The scent of freshly baked bread wafted through the air as they strolled out of the bistro. Lily patted her stomach as she remembered the beef stew she had practically inhaled, and the salty butter she had lathered on the bread she dipped into the meaty gravy. The best part had to be the cheesecake they had for dessert, but she still had room to go to the bakery for the chocolate bread.

Frederick’s manners had drawn the attention of the owner. He said it was rare to see someone so young with such good manners, and that most children ended up with crumbs all over their face - just like Lily. Frederick thanked them for the compliment, but the way he cast his eyes down told Lily that he wasn’t very happy with the attention.

He said he was worried people would realise who he was, and while nobody had treated him like a prince, he still felt like he stood out just by the way he was. That must have been though. Lily had been told she was impulsive, but most girls her age were. People mostly knew her because they knew her parents or Mimi, but strangers never paid her much attention. It was different for Frederick, he caught the attention of everyone even when he wasn’t trying to.

“Was it good?” she asked as she turned on her heel to face him. He nodded but didn’t say anything. “Not as good as you get at home?” She smiled devilishly. Even though he’d already apologised to both her and Mimi for his behaviour before, it didn’t mean she wouldn’t use it against him in situations like this.

Frederick sighed and shook his head. “I usually don’t eat with other people. And I have never had a meal with so many onlookers before.”

“Not even as the fancy noble parties?”

Lily did her best to imagine the kinds of parties her papa told her nobles had. People would dance and talk, and they would have a meal on a long table. Mama told her about the dresses the women would wear; so tight that lots of them fainted and had to leave the party before their husbands. It didn’t make sense to go to a party in a dress you knew might make you faint.

“I haven’t been to them. I won’t be able to go to them until I’m ten, and that will only be to say hello.” Frederick clicked his tongue and grimaced. “There will be a party for me when I’m eighteen where I’m going to have to find a wife. I don’t want it.”

“Can’t you just say no? Aren’t you the prince?”

“My father is the king you know.”

Lily forgot that part. For the most part, she forgot that Frederick was a prince at all. It didn’t matter so much to her anymore since he wasn’t the mean, stuffy noble she thought he was going to be. But he was actually a very important person, and his parents were the most important people in the kingdom. It suddenly got very hard for her to breathe when she considered the fact that she probably wouldn’t see him again when he went back to his home.

Joseph’s children often talked about marriage since they were all adults, but Lily wasn’t very interested in the topic. But he had to think about it seriously, even now when he wasn’t even ten yet. She’d never been to a wedding before, and the only married couples she knew well were her parents and her neighbours. Maybe she wouldn’t ever get married. It was sad that Frederick couldn’t even think about whether or not he wanted to.

Lily looked up to ask Joseph and Jennifer if they could go to the bakery. Sweet food always made her feel better, and since Frederick was still frowning, she hoped that he would feel better with sweet food too.

Her heart stopped as she swung her head around to find them. None of the faces around them were familiar…neither did the buildings. She’d been so wrapped up in her own mind that she hadn’t even noticed that they’d separated from the adults and taken a wrong turn.

Frederick noticed her growing anxiety and looked around himself. While Lily’s eyes widened and her posture stiffened Frederick seemed to relax. He moved closer to her and took her hand.

“We’re lost.” She cast her eyes down. “Sorry, it’s because I wasn’t paying attention.”

Mimi was right. Her inability to pay close attention to what was going on around her had caused her problems. She didn’t know where they were or how they got there, so she didn’t know how to find her way back. A chill shot down her spine.

“It’s okay, just stay calm. We’ll be okay if we stay calm.” Frederick repeated himself a few more times and she wondered if he meant to calm her or himself. Whichever way he meant it, she did feel a little better with him stood so close.

Her fingers tingled. It felt like spiders were crawling over her body. She gripped tighter onto Frederick’s hand and pulled him along with her to hide behind some wooden boxes. She didn’t know why but that seemed like the right thing to do at that moment.

“Something’s wrong…”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…someone is feeling bad things about us.”

“Bad things?”

Lily tried to focus on the negative feelings that had invaded her body. It twisted around inside her until it felt like her mind was cloudy and her stomach tensed. It was the same as the time the man had planned to hurt Mimi. But this time the feeling was confused like it wasn’t just one person’s feelings.

“We need to go back. It’s dangerous.”

Frederick nodded and peeked out slightly from behind the boxes. Lily bit her bottom lip as she pulled his shirt for him to get back down. Of course, she knew they needed to leave, and that they had to make sure whoever was after them wasn’t close by, but that didn’t help her feel any braver.

Her legs were trembling and she knew that if she tried to stand up she would fall back down. She clung on to Frederick’s shirt so tightly her knuckles were white. The more she thought about it the harder it became to calm herself. That only worked to make her even more afraid.

Frederick patted her on the head gently and smiled. How could he stay calm? She couldn’t be sure, but there was a chance that the people who were after them wanted Frederick. Yet here they were; she too afraid to move and him as calm as if they were enjoying a stroll through the park.

“We need to get back. If we stick to the crowd we should be safe, right?”

Lily shook her head slowly. “I don’t think anyone here cares very much.”

He hummed thoughtfully. “But if we stay here then they’ll probably find us anyway. They must have seen us if you picked up on their feelings, right?”

Lily whimpered. She hadn’t thought of that but it was certainly the case. They might have lost track of them when they hid, but they might also be waiting for them to leave. The feelings she had picked up on hadn’t left her yet, they were getting worse the more she hesitated.

Breathing became harder. It felt like she had run at least three laps around the farm as she gasped and mumbled incoherently. Frederick pushed his forehead against hers and held her shoulders.

“It’s okay Lily. Breathe slowly. With me. We’re going to be okay no matter what.”

She did her best to breathe along with him as he continued to speak softly to her. The warmth of their foreheads pushed together helped to lessen some of her anxiety, and their overall closeness made her feel safer. The feeling of the other person, the one targeting them, didn’t disappear, but her mind didn’t feel as cloudy anymore.

Frederick took her hand again as he peeked out from behind the boxes. Lily did so too, trying to focus on the direction the negative emotion was coming from. It was difficult to pinpoint, but she told Frederick the direction she thought she felt it the most and he nodded.

As slowly but as naturally as they could they moved from their hiding spot. They tried to find signs that could help them figure out where they were and where they needed to go, but most of the paint on the wooden signs had faded or chipped. They walked aimlessly but as carefully as they could.

They heard a boisterous couple talk about one of the shops they had been to earlier and tried to follow them, but they were soon lost in the crowd. That was the only time Frederick voiced any of his frustration. He tightened his grip on her hand and pulled her away from the crowd.

Lily wasn’t sure whether it was better to stay with the people so that they were harder to notice or to separate from them so that they could get a better view of the street and where they needed to go. They leant against the rough, cobbled wall and looked at the sky. She wasn’t sure how long they had been walking, but her feet were beginning to ache and throb.

Maybe they were going to have to find somewhere to sleep outside. Luckily the nights were warm, so they wouldn’t be at risk of freezing to death, but she didn’t want to sleep on the floor. There were lots of rats, bugs, and vomit. Mimi told her there was a bad side of town, but she hadn’t known what that meant until now.

A shadow fell over them as a man with ripped clothing and bloodshot eyes hovered over them. Lily sunk into herself and moved closer to Frederick. A woman with matted hair stood beside the man and smiled, showing her crooked, yellow teeth.

“These are the ones, right?” the woman said in a croaky voice.

“‘S what that guy said.” The man’s words were slurred.

Frederick tried to take advantage of their distraction, but despite their clumsy movements, they grabbed tightly onto them and wouldn’t let go.

Lily and Frederick thrashed and called for help but nobody paid them any attention. When she tried to scream, the woman, who had been the one to grab her, forced a vial into her mouth. A sickeningly bitter taste spread through her mouth, but the woman held her hand firmly against Lily’s lips, so she had no choice but to swallow.

In an instant, her mind went black.