“Move, boy!” The guard shoves my back, pushing me forward. I stumble into my Uncle Jack, who stops me from falling to the hard concrete floor. His hands tighten on me for a moment. I look up into his dark eyes and know he’s telling me to keep my mouth shut. He pushes me back away from him. I stagger but find my footing.

“Move!” the guard barks again. I drop my head down, wanting to keep my face shielded as much as possible. My gaze falls to the floor, and I let the hood I’m wearing mask even more of my face. I’m thankful that I have it on to begin with. I’m taken it to not only keep my warm but to also hide that I’m a girl. That seems to be working so far. They keep calling me boy and I haven't corrected them. The only problem is that it’s heavy and almost two times bigger than me. I keep tripping over it. I hadn't counted on needing to run. I thought I’d be sneaking away slowly in the night. Thinking I had hours to make my escape from my uncle's house.

I’d been wrong. He found me missing within minutes. He had to have been checking on me. I wonder how often he did that without me knowing. Why he came at such a late hour, I have no idea. But he had. When he came flying out of the house screaming my name, I’d run as fast as I could. It wasn't fast enough. Not only had he caught me, but I’d made a grave mistake, one we were both about to pay the price for. I’d gotten lost when I’d run and somehow stumbled onto the king’s land. We both were picked up for trespassing by five armed guards. I knew I should have stuck to the road, but I was sure I would get caught buy him faster if he was looking for me. It was clear it hadn't mattered. My uncle wasn't going to let me go without a fight. I belong to him. I’m his property.

He’s ingrained that into my head over and over. He has the right to do with me whatever he likes. I should be thankful to him for how good I have it with him. Things could be worse.

Let’s not forget minor assault I’d committed. I might have punched one of the guards when he grabbed me. That ended with me getting a hard backhand. My cheek is still throbbing. Along with my hand. I reach up and touch my face, wincing when I make contact with it. My uncle tried to argue with the guard to let us go. He told him I was his child and he was just chasing after me. He wasn't having it. Our hands have had been bound in front of us and we were loaded into the back of some large vehicle that didn't have a top on it.

I’m not sure what I want, to be honest. I don’t know which of the two would be a better choice for me—a cell or a place back in my uncle’s home. I hated it there. I hated it from the moment I was forced to move there after my grandmother passed. She raised me since I was a little girl. I never knew my parents and only ever heard of an uncle. Then five years ago I was sent to him. Sent to what felt like a whole new world. It might have only been another country, but everything I knew about my whole life was gone.

I was left with a man who seemed to hate me for no real reason at all. To him I was free labor. I’d been counting down the days until my eighteenth birthday. Where I grew up, you became an adult when you turned eighteen. I’d assumed the same was true here. I could be wrong.

But I’d been hoping that was true and that I could finally be free of him. Where I’d go I had no idea. He never let me far from the home. I was isolated. Then last week during one of his weekly drunken poker games he has at the house I heard my name come up.

He gambled me in his bet. He won. I’d never been so thankful for being with my uncle than in that moment. Better the devil you know, I’d thought. But I also knew I had to get out of there because he might not win next time. I’d seen the way the men that came to his games looked at me. I’d even seen my uncle’s eyes roam over me a few times.

So last night at midnight when I turned eighteen, I ran. Apparently, I’d run the wrong way. Not only had I dropped my bag with everything I owned, I ran right into a bunch of the king’s guards. Now it looked like I would be going to jail. Maybe that would be better than going back to my uncle’s. It would certainly be better than being given away like a piece of property. That couldn't be legal. Right? One would think, but I honestly didn't know. It’s not like my uncle sent me to school. The only people who even knew I was there anymore were they people who came to the house, his friends. He referred to me as the housekeeper to them.

My uncle grabs my arm, pulling me into his side as we start to move down the long hallway from the cell we’d been sitting in all night. “Keep your mouth shut and do as your told,” he grits out at me for the twentieth time now.

I also don’t think he wants anyone else to know I’m a girl either for some reason. I only went along with it at first out of habit, like I do when my uncle has people over. Most people thought I was a boy when they kept around. Only a few of his friend really knew. Then once I got tossed into the cell with more men, I decided it was best to keep the act going. I also didn't want to feel the wrath of my uncle. He’s only struck me a few times, but it isn't something I want to feel again, less so after already taking one backhand to the face already today.

I don’t respond, just keep walking next to him with my head down. A lock of my hair falls forward. I quickly tuck it back with shaking hands. The hold he has on my arm tightens. “Okay,” I whisper, jerking my arm from his grasp. I know he can’t reprimand me here in front of the guards. At least I don’t think he will. He releases my arm, and I try to step away from him, only to bump into another guard.

“Watch it, boy,” he grunts, giving me a small push away from him. I stumble again, but this time I find my footing. All the guards are wearing all black with weapons strapped to their hips. I thought my uncle was a normal-sized man, but these men make him look small. I’m even smaller. It’s easy to see why they think I’m only a small boy with the hood over my head.

I take a deep breath, trying to calm my breathing and come up with a plan, but I don’t see one. It’s not like I could outrun anyone. I was lucky to have made it as far as it did to begin with. My plan had been stupid, but I didn't feel like I had a choice.

Maybe I can find reason with the king. All I know about him are the things my uncle and his friends said about him. I don't know much else. Heck, I didn't even know that I’d ventured onto his protected land. I don’t know what the rules and laws are when it comes to these kinds of things. I’ve been so isolated since I moved here to be with my uncle, thousands of miles away from the only home I’ve ever known out on a small farm.

The things they said about him weren't great. He’s cruel and unfair, they said. If my uncle thinks him cruel and unfair it couldn’t be good. My uncle is also cruel and unfair. If he doesn't see those traits in himself but recognizes them in someone else's, theirs must be tenfold.

I glance up to see two huge concrete doors swing open. Bright light spills into the gray, cold hallway. I have to close my eyes for a moment for them to adjust to the light. Stepping out into the bright sunny day seems wrong. It feels like it should be rainy or storming, not bright and sunny with the sound of birds chirping in the distance.

“In.” The guard motions us towards a white van parked a few yards away. I follow my uncle in and sit down next to him. I don’t look back up until the van starts to move. I wonder where they are taking us. I overheard one of them saying the king wanted to see us. That seems a little extreme for trespassing, but maybe as it’s his land, the punishment will be more severe.

I don’t see a jail cell being any worse than being at my uncle’s at this point. I try to look on the bright side so the worry that is settling in my stomach doesn't take over. At least then when I did my time I could go free. Maybe make my way back to the small town I grew up in. And not because I long for that place, but because it’s all I knew before I came here. There I knew some kind of happiness. All that died with my grandmother.

I watch the lush green hill pass for miles on end. I keep my bound hands locked together. My breath catches as a giant stone castle come into view. It sits imposingly on the hill and looks like it’s been plucked right out of a fairy tale. It reminds me of one in a story my grandma used to read to me as a young girl.

Beautiful pink rose bushes line the stone driveway up to the font. I can’t pull my eyes away from how perfect it looks. It almost doesn't look real. When the van door opens, I step out without being asked. I want to take a close look. Guards stand along the stairs that lead up to two enormous doors that have to be over thirty feet tall. They are standing wide open, and like an invisible thread is pulling me, I start to walk up the stairs. One of the guards follows in step beside me. When I get to the doors, I pause for a moment when my feet hit white marble swirled with gold traces. My feet move again, the thread pulling me close to something.

I raise my head a little and still when my eyes alight on a throne in front of me. A man is sitting it in, his imposing frame dominating the room. There is really a king. I’d heard people talk about him before, but for some reason like the castle, it hadn't felt real. I don't come from a land of kings and queens. The closest I’d ever gotten was pretending to be a princess when I was a little girl.

Even from this far away, I can tell he’s big. Even bigger than the guards. It’s almost comical, guarding a man who is so much larger than them.

“Move,” the guard barks, pushing me forward. This time I’m not so lucky. My feet tangle in the long hood I have on and I fall forward. I feel the guard’s hand lock around my arm, pulling me back to my feet in one quick movement. I scream out in pain at the hard jerk. My hood falls back and my hair comes undone, falling all around me as I get to my feet. The guard quickly releases me.

“It's a girl?” He says it like a question.

The room falls silent.