Ariana's PoV:
The King's hands are clasped around Andria's waist as they slowly ride the horse across the path. Andria laughs at something, making the King smile against her cheek as he presses forward against her. My heart almost throbs at their proximity.
Andria spots me in the distance before giving me a knowing smile and turning to capture the King's lips with her own. Something stirs within me, something like fury when all I want to do is march over to them and pull them apart, but I don't when I feel a gentle hand grabbing a hold of mine taking my attention away from them.
I look up to see the maid looking down on me, her look wary as she says, "He's not your mate."
I look into her eyes, almost dumbfounded, before stuttering, "I wasn't...."
" Don't lie if you're going to speak," she says, my cheeks heating up in embarrassment, knowing she knew what I was feeling. She begins to walk towards the palace Kitchens, the two buckets in her hands almost looking like paperweights.
"How do you know that? Why are you helping me with my work?" I ask as I rush towards her.
"Haven't I already told you the reason behind why I'm helping you?" she says as she starts to walk faster.
"No, you haven't," I ask, my curiosity getting the best of me. "And what is your name?"
The maid turns and glares at me, "My name does not concern you." her words are cold, making me shut my mouth for the remainder of the journey.
It's only when we reach the kitchens she speaks again, drowning out the silence that had been sitting between us, "You know, you don't have to serve the palace for the rest of your life?"
I tilt my head before asking, "What do you mean?"
"Well, you can serve in one of the other properties that the king owns." she says, before her eyes find their way to Mr Pablo's astonished brown ones, "that way you can..."
Avoid them.
It's loud and clear what she means even though she doesn't say the words out loud. I'll never have to see my sister or the King again if I leave to serve one of the King's other properties.
The thought of never seeing those two again fills my heart with relief, especially knowing it will help keep me out of palace gossip. But before I get my hopes up, I ask, "Is that possible?"
"Yes," she says, making me give her a small smile, "If you truly want to leave, come to my room at midnight." She says before turning around and leaving me standing with an astonished Mr Pablo.
I raise a questioning brow at him when I see his mouth half open. He notices me staring and shuts his mouth, "How in the Moon Goddess' hell did you... get her to come here, and why was she here?" Mr Pablo says, bombarding me with questions.
I give him a shrug before leaving to get the final two buckets of water from the well. This time carrying the buckets from the hill to the kitchen is easier even though I almost got spotted by the King and Andria again, who were having a picnic on the summer grass.
By the time I complete my work for the day, it is ten o'clock at night, which leaves me two hours to be alone in my cottage until I have to meet the maid. There is just something about knowing that I may never have to see the King and my sister ever again that fills me with joy and at the same time fills my heart with an ache which almost makes it impossible for me to breathe.
The hurricane of emotions that swim inside of me have me pacing up and down my cottage. I had planned on napping until I had to meet the maid in her room. But the strange emotions and anxiety have made it almost impossible for me to do so, keeping me up till all I could was pace around the small cottage.
Questions on questions spiralled around my mind, like would the king ever find out that I'm leaving? Will he try to stop me or let me go? Will Andria finally be happy that I'm gone?
I squeeze my eyes shut, willing my mind to stop thinking about them, trying to force my mind to stop thinking about Will or if he will care about the fact that I'm going to be leaving.
I feel my hand tremble as I knock on the maid's door, entering only when I hear "Come in."
"Hello," I say as I open the door and force myself to give her a small smile.
"Come take a seat," she says, gesturing to her bed.
I can't help but flicker my eyes around her room as I near the bed. Her room looks less like an office and more like the inside of a child's playroom, with books piled on every shelf and the mahogany table littered with dirty dishes. It almost reminded me of Nate's office. The only difference between the maid's room and my brother's office was it didn't smell like someone had died in it.
"Well, your room is tidy," I say while taking the seat, hoping she would take lightly to my light-hearted joke.
"Trust me when I say that this is as nice as it gets," she says, almost looking proud of the disaster in the room.
"So you were saying something about me being allowed to leave the palace to work at another one of the King's properties," I say, bringing the conversation back to the point of discussion.
"Oh yes, I have asked the Royal Alpha to give you permission to leave the palace to work in Clainton manor, it's owned by the King." She lets out while pushing some papers in my direction, "However, you will still need the permission of the King to leave the palace and to work in Clainton instead. You are going to need his signature."
I swallow, looking down at the paper, "Can you get the signature for me?" I ask meekly, already knowing the answer.
"No. You are under his service, so you'll have to go yourself, and maybe that way you can help fix the rift between you and your sister." The maid's simple response almost has me clenching my jaw. If my sister had cared about me, she wouldn't have let her mate make a fool of me.
"What is your name?" I ask her again.
She gives me a small smile before responding, "Sisily."
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