The spell broke, and just like that, she could see everything with fresh eyes. She looked into a pair of familiar gold flecked green eyes. She took stock of the rest of his features, long auburn hair, a deep scar that cut across his jaw, which was covered in stubble. He was wearing a jade green tunic with Aurelia’s insignia emblazoned across the chest. If it weren’t for his eyes she’d consider him a complete stranger. 

There was a quiet voice that niggled in the back of her mind urging, no, pleading for her to remember. Her head swam with images that drifted further out of her reach the harder she worked to grasp them. She shook her head and suddenly became aware of the cold stone biting into her hands and knees. 

Her gaze drifted to the dingy cell around her. The small chamber was slate from floor to ceiling, with a door made of iron bars that currently sat ajar. She cringed at the sight of a crude chamber pot and the makeshift cot where she must’ve slept. It had to be her bed, because there, sitting atop the tattered sheets, beside the tear stained pillow, was another familiar object. A small leather bound tome that held her most intimate thoughts, ideas, and desires. Her journal. She lurched for it, desperate to wrap her hands around the single item tying her to her own memories which now seemed to ebb out of her mind in waves. As her fingers dug into the leather she searched her mind, trying to recall what had happened that fateful evening. What had gone wrong that night she fled the castle? She grasped the golden ribbon, marking her place in the book, and flipped it open to the latest entry. Her stomach sank and her pulse quickened as her eyes flicked over the page. The entry was dated April 29th, 1624, exactly one year since she had ridden away from her destiny under cover of darkness. She recognized her own handwriting instantly, but the words that filled the page were alien to her. A voice interrupted her train of thought before she could begin to digest the words she’d penned.

“Aria,” The green eyed stranger whispered frantically, “Aria we must hurry!” 

My eyes shot to his and I was stunned by the fear and concern that shone there. “Your Highness, will do,” I replied cooly. Confusion played across his face as he made to grab hold of my arm. I shifted out of his reach, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable with how small this cell was. I rose to my full height and tried to stand as straight as possible. “Sir, I will be happy to follow you as soon as you explain to me who exactly you are and how the future Queen of Aurelia ended up in a prison cell.”