And she was next.
At five-thirty A.M. , thirty minutes before her execution was scheduled, Noelle heard
footsteps approaching her cell. Her heart gave an involuntary leap. She had been sure that
Constantin Demiris would want to see her. She knew that she had never looked more
beautiful, and perhaps when he saw her…perhaps…The prison warden appeared,
accompanied by a guard and a nurse carrying a black medical bag. Noelle looked behind
them for Demiris. The corridor was empty. The guard opened the cell door, and the
warden and nurse entered. Noelle found that her heart was pounding, the wave of fear
beginning to lap at her again, drowning out the faint hope that had been stirring.
“It isn’t time yet, is it?” Noelle asked.
The warden looked uncomfortable. “No, Miss Page. The nurse is here to give you an
enema.”
She looked at him, not understanding. “I don’t want an enema.”
He looked even more uncomfortable. “It will save you being—embarrassed.”
And then Noelle understood. And her fear turned into a roaring agony, tearing at her
stomach. She nodded her head and the warden turned and left the cell. The guard locked
the door and tactfully walked down the corridor out of sight.
“We don’t want to spoil that pretty dress,” the nurse was cooing. “Why don’t we just
slip it off and you lie down right there? This will only take a minute.”
The nurse began to work on her, but Noelle felt nothing.
She was with her father and he was saying. Look at her, a stranger could tell she was
of royal blood, and people were fighting to pick her up in their arms and hold her. A priest
was in the room and he said, “Would you like to make your confession to God, my child?”
but she shook her head impatiently because her father was talking and she wanted to hear
what he was saying. You were born a princess and this is your kingdom. When you grow
up, you’re going to marry a handsome prince and live in a grand palace.
She was walking down a long corridor with some men and someone opened a door
and she was outside in a cold courtyard. Her father was holding her up to a window and
she could see the tall masts of ships bobbing on the water.
The men led her to a post in front of a wall and fastened her hands behind her and
tied her waist to the post and her father said, Do you see those ships, Princess? That’s your
fleet. One day they’ll carry you to all the magic places in the world. And he held her close
and she felt safe. She could not remember why, but he had been angry with her, but now
everything was all right, and he loved her again, and she turned to him but his face was a
blur, and she could not recall what he looked like. She could not remember her father’s
face.
She was filled with an overwhelming sadness, as though she had lost something
precious, and she knew that she had to remember him or she would die, and she began to