Your life is dreadfully dull. Being a princess isn’t all that the peasants think it is. Your whole life is centered around marrying some king or prince whom you’ve never met. Someone you probably won’t meet until the wedding night. It sucks but that’s just how it goes. It’s how you were raised.

You aren’t even allowed to be alone almost ever. You always have at least one knight with you so you can’t even lament in privacy. Your parents will always hear about it. You will always be punished for wanting to live.

Then you were assigned a new knight after your last one was killed in a battle against the French. This new knight is different. Quiet, composed, and seems to avoid looking at you unless necessary. It isn’t until you accidentally catch your knight with their guard down that you learn why.

Your knight is a woman.

You aren’t even sure how she got so far without someone catching her. If your parents were to find out the truth your knight would definitely be arrested and you don’t want that. Laswell, as you know her last name to be, is the best knight you’ve ever had and after you find out her secret she just gets better. You learn that her first name is Kate, that she disguised herself as a man to fight in place of her father, that she didn’t mean for it to go this far but that your father put her in place as your guard after seeing her prowess in battle.

You finally have a safe person. Someone you can vent to without worrying about it getting back to your parents. Both of you have something to lose. You complain about being destined to marry some dull king when you don’t even understand the appeal of men, how you would rather spend your days as an artisan or even move to the countryside if it means living your life as you choose.

Slowly those nights spent in quiet discussion evolves into quiet love. Short kisses in hidden alcoves, nights spent in each other’s arms when your parents are off on business or vacation, hushed conversations about a future that you both know will never come to fruition. It’s nice. It’s small moments of freedom in a world that wants you to be the perfect woman, someone who will marry whomever her parents choose without question.

Maybe you two got too comfortable.

Maybe too many risks were taken.

Maybe you both should have known that one day you'd be looking down at Kate who’s on her knee with her hands tied behind her back as your father reads her charges. Treason, corruption, conspiracy against the crown, conspiracy to kidnap the princess. Someone saw you two or maybe they heard you. It doesn’t matter how your parents found out. All you know is that your happiness is crashing down around you as the executioner sharpens his axe in the corner.