Chapter 17: The escape plan
Anastasia used her hands to suppress the sneeze, while her back pressed against the pillar behind which she hid. To her relief, after two minutes, the Mother Queen and the minister left the abandoned place, and she quickly slipped out of this side of the palace.
Dodging two guards on her way, she returned to her room. During the remaining hours of the night, she slipped in and out of sleep, somewhere worried that she would sleepwalk again.
The following day, the Flores sisters met in one of the music rooms assigned to the courtesans to use. As today was Marianne's turn to use the room, the sisters met in the closed space while Anastasia had the task of cleaning it. But instead of the courtesan, Anastasia was the one to pluck and release the harp's strings.
Marianne softly hummed along with the music. On noticing Anastasia yawn, she said, "I think you should nap, Anna. I will wake you if I hear someone outside the room. You have yawned twelve times in the last five minutes."
"Sleep is for the privileged," Anastasia stopped playing the harp and brought her hand to cover her mouth. "More importantly, I wouldn't be able to spend time with you."
Marianne thoughtfully replied,
"To think there was a time when we used to spend every hour of the day with each other. Now we steal time for it. But something is better than nothing, isn't it?" She smiled, consoling Anastasia and herself with that thought.
Anastasia turned to look at the door and then turned to her sister, saying, "Lady Sophia's birthday celebration is in four days, and I was thinking... The celebration will last for three days and two nights. What better day to leave, when the entire kingdom will be busy with guests and entertaining each other?"
"Did you arrange the camels...?" Marianne asked, and Anastasia shook her head.
"I am hoping to arrange it during my next visit to the Bazaar. But I don't have the money to buy the camels," Anastasia said, biting her bottom lip. Noticing the look of worry on her sister's face, she smiled, "Don't worry, Mary. I will find a way out for us. We can leave on the first night of the celebration. Pack your things and be ready."
Marianne pursed her lips before nodding, "Okay."