For a long while, the princess remained where she stood. She feared to move, expecting to turn and find the Queen's beautiful face just in front of her own. At long last, she mustered her courage and fled back down the passage. After many twists and turns, she found a small stair leading down into the darkened courtyard.
As she burst into the open air, she breathed a great sigh of relief, filling her lungs again and again, trying to slow her breathing. As her senses returned, she noticed watchfires had been lit along the fortifications on the high walls.
Many men moved to and fro, and she could also see shapes through the torchlit arrow ports. Sounds of metal and machines echoed down into the courtyard. In the gathering gloom, she thought she caught sight of the man she'd met in the library.
As she watched him moving from battlement to battlement, her eyes suddenly fell upon the masked face and deep red robes of the Inquisitor. Just as the Queen had done, he was staring directly down at her, his eyes boring directly through her. Very slowly, he bowed his head slightly to her, before turning to face an underling and dispatching an order.
The princess stood for a moment, bewildered, before hearing running footsteps behind her in the garden. She turned to see the maid Chrysanthemum hurrying toward her.
"Come, my lady!" she called, reaching the princess and grasping her gently but firmly by the hand. "We must away!" The pair hastened from the courtyard, and quickly down the winding stair.
They hurried down the long, winding stair, and through the darkened chamber of delights. Into her chambers they rushed, only to stop short in surprise. The Inquisitor was already waiting for them, sitting calmly on the princess's bed.
They wondered how he could have reached her chambers so quickly, only just having been seen on the battlements. The princess cast a wondering look to her maid, who only shrugged, before giving a swift curtsy to the Inquisitor.
"Good evening, my dears." he spoke. "Please, enter and be calm. Your breath is very fast from your hurry."
He lounged, rather than sat, toward the foot of her bed. As always, he was wreathed in his crimson robes; his face hidden by his mask. His hood was down however, and the princess was sure his hair was even more streaked with white and grey than the last time she'd beheld him.
The eyes that shone from beneath his mask seemed weary, and his beard was now almost completely grey. Though he seemed worn, he still exuded such a strong presence, that his apparent aging hindered him little.
"I trust you have heard about the coming of... visitors." spoke he. "I have seen to the castle's preparations, but still there is much more to do. However, there is a little time to attend personally to your evening lessons, my princess."
As his silky voice wrapped 'round her, she felt her excitement grow. That soft, sensual fragrance again drifted about her chambers, and it's scent filled her lungs, sending waves of arousal through her like a pulse. Apparently, it affected the maid as well, for the princess could see her nipples, dark and hard beneath her bodice.
Slowly, the Inquisitor stood and approached the one chest in the room the princess had found locked. From within his robes, he produced a strange key, and silently unlocked its latch. It swung open upon its hinges, revealing a plush red lining. The princess and maid approached the chest, and gazed at its contents with curiosity.