The door closed behind her with a faint creak, and suddenly, Elena was plunged into total darkness.
The icy air of the underground passage rushed into her clothes, seeping through to her skin, biting at her like a warning. The smell of dampness, earth, and mold filled the air around her, mingling with something indefinable, an old, forgotten scent, almost putrid.
She was alone. Anna was on the other side of that door. Beyond it, there was still light, the warmth of a presence, a final tether to her former life. But here… there was nothing. Nothing but an absolute, oppressive silence, so dense it seemed to absorb even her trembling breath.
She remained still for a few seconds, her fingers clenched around the cold stone of the door, unable to move, unable even to breathe properly.
The space around her felt too narrow, too dark, too heavy. Her ears rang, her heart pounded against her chest as if it wanted to escape before she did. Then, slowly, she inhaled, letting the icy air fill her lungs.
The tunnel stretched before her like a gaping throat, a chasm ready to swallow her whole. The darkness was absolute, crushing. She could see nothing, not even the outline of her own hands before her face.
She reached out, feeling blindly for the stone wall, shivering as her fingers brushed against its rough, damp surface.
A shiver of anxiety ran down her spine. She had no idea where she was going. She didn't even know if she was heading in the right direction.
The air was thick, heavy with moisture and dust accumulated over decades. The smell of wet earth, mold, and cold stone burned her throat. She felt as if she were being buried alive.
She took a deep breath, forcing herself not to think about the possibility of rats, insects, creeping things she couldn't see. She had to stay calm. She couldn't let panic take over now.
But the further she went, the shorter her breath became, the more hesitant her steps felt. She placed a trembling hand on her stomach, trying to soothe the burning knot forming there.
The tunnel sloped gently downward beneath the palace, as if descending into the very bowels of the earth. Her feet occasionally slipped on loose stones, and each time, her heart skipped a beat.
Another shiver ran through her. How long had this passage been abandoned? Who had last used it?
Thoughts clashed in her mind. What if the tunnel was blocked? What if she got lost? What if she was too late? Panic crept in, insidious, like poison. The air suddenly seemed thinner. She struggled to breathe.
The darkness was everywhere. It swallowed everything, enclosed her, crushed her. She stopped, one hand pressed against the stone wall, desperately trying to steady her breath.
She closed her eyes for a moment, seeking some semblance of control over her erratic breathing, trying to quell the dull terror swelling in her chest. The tunnel was just a passage, nothing more. A forgotten corridor, dug centuries ago for reasons even the palace archives had likely lost.
She had to keep moving. Standing still here was a trap. If she remained frozen too long, if she let the darkness wrap around her, she would be swallowed.
Taking a slow breath, she opened her eyes again, but it made no difference. The blackness remained unchanged. Absolute. Impenetrable.
The total absence of light was a trial in itself, a battle against her own mind. She knew her eyelids were open, yet it felt the same as if they were closed.
She forced herself to move, reaching out once more to find the tunnel's wall. Her fingers met the damp, ice-cold stone, and she clung to it for a moment, as if the touch alone proved she still existed in this confined space.
Then, slowly, she resumed walking. Every step took immense effort, as if the earth itself were trying to hold her back.
Beneath her feet, the ground was treacherous. In some places, it felt smooth, stable, but then suddenly, her boots would strike a stone, an invisible dip, a softer patch of earth that threatened to make her stumble.
She moved blindly, unaware of where she was stepping, unaware of what lay ahead. And always, that silence. A silence too deep, too heavy, as if this tunnel had never been meant to hear the footsteps of a living being.
She forced herself to breathe slowly, not to think about the stone above her, the meters of earth separating her from the surface.
She was alone underground. Beneath a palace where no one yet suspected her escape. Beneath a sleeping city that continued its life, unaware that she, the kingdom's crown princess, was wandering in the dark, battling the anxiety twisting her stomach.
Her fingers tightened against the stone. She had to keep going, think of nothing else. She took a deep breath and continued, slowly, carefully.
Minutes stretched on without any way to measure their passage. Here, time no longer existed. There was only her hesitant steps, her ragged breathing, the darkness.
Suddenly, her foot slipped on something unstable, a loose stone and she lurched forward.
Her heart leaped violently as she flung out her hands to regain her balance, her fingers scraping against the rough tunnel walls.
She froze, breathless, her entire body tensed from the shock. Her heartbeat pounded so hard it echoed in her temples. She couldn't fall. She couldn't get hurt here.
The mere thought of what would happen if she twisted her ankle or suffered a serious wound was unbearable. She had no one to help her. She was alone in the darkness.
A chilling shiver ran through her. She pulled her cloak tighter around herself, as if the thin fabric could shield her from the fear crawling under her skin.
She waited a few seconds, listening to her own ragged breaths, trying to calm the tremors threatening to consume her.
She couldn't panic. She had to keep going. Her fingers found the wall again, and she resumed her progress, slower, more cautious.
The tunnel kept descending, drawing her deeper underground. The walls, though uneven, seemed to close in around her, as if the passage itself were narrowing, becoming more suffocating.
She couldn't help it, she felt as though this corridor was closing in on her.
That every step forward pushed her further into a space never meant to hold anyone. As if she were violating a forgotten sanctuary.
Her thoughts drifted again, and she shook them away. She wasn't exploring a tomb. This was just a secret passage, a tunnel built for escape, meant to save lives, not entomb them.
But then, why did this silence feel so absolute? Why did she feel as if nothing had moved here for centuries?
She shook her head and clenched her teeth. She had to stop thinking. She couldn't let fear swallow her whole.
So she inhaled deeply, planted her feet more firmly on the slippery ground, and continued her descent into the abyss. Time kept slipping away. Or maybe hours had passed. She didn't know.
The tunnel seemed endless.
She still hadn't found a door. No intersection. Nothing that suggested an exit. She swallowed a sob of frustration and exhaustion, but she refused to cry. She hadn't come here to die. She had come to live.
So she kept going. Farther. Deeper.
Until, at last, something changed. A faint breeze. A whisper of air, almost imperceptible. But it was there. A current, weak, barely noticeable. But real.
And that could mean only one thing. There was a way out. She wasn't lost after all. Her heart pounded a little harder. She wasn't lost. She just had to keep moving forward.
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The
♥
Twilight
Kiss
♥
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On the other side of the sealed door, in the silent darkness of the sleeping palace, Anna was still there.
Standing motionless in the deserted corridor, she listened, listened to the silence.
She had wanted to hear something, some sign that Elena was making her way through the tunnel, that she was not alone in that abyss of stone.
But there was nothing.
Nothing except the faint whisper of wind slipping through the cracks of the old corridor windows.
Elena was gone. And Anna had stayed behind. She closed her eyes for a moment, fighting the irrational urge to open the door again, to call out to the princess, to tell her that she had changed her mind.
She could have fled with her. She should have fled with her. But she had no right to. If she had left as well, the palace would have known immediately. The alarm would have been raised at dawn.
And then, Elena would have had no chance of getting away.
No! Anna had to stay. She had to play her role until the very end.
She took a shaky breath and stepped back, withdrawing from the shadow of the tapestry that concealed the hidden passage. She couldn't linger here for too long. Soon, the palace would begin to she first servants would rise, the kitchens would come back to life, the guards would change shifts. And She would have to play her part, pretend that Elena was still here. Make sure that the princess's absence was not noticed until it was too late to stop her.
She had planned everything. She would tidy Elena's room, making it look as though the princess had slept peacefully through the night.
She would tell anyone who asked that Her Highness wished to remain alone this morning, that she was exhausted from last night's gathering, that she did not wish to be disturbed under any circumstances.
She would hold out until noon, perhaps even until evening. And when, finally, someone realized that Elena was gone…
It would be too late. She prayed that by then, the princess would be far, far away, beyond the reach of these palace walls. She exhaled slowly, trying to ease the dull fear that twisted in her stomach.
What she was doing was dangerous. And she knew it. When they discovered that Elena had fled, they would know she had helped her.
They would come for her: Adrian, the queen, the guards.
There was no escape for her. Her fate was already written. She would be arrested, dragged before the queen, forced to answer questions spoken in a voice as sharp and cold as a blade. She would be threatened. Perhaps even struck. She knew that the palace guards had no mercy for those who betrayed the Crown.
But it wasn't the pain she feared the most. It was what would come after.
What did they do to traitors in this kingdom? Did they imprison them? Beat them until they confessed? Or worse still… Did they make them disappear without a trace?
Anna did not know. But she knew one thing:
She would regret nothing. If Elena escaped, then it didn't matter what they did to her.
She opened her eyes again and steadied her breathing. She had no time left to waste. She turned away from the secret passage and silently made her way back to the princess's chambers.
The game was beginning. And she had to play her role to perfection.
Anna moved through the dim corridors with careful, measured steps, her hands clenched into fists to stop them from trembling. Every breath she took felt heavy, as if the very air of the palace was trying to crush her under its weight.
She had lived within these walls for so long, learned every rule, every unspoken law, every glance that carried hidden meaning. She had trained herself to blend into the background, to be nothing more than a shadow, an unseen presence in the grand halls of power. But now, for the first time, she was more than just an observer. She was a traitor.
Her mind raced as she reached Elena's chambers. She had to be meticulous, make sure nothing seemed out of place. The bed had to look slept in, the curtains drawn just enough to suggest a restless morning. She moved with efficiency, adjusting small details, ensuring that when the maids entered, they would think the princess was merely avoiding company.
Eventually, someone would open the door. Someone would notice. And when they did, the hunt would begin. Anna had sealed her fate. But she would not waver.