Prison Princess

but now that was gone, and vibrancy combined with neediness replaced them. Having Cypress this close was doing things to my mind and body.
“No. I don’t.” His words broke the spell I was under. “The man who is leading the charge to get you was once my mentor. It’s a very long, dull story, but we had a falling out recently. His name is Bhaltair. He won’t get you. At least not until I get you home. Then you’re someone else’s problem.”
I didn’t like the idea of being someone else’s problem. I wanted to be nobody’s problem. I just wanted to explore, to see the world I’d been denied my entire life. I hadn’t even had time to fully embrace the idea of freedom. Since the moment Cypress waltzed in and dragged me out of Nightmare Penitentiary, my life had become a series of running and hiding and pain. It might have only been a few hours—honestly, I wasn’t sure—but it might as well have been a lifetime. I didn’t even know what I wanted to do now that I was free. All my life, I imagined what it would be like to explore the world without fear or inhibitions. This didn’t match at all like what I had hoped for. It was unsettling.
“We should get moving,” Cypress said while pulling away from me. The growing distance between us made me frown for some reason.
“How much farther?” I asked. He had said four days, but I didn’t understand how far that truly was. Why couldn’t we just transport there like he did when we escaped the prison?
At my question, Cypress’s shoulders lifted up in tension. He took a moment to debate his answer and put out the fire. He then got dressed, meticulously putting on his armor and strapping weapons to his belt. The armor he wore on his shoulders was polished and prim. The black pants on his legs were covered in dirt. He looked like a knight, but I knew he was anything but.
“I think my mentor is somehow tracking my transport magic. I had to take us just outside the city of Ravaryn when we were attacked last night. If we try to transport back closer to the castle, they’ll ambush us.”
I’d never heard of this city and didn’t understand how far away from the castle it was. “So what does this mean?”
“It means our trip just got longer. We have to sneak in another way.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. I wasn’t sure I could handle much of his griping and insistent walk faster, Princess. Keep quiet, Princess. I know everything about everything, Princess. Even though he was kind to me when I first woke up, I wasn’t fooled by the tenderness.
“And we can’t go directly to the c-castle?” I asked, trying to find my footing. It was foreign to me to even say the word castle. Why were my parents there?
“No. Your father can’t take the wards down without risking opening his castle up to demons. The Druid Kingdom of Gantrick has too many enemies.”
My father? His castle?
“When y-you call me Princess…” I trailed off.
“I mean that in the most literal sense,” Cypress replied dryly.
I sank back down to the ground, this time drawing my knees to my chest. “Okay. You can quit with this con now.”
He put his hands on his hips as he stared down at me. “Come again?”
“I know this game. Everyone in prison has a story, everyone is innocent, and for the longest time I played it, too. I was there by mistake. My parents were rich, and they were coming for me to take me to the fairy kingdom of unicorns and milkshakes.”
Cypress smirked for a second before the look faded. “Unicorns and milkshakes?”
“You know what I mean.” I’d heard about milkshakes. Milk. Sugar. Very basic. I’d always wanted to try one, just like I’d always wanted to see a unicorn. Neither of those things was going to be a possibility for me. “I know what this is.” I grabbed onto my head. “Some mage on another floor is fucking with me.”
I didn’t curse as much as some people I went to prison with did, but I could manage it when I felt compelled. This was one of those moments. Fuck. This.
“What?” His tone grew increasingly more annoyed with every question he asked. That was fine. He wasn’t real anyway.
“They’ve found out that I was planning to get outside, and now they’ve put a temporary curse on my mind to create this ridiculous scenario and fuck”—yep, I was shouting—“with me. Laugh at me. Carry on. I get it. None of this is real. A p-princess? Ha. Thank you. Too far. I can’t accept this fantasy.”
He looked up at the sky. “You know, I’ve spent almost no time with women who aren’t assassins. Outside of our guild, we don’t socialize much. So I don’t know if this is just something weird or if this is some kind of breakdown or if I’m supposed to be sympathetic, but I’m not. I’m just bored.” He hauled me up by the arm. “We need to get going. You’re a princess. I’m a killer. And we have people after us who will kill us both. Move your ass.”
I struggled to keep up with his gait, eventually forced to do so because I didn’t want to fall on my face. Even though he held onto my arm, I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t hesitate to let me fall just to prove a point. A princess? Yeah...I was calling bullshit. No one would treat a princess like this. No one would leave one in a prison for their entire life.
“Why was I in there?” I could barely speak the words. “If I’m this...princess.”
“No idea,” he replied in a curt tone. “I just know that my old mentor wanted you tucked away, which is reason enough for me to do the exact opposite. Plus, your parents are paying a pretty penny to have you brought back.”
I swallowed at