"Hello?" a delicate voice asked. "Ooh, I hate these icky dungeons!"

"What are you here for?" A guard asked.

"I'm here to help the prisoners get cleaned up. You know, 'identification'" the maid whimpered.

"Take 'em" the guard grumbled, letting the maid past.

"Johnny, Wake up" Lane whispered, then louder. "WAKE UP!"

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" John consented to his wife pulling him up, her delicate but worn hands helping the large, weathered ones.

"We're ready," Lane told the maid, head held high.

"Right this way." the maid answered, wrinkling her nose.

At one point a manservant supported John into another room, and the maid continued leading Lane down the hallway.

"Here we are." the maid gestured to a large pink room. A dresser stood on one wall, a rope still coiled underneath it from eight years earlier. The paving stones of the window were chipped, but still looked toward the harbor, a commoner's garden still lying underneath it.

"I hope you like it. It was the princess's room. Before your husband killed her."

"He didn't kill her." Lane interrupted.

"Alright, whatever." the maid giggled. "Let's get you ready."

Lanie walked to her bathroom for the last time. The maid drew a bath that injected the air with roses and lavender.

Lanie soaked in the bath, the familiarity melting eight years of sailing off her body. Suddenly, she felt twelve years old again, popping bubbles and splashing herself.

After she was clean, she dressed in one of her old simple black dresses. She sat in front of her mirror, her blue eyes staring matching eyes, remembering the last time she had sat at that mirror. Just like before, a maid was twisting her hair into a bun. Her mask was still on her face. She slowly removed it, not taking her eyes off of the mirror. She laid it on the desk in front of her. The lace began to be rumpled by tears. Lanie covered her face with her hands and sobbed. She sobbed out her identity and confidence.

When she straightened herself out, she fixed her dress and stood tall. She put her mask back on, not the black lace, but a mask of confidence.

"Take me to the gallows." she calmly said.