My eyes flew open before the sun was fully up. I rembered instantly where I was, and my interaction with Prince Theo weighed on my mind.
I took a few deep breaths, trying not to let his constantly irritated state get to . I had slept well, had good dreams, and had a lot of energy pulsing through my veins. Why would I let his pessimism ruin my day before it had even begun?
I glanced down at my pillow and saw the flower that Prince Warren had given to and instantly felt a rush of adrenaline.
No wonder I’d gotten a good night of sleep. The blooms were slightly faded from the vibrancy they’d had when he’d first picked it and handed it over to , but the fragrance still filled my lungs when I inhaled, and I thought it might last another day or two.
I quickly put the flower in the top drawer of the night stand and hopped up, ready to prepare for the day. Lots of hard manual labor lay in front of , but I was ntally prepared for all of it.
After a few hours, I had almost finished wiping down the entire wing. Almost, because the ceiling was too high for to reach. While I was pondering what I should do to get myself up there, I had an overwhelming feeling that soone was watching from behind.
I looked down the hallway and saw a tall, lean form coming toward , and imdiately, my heart knew who it was.
Quickly, I sprinkled so water on the floor so I’d have an excuse to speak to him. “Be careful, Your Highness!” I called. “The floor is wet here!”
“There you are!” Prince Warren greeted as he approached, staying back from the area I’d just dampened. “I had wondered why you weren’t outside with the animals. So... you were chosen to be my brother’s personal attendant, huh?”
Sothing was slightly off about his tone. He was saying kind words, but he didn’t exactly seem happy about the news.
“This is my assignnt, for now,” I said, keeping my head down. “It was... an accident... sort of.” I couldn’t quite explain to him how I happened to be at the pavilion at the sa ti that Prince Theo was expecting his attendant there.
“Well... congratulations.” His smile looked forced for so reason that I didn’t understand.
“Thank you,” I said. “But honestly... if I had a choice....” His eyebrows raised, and he took a step closer to , as if he knew I was hesitant to say what I was trying to get out, which was true. “I wouldn’t have chosen to be Prince Theo’s attendant.”
I wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea to share my displeasure about one prince with another prince, but looking at Warren’s face, I knew I could trust him.
“Really?” His tone suddenly changed, and I thought I heard a bit of lightness to his voice. “Well, it looks like you’ve got quite a bit of work to do, cleaning up this wing of the castle. You know, a personal attendant isn’t ant to be a maid.”
I felt my cheeks redden as I thought about how I had gone into Prince Theo’s room last night and ended up getting myself into this predicant. But at least I had sothing to do. “I don’t mind a bit of hard work,” I told him.
“Perhaps I could help you? I’ve never done much cleaning, but I can give it a try.” He flashed a kind smile to that made my heart skip a beat, and I wondered if he could hear it.
“I couldn’t ask a prince to help clean!” I had to turn down his offer. “That wouldn’t be appropriate at all!”
Prince Warren laughed, and the sound of it made my cheeks flare up again. “You’re not asking , silly,” he reminded . “I’m volunteering—as a friend.”
I was tempted to accept his offer to help, simply because I wanted to spend more ti with him. I glanced around and suddenly realized exactly what I could ask him to do. “Well, I am having a bit of trouble reaching those cobwebs up there in the corners,” I said, pointing one out to him. “I’m just not tall enough to reach, even on the stepladder.”
Prince Warren looked at them for a mont, his hand in his pocket as he studied the problem. He gave a nod and smiled again. “I think I can help with that.”
Taking hold of the ladder and a duster with a long pole, he moved over to the corner and climbed up, stretching to reach the webs in the corners along the ceiling.
When he did so, his sleeve moved back just enough, and my breath caught in my throat as I got another, clearer look at his bracelet.
I recognized it. Not only was it the sa material and color as the one I’d given away as a gift all those years ago, I could see so wear on one of the beads. I rembered scraping it on a rough tree trunk when I was climbing in the woods one day.
Trying not to stare, I looked away, but I couldn’t lose this opportunity to satisfy my curiosity. It had to be him!
Clearing my throat, I said, “That’s an unique bracelet you have there, Your Highness. Where did you get it?”
It took him a mont to respond since he was working. When he finally lowered the duster down, he said. “This?” He held it up so I could see it. His gaze seed to get even softer as he said, “It was a gift I received a long ti ago.”
“Oh?” I asked, my heart thumping against my rib cage again. “From... whom?” I was fishing for information now. I needed to know what he rembered. Was there any way he recognized ?
“Soone special gave it to .” He climbed down off of the ladder and moved it to another corner so he could reach another web above him.
“Oh. That’s... nice. Do you have fond mories of receiving it?”
“Uhm...yes. I suppose I do. She’s a very important person to .” He turned and looked at , and I had to avert my eyes, grabbing the mop and sliding it across the floor as if I were focused on my work. “Why did you ask?”
“I–I was just curious.”
That was going to be all the information I got from him for today before he got suspicious. I had to pretend like I didn’t know where it had co from.
It wasn’t as if I could just blurt out to him that it had co from , that I’d been the girl who saved him in the woods all those years ago. I wasn’t sure whether this was a good ti for to reveal that.
Before I could even say anything else, an annoying voice hit my ear, and I suddenly wished I’d mopped the entire floor with the slickest soap possible.
“Well, isn’t that pathetic! Look at her, girls. She’s supposed to be one of Prince Theo’s bride candidates, but here she is again, doing the dirty work that only maids would do! She must have embarrassed Prince Theo so much that he can’t even stand to be near her.”
Sophia stood a few feet away, her arms folded, her friends gathered at her shoulders, all of them looking down their noses at . Sophia bowed down to greet Prince Warren, “You Highness, please do not be deceived by her. She would bring you nothing but disgrace. She was supposed to serve Prince Theo, yet now, she is shalessly throwing herself at you!”
Prince Warren turned to look at her and then climbed down off of the ladder. I couldn’t quite read his expression. Was he irritated or amused?
“What a whore!” Sophia added.
Prince Warren frowned. “It’s not lady-like at all for you to speak that way. Likewise, you shouldn’t be spreading rumors and speaking unkindly about others. That’s not the job of a Luna.”
Sophia opened her mouth but then closed it again, dropping her eyes. She raised them to glare at before she said, “Co along, ladies. Let’s get back to the clean part of the castle. Clearly, this girl is a terrible maid who doesn’t know how to keep a place swept up.”
They went off, still making snarky comnts about , and I got the distinct feeling that she didn’t like being so close to Prince Warren. She probably saw it as a threat to her sohow.
What was more, she was going to be making more trouble for soon. I could feel it.
Once she was gone, I turned to Prince Warren. “Thank you for sticking up for .”
His warm hand touched briefly on the shoulder. “You’re quite welco, my dear...”
I felt a tingle of electricity roll through my arm.
“...friend,” he finished his sentence. When he pulled away, my skin felt cold again.
Prince Warren couldn’t stay long, but while he was there, I enjoyed his company. He was so different from his brother, so much more thoughtful and kind. I wished I had been assigned to be his personal attendant instead of Prince Theo’s.
I wished I had been assigned as his bride candidate, for that matter....
***
Later that evening, I headed to Prince Theo’s office to report my progress.
I knocked on the door and waited for him to call in, which took a long ti. He didn’t exactly think about other people or try to spare them any trouble.
When he finally called into his office, I had to wait for him to finish whatever he was working on so that he was looking at before I could even make a statent about what I had finished.
His eyes were narrowed, and his expression was dark and sullen, even more so than usual. “Yes?” he asked , dropping his pen and folding his arms across his chest.
Clearing my throat, I said, “Your Highness, I finished cleaning the hallways today, and I was able to start on so of the empty rooms.”
“Congratulations on doing your job. Do you want a dal or sothing?”
“No...” I took a deep breath and tried my best to maintain a professional and respectful tone. “Your Highness. I only wanted to inform you of my progress.”
My impression was that he wasn’t a man of many words, so I hadn’t expected him to be so sarcastic. Did he treat everyone around him like this or was it just ?
“Yes, well, perhaps you would’ve gotten more done if you didn’t spend so much ti chatting with whover wandered by,” he said. His tone was flat, but I could still tell he wasn’t exactly happy.
My brows furrowed as I lifted my eyes to look at him. “Pardon ?” I had spoken to Prince Warren for a few minutes, and Sophia, which I didn’t even count as a conversation, but... that was earlier in the day. I had been working non-stop for the past several hours.
But I bit my tongue. Arguing with a royal wouldn’t do any good.
“Everyone who works for needs to follow one rule, Ciana.” I didn’t like the way my na sounded on his lips. “That is, to keep your mouth closed!”
Nor did I appreciate what he was saying.
He continued, “The palace isn’t as safe as you think. You’ll never know what information others want to get from you, and what you might have leaked...”
What did he an? Was he saying that Prince Warren was trying to spy on him and sohow harm him?! How ridiculous was that?!
I had to say sothing. “Your Highness, the only person I spoke to was your brother! Prince Warren is a kind and gentle soul. All he did was to help clean. There wasn’t a single word he asked about you or—”
“That’s it.” He interrupted , and his expression was even darker. He stared at for a couple seconds and I had no idea what he was alluding to.
“You’re no longer my personal attendant, Ciana Black,” he said coldly. “Effective imdiately, you are being replaced.”
Taking a deep breath, I braced myself, trying to figure out what he ant.
I was replaced? By whom?
#
Reviews
All reviews (0)