyone wandering inside the palace. Watching the stars the events of my day replayed in my mind.

Earlier that day

"Lyra, Darling," There was a voice breaking the stillness that the singing birds had filled. The voice replayed In my mind and it sounded almost sour, like a bitter plum that sat in your mouth too long.

I looked toward the tall blonde man who had taken my hand and placed a kiss upon it and gave him my best fake smile, trying to make out who he is.

"Lucas, it is lovely to see you again." Letting Lyra's memories break free from their prison and play in my mind I realized this was her fiance.

Taking a seat Lucas sat across from me and began his boring princely speech. I let it all go in one ear and out the other instead of focusing on him, the sweet aroma of the flowers that surrounded us took over my senses.

"Shall we take a walk? You seem entranced by the garden today." I gave him a nod and a smile and he took my hand helping me out of my chair.

We walked along the pebble walkway that traced the lush green garden. All the hedges looked freshly cut, the grass never too long. The flowers never looked out of place and each surrounded by flowers of the same type.

Every so often you would see a woman or man in a uniform going to collect herbs or medicine plants they grew. Around every corner was a gardener snipping or pulling weeds.

"Lyra? Did you catch what I said?" That sickening voice broke my trance.

"I apologize, it seems I had been in my own world." I gestured for him to continue his speech this time listening to every word that caused my head to feel heavy and gave me a headache that could only be cured by his conversation closing.

The garden was too large to go through in one walk so we decided to turn around after a while and went back to the castle. Lucas had been called away due to some work so with nothing else to do for the day I decided to go back to the garden after meeting with the queen and having a stroll with Roman.

"So how was your meeting?" He finally broke the comfortable silence we created.

"Well, let's just say I want a new fiance," I replied while looking up at him.

"Let's change the topic then shall we? Have you been reading any good books recently?"

I thought for a minute trying to take a moment to think about my reply. "Well, I read this wonderful book about-"

The rest of the walk was calming, even before I was Lyra I could tell she was close with Roman. He was her age and being around people 2x her age must be boring, especially because of Lucas.

Elden was always calm and if he needed he would make me laugh to cheer up my mood, his voice was deep and sweet. He was kind and was practically able to read my mind.

"Do you mind if I take this off?" Roman has gestured towards his metal helmet which hid the top half of his face and his hair.

"No no go ahead."

Romans olive skin was practically glowing in the bright sun, his black hair shined and sweat beads were rolling down to his jawline. I knew Roman would never betray me. He was patient, caring, and kind. He might have been one of the only good things about being here despite the garden.

I wish I had my phone to capture this moment the bright sun, the beautiful garden, and the tranquility of this conversation.

This place was a fantasy, an incredible dream even though it was such a nightmare. Despite every good part of this, I don't fit in here in 15th Century France.

Back To That Night

"Lyra?" I heard a whisper echoing throughout the empty halls.

I didn't want to be found yet, but I knew better than to cause a ruckus this late at night. Quietly jumping off the window sill I hit the ground with a quiet thud and then found where the opening of the curtains was to go through and see who called to me.

"Hello?" My voice was still and low as to not wake anyone.

"Lyra," A smooth voice came from around the corner, it was Roman. "Hey, Ambrose said you disappeared."

Speak of the devil and he shall appear huh? Just a moment after Ambrose who looked distressed came around the corner. When he saw me he sighed and ran over.

"Lyra, don't disappear like that, it's late. If want you to go somewhere wake me up please." He looked so hurt it almost pained me to look at him.

"I assure you, I'll wake you up next time I decide to run away," After that Roman returned to his room and Ambrose dragged me to mine.