My skirts whipped around my ankles as I sprinted through the arched stone arbor, my laughter ringing out like bright silver bells through the evening garden. The soft grass cushioned my bare feet, and I kept my thumb and index finger tightly pressed together, holding my invisible treasure high in the air.
"You'll have to catch me first, your Grace!" I called back, casting a glance over my shoulder with a triumphant, beaming smile.
I rounded the corner of the grand rose hedge, expecting another open stretch of manicured lawn. Instead, my feet skidded to an abrupt, awkward halt, my laughter instantly dying in my throat.
The warm, golden twilight seemed to stall over the garden, but the air between us suddenly felt far too heavy to breathe.
