3
Ashton
I knew Evergreen Castle better than the palm of my hand. Holy petal, I knew the entire Spring Court inch by inch. Disguised as one of their soldiers, it was easy to slip out of the dungeons and out in the castle’s courtyards.
After my first step outside, I stopped, my eyes shut tight. Too much light. The sun was shining bright, and it hurt my eyes. Slowly, I took a deep breath—the first lungful of fresh air in almost fifteen years—and opened my eyes.
I looked up at the blue skies, amazed I was finally out. After a few months of being treated worse than a rabid rat, I had assumed I would die down there in the dungeons—filthy, starving, cold, and alone.
As I followed the wooden path that wrapped around the castle, I glanced all around, a little relieved Vasant hadn’t destroyed
