Saint

Breremew Castle

Princess Anna Breremew entered the great hall at the front of the Breremew Castle with her maid, Cory. The young princess kept her red hair pulled back in a high bun. Pearls that sparkled under the sunlight streaming through the glass ceiling were sewn into her hair. It had taken the maids almost two hours to pin her curls in the perfect way. Each minute had made her more restless. After what felt like a full day of sitting around with nothing to do, she was finished getting dressed.

Her dress was made of the finest silks in the kingdom, a pale blue that brought out the color of her eyes. Though many of the girls in the castle, Ladies born into wealthy families, would have been jealous of her clothes, makeup, and jewelry—not to mention her good looks—she couldn't see the reason behind it all. All she wanted to do was get out of the stuffy castle walls and rest out in the sun.

That would be the worst thing to say to any Lady or Lord. The sun was the culprit for aging. If she spent too much time lazing out there, it would turn her into a raisin.

She smiled at the thought of telling her mother her ideas of who was the real grape in the family. Her father would surely smack her if she said such a thing about his wife. The King didn't handle his anger quite too well these days.

"My Lady," Cory said as she opened the door leading to the garden.

Anna strode past the young girl, barely sparing her a glance. She stepped out into the garden, her slipper covered feet sinking into the soft grass. The dirt underneath was just as soft and if she bent to stick her fingers into it, she guessed it would feel as silky as her dress.

No one in the castle really enjoyed the garden as much as she did. The only one she could remember loving it as much as she did was the woman who was Queen before she was born.

The once beautiful smile fell from her face.

Long before she was old enough to know the ins and outs of the royal court, she'd known the Queen Sequoia. She was a beauty with tanned skin, long black hair that fell below her waist, and a pleasant smile that could be recognized even in her brown eyes.

Anna was born out of wedlock. Her mother was a whore the King had picked up from the maids' quarters. Anna knew very well when she was young that she was different than all the other children in the court. If it wasn't for the fact that the Queen had died, she would have never been recognized by her father.

It was almost as if fate had planned for all this to happen. Her father, the King, married her mother just two months after the death of the Queen.

No one in the castle had the guts to deny what the King wanted. Her mother had been ecstatic when the King had asked for her hand in marriage.

The sun shined through the canopy of tall trees. The light cast sharp shadows on the ground. When she looked up, she could see the clear blue sky ahead and the tops of the castle wall. Cory came to her side.

Just as a cold gust of wind whipped across Anna's face, Cory held out her large white coat. She let Cory wrap it around her, but she didn't try to hold it closer to her body. No one knew that the cold didn't affect her. Even when the castle had fallen victim to a nasty blizzard last winter, she hadn't even been cold enough to ask for a blanket.

For as long as she could remember, even when she was a child playing in the maids' quarters when her mother was 'attending' the King, she'd been like this. She never spoke of it. It had crossed her mind once or twice to speak the truth. Cory was her maid and the only person she could ever see herself confiding in, but this secret was too big to tell even the maid.

Witch. That's the word she'd been fighting against her self to not say. Even thinking about it gave her goosebumps. There might be other things she could do if she tried. She wasn't going to do that though. Giving in to this demon magic would tempt her. She would be consumed by it, she knew that.

With the sun on her face, she sweated and pulled at the coat.

"Is it enough, my Lady?" Cory asked, her hands folded in front of her.

"Yes," Anna said. She moved away from the young girl and further into the garden.

The flowers, fruits, berries, and vegetables wouldn't begin to show signs of growth until the beginning of spring. Now, when winter was at its peak, there was nothing but death in the small sanctuary. Everywhere she looked, she could not see a small sign of life except the pale grass. She knew the trees and the plants buried under a thin layer of frost were still alive. But it looked so sad.

Her mother would have requested this place be burned down if she knew how much Anna loved it. She would have taken pleasure in knowing that she could take one more thing away from her daughter. The King, her father that she sometimes forgot was even a part of her, didn't care. It was evident in the spare moments he would request to see her.

Anna moved to the far side of the garden. A small cement bench carved with roses and daggers pricing through their centers was waiting for her. She sat at the edge, placed her folded hands on her lap, and listened to silence surrounding her.

Cory stood off to the side, blending in with the rest of the dead forest.

These were the moments Anna lived for. She only wanted to be alone.