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waiting. I need to do something.” She sighed at his suspicious gaze, “I promise I’m just going to walk around the halls, I won’t do anything else that is not lady like today.”
    Bryce stepped out of her path, “Ten minutes or I’m coming after you.”
    She gave a mock bow, “Oh course, Lord Bryce. We wouldn’t want that now would we?”
    He snorted and turned back toward the ongoing chess game he had with the prince and plotted his next move.
    Zoe gave a sigh of relief when she was out in the hallway. Ten minutes was all she needed to find and drag her inconsiderate prince back to her new jail cell.
    As she wandered the corridors, she drew her hand across the many tapestries that adorned the walls, and she admired the feel of them against her fingertips. She had always loved this part about coming to the palace. She loved her home, but the harsh cold of the Aurelius Mountains were nothing compared to the calming warmth of the halls of Aldabel.
    Her hand led her down a corridor toward the servants’ wings as she let herself forget her original plan of search and capture. Zoe simply enjoyed her stroll around the palace, but was startled by the sudden groan coming from a door a few feet away.
    Creeping up to the edge of the doorway, she peeked through the crack that had been carelessly left open. Her face filled with heat as she pulled back from the room’s inhabitants, whom were locked in a passionate embrace. She glanced back into the room, her curiosity kept her from turning back the way she came and giving the couple their privacy.
    A dark-haired lad held his partner against the wall of the bedroom, one of her legs thrown up over his hips. Zoe was mesmerized by the sweat that slid down his tanned muscular back. She followed its path as it slid down into the breeches barely held up on his hips as he thrust up into lover. Each movement caused his lover to cry out, but after a few minutes he let out a groan and stiffened, before he pulled away from his partner.
    She watched intrigued as he righted his clothing, his back still to the door and discovered that the pretty blonde chambermaid was the owner of the room. Her initial curiosity quickly morphed into horror when she heard the young maid whisper a distinct ‘your highness.’ Zoe felt her eyes bleed red when he responded by giving her a peck on the lips before he grabbed his shirt from the floor, and headed for the door.
    Zoe jolted back from the door and hurried down the hallway back toward the drawing room. She passed Bryce as she sped into the room, she called to him, “Are you coming?”
    Bryce followed her into the room, growing wary at the sight of Zoe shuffling the cards. He might have run the other way if he knew the princess was a burning inferno waiting to explode.

Chapter 4
    Alice was concerned for her princess. They had been in Aldabel for a week now and it had been unusually quiet. Too quiet. After the first day’s catastrophe she had expected a lot more trouble, but the calm that followed had her quickly becoming suspicious of her charge.
    Zoe had been a perfect princess over the last few days, not only wearing lady-like attire, but not once had she set foot in the training grounds. She had spent her time either playing cards with Bryce or gossiping with the local courtiers. Alice had actually not seen the princess in the same room as the prince all week and she feared people were starting to notice.
    “You can’t avoid him forever, you know.” Alice helped the maids lay out the array of gowns brought for the princess to try on for the queen’s ball the following evening.
    “Avoid who?”
    Zoe stepped out from behind her dressing screen in a red off-the-shoulder gown. She stepped in front of the mirror to inspect herself. She turned to Bryce who was lounging on the sofa and held her hands out as she waited for his approval. When he scrunched his face at it, she stepped back behind the screen.
    Alice huffed, “The prince. People are