Chapter 11

Noa gently gripped his arm and discreetly tried to drag him outside. Once they were far away enough from the house she let go of his arm. “I can’t believe it! It’s been you THE ENTIRE TIME!”, Robert exclaimed. Noa pulled out a small vial with a clear liquid out of her decollete. “What is that?” Robert stared at the vial and took a few steps back. She smiled sadly. “Do you really think, I would go in there unarmed? I can’t let you go, knowing what you know now.” She took a deep breath in and removed the cork on top of the vial. She held it closer to Robert and his vision started to blur. “What-,” he began, but dropped unconscious before he could finish his sentence. Noa pushed the cork back into the opening of the vial and let her breath out. “I’m sorry.”

“Captain?,” she heard someone yell behind her. “Over here, Jack,” she shouted back.

“What are you-,” he began, but stopped when he saw Robert unconsciously lying on the ground. “Oh.”

“He knows. I couldn’t let him go.” Noa chewed on her lower lip. “Get him on the ship. Put him in the cell.” Jack nodded and threw Robert over his shoulder and carried him back to the ship. Noa collected the rest of the crew that had hidden around the ball and took them back to the ship. She stayed in her cabin, unsure of how to process what just happened. After a while Jack came in and informed her that Robert had woken up. She got up and went under deck to the cells, where she sat down on one of the barrels. “You gonna kill me this time?,” Robert asked. Noa just shook her head. “No.”

“Then what?”, he asked. Noa shrugged. “I don’t yet, but I can’t let you go now that you know.”

“You weren’t kidnapped,” Robert stated. She shook her head again. “No.”

“Then why run away? You had everything! You were a goddamn Princess! You had everything! Do you know how lucky you were?”

“Do you think I ran away, just for fun? Do you really think I’d leave my family just because? I wanted to be Queen. I wanted to rule the kingdom and make a difference. I am the first born, the throne should have gone to me. But then they told me that I could not be Queen – that the only way that I could sit on the throne was by marrying some man that they picked out for me. That man is 30 years older than me. 30 years. I was barely eighteen when they told me! A child! And even then, he would be king. He would rule over the kingdom. Later, I found out that the only reason that they picked him was the money he gave them. They sold me. I tried to stay, trust me. I tried to make it work. But they were never gonna change. This was the only option. Running away was my only choice,” Noa sighed and shook her head. “Maybe one day you‘ll understand.” She got up and turned to go back to her cabin.

“I missed you, you know. You didn’t even say good bye,” she heard Robert say behind her. “I missed you, too,” she admitted quietly and went back up her cabin.