PROLOGUE
The fairy tales began to run through her mind. Running over and over, playing on repeat. Simple things her mother used to tell her before bed, a lost slipper, a handsome beast, a princess found by a single pea, a mermaid princess who had wanted nothing more than a pair of legs, a girl eaten by a wolf; they would not stop not for even a second.
Even as she sat in a carriage that used to take her around the city; palace grounds. Even as she sat in chains, now an orphan. Even as she listened to the horses hooves cling to the ground. Even as the tight chains broke skin and scarlet blood ran down her arms soaking her white dress in red. Even as she knew her mother was dead and was never going to return to her.
Even if she had known her kingdom was burning down at that very moment or moreover thrones that would be impossible for the king who had put them up to take back down, let alone a knight in shining armor or a handsome prince to make their way through.
Even if she knew she was being led right through an opening of those thorns that would grow over and never open again
