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“This door has been unlocked since the moment you woke up here. So, I ask again. Killian, why are you here?”
He gaped. The door was open. “I … I don’t know.”
“Who has trapped you here?”
“Zalina.”
Her wrinkles folded as she raised her brow. “Has she?”
Hadn’t she?
The old lady stood on bony feet and tottered toward him. “Listen,” she hissed as she grasped the bars and stuck her head through. “Listen, Killian.” And then she fell silent.
He frowned at her, waiting for whatever she was going to say next. But she stared, blinking slowly at him. He was about to huff off in frustration when he froze … and listened to …
Silence.
He turned to watch the water drip from the ceiling. He watched it hit the ground, splattering in tiny droplets. But there was no sound. He glanced at Meshougi who tapped her long fingernail on the bar, but there was no click or clang. Wind wafted down from the stairwell opening. He could feel it on his cheeks, but it had no whistle, nor did it cause the torches on the wall to waver, or the tattered banner to move, or the smell of rot to assault him.
He shook his head, disturbed by the twisting discordant feelings that something was terribly wrong. The sounds and feelings didn’t match what he saw. What he saw didn’t match what he sensed.
Meshougi was grinning wildly. “Ah. The prince now sees! One last time. Killian, who has trapped you here?”
Hesitantly, Killian tried a new answer. “Me?”
“Hah!” The lady clapped and spun in a dusty whirl. “Yes, my boy. Yes. You must wake up. You must save your princess. You must escape this castle.”
Killian’s heart sank, seized by a deep, aching terror. It was his fault yet again.
“Why are you assigning fault, young prince?” Meshougi shook her head. “There is no one to blame, and there is no value in assigning blame. See truth. Move forward. Take responsibility for the present. Rivers can’t run backward.”
He leaned his head against the bars. “What if I can’t do it? What if I can’t escape?” He inhaled slowly, the words of his father echoing in his mind. “My father said I always quit … and I do. What if I fail to save her?” He swallowed, his words catching on the painful lump that had formed in his throat. “What if she doesn’t want me and I can’t win her back? What if I can’t convince her of the truth?”
She frowned in confusion. “You continue by fighting even when it’s hard. You take difficult steps toward the next right thing even when your legs are shaking. You push through the fear, because you know what is right … because you know who you are.”
Meshougi smiled sadly. “Of course this is hard. Of course you’re going to fail. You’re going to get knocked down, pushed back, and fall again many times. But if you stay down,you stay down.” She leaned toward him again. “So you have to get up. Failure isn’t falling. Falling is a lesson. Failure is merely a teacher that helps you to do things differently next time. Mistakes are lessons, and life must move forward, or you will always be trapped. Either here in this trap that Zalina has set for you or in your own mind, crippled only by yourself.”
“I killed my mother. I failed my father and my nation. I continue to lose to Phin—”
“Your mother made her choice out of love to save you. It was her love that has sealed your throne from Zalina’s reaches.”
He turned wide eyes toward Meshougi. “How do you know about my mother?”
Meshougi’s eyes welled with tears before she cast her gaze to the ground. “I arrived a moment too late. The magician from Walworth underestimated Zalina’s cursed knife. I couldn’t save her in time.”
“Zalina …Zalina’sknife?”
“Her first attempts to take your throne were by breaking the betrothal and ending your life. It was a set up.”
Killian’s heart stuttered.
“Zalina cursed the princess at the beginning of her life—the day you met her. Zalina also scorched the earth this summer, hoping to make you desperate enough to marry her for her magic.” Meshougi shook her head. “But these things, while important, are not why we are trapped here. We are trapped here because you have been given a choice. You can continue to wallow here in failure and solitude. You’ll have no more responsibility and never can hurt anyone again while in this cage … that is, as long as you don’t marry Zalina. Or you can fight your way out of here, reclaim your kingdom, repent, and do all you can to restore your relationships. Ultimately, it’s up to you. You have to choose to continue to fight, Killian. No one else can save you but you.”
A spark ignited within him. His hands grasped at the bars as they faced each other, her scraggly head rising only to his chest. She smiled at him. With a nod, he made his choice. “I will try. And I won’t give up.”
“Trying is enough. If you’re ready, then wake up!” The old woman stood on tiptoes and reached a finger up to Killian’s forehead. “Wake up!”
His world tilted and warped unsteadily. Something within him fought against her, dark arms of the nightmare curse yanked on him, begging him to return. The entrapment had been miserable, but he knew what to expect and had somehow become comfortable in his discomfort—comfortable in filth, the lack of expectations, and misery.
