Chapter Seven. Terror
Maria sat on her personal bed in her personal chamber leaning back on the head board as she stared into space. She felt so lonely and lost. Where could Alexa be? Judging by the way her king husband had left,Maria doubted he would even reconsider giving her back her personal maid. She had cried for so long that no voice came out of her mouth anymore. All that was left was warm tears that kept flowing down her beautiful cheeks. She didn't know how the tears had even got to become that warm she could feel it's warmth whenever it flowed down her full cheeks now. Being a princess, she didn't cry often. She could as well feel the hunger in her stomach that was almost giving up on chewing her intestines so mercilessly but she didn't want to eat. Much as she was hungry, she had no appetite. She was about to wail again when she heard a soft knock at the door.
But Maria just turned around and faced the other side of the bed making her back face the door instead. She didn't want to see him at any cost. Couldn't he even feel a little shame for his actions? How could he find the guts to come and call her out? She wanted to yell at him to leave her alone but she felt no more energy Ieft in her body anymore after all the crying and hunger. She curled herself up on the bed in a way that her knees were hugged up to her chest and closed her eyes to sleep. She wouldn't go back to him even if he didn't stop knocking,it was his choice to make and with that in mind, she ignored the knocking and decided to sleep again.
Alexa let the maid knock on the door but it seemed like her lady princess was not ready to open the door yet. She had heard that the princess had not eaten anything since morning and had been crying all day. And to think her lady princess did all that just because she thought she Alexa a mere maid was lost brought a warm feeling to her heart. It was not only her words but the princess really seemed to care about her a lot more than even a merciful royal would do for a servant. And she knew she needed to stop her lady's worry right now lest something happens to the princess while she is locked inside there. And to think they hadn't got a single response since the other maid had been knocking,it brought worry to Alexa's teenage heart and she looked at the other maid before she nodded and the maid let her call her lady out. Maybe she would come if she heard her voice.
"My lady.." she called after the knocking had ceased. "It's me Alexa, your personal maid. Please open the door my la...." before Alexa could finish her sentence, the door suddenly opened wide making the other maid whom had been leaning her wait against the door in order to detect any sounds from inside tumble right into the smaller chamber off balance making the poor soul run so much she ended up falling flat on princess Maria's bed. Both Alexa and Maria whom was already embracing her maid so tight she was almost crushing her turned to look at the maid with wide eyes but the poor soul's eyes were wider than any of theirs as she knew she had committed a great and unforgivable offence by falling into the princess's bed with her poor cloths and scent. She looked at princess Maria before she went down on her knees and started bowing her head continuously to the hard ground with so much force they were afraid she would hurt herself.
Maria who had been clinging on to Alexa like a lost child who had finally found its mother let go of her personal maid for a moment before she went to the other maid's side to stop what she was doing.
"What are you doing?" she asked and the maid who was already shaking violently wondering if the king's wife would report her or order her to feed the king's cat with a part of her body for commiting such a huge crime looked on the ground not daring to meet the lady's eyes opened her mouth and apologized to the princess...
"Pardon me...my lady. I didn't mean for that to happen....I...I won't repeat the same mistake in the future" The maid looked so terrified and scared that Maria who had come to see if she was alright ended up confused.
Having her personal maid who was as well her friend with whom they played, laughed and even broke the rules as they always snuck out of her chamber and went to enjoy horse rides when no body was watching,Maria didn't take much consideration of the differences between herself and the maids. She only knew them as the helpers of the palace but not scared cats like this maid currently looked. She looked around to see if something had scared the poor thing but there was nothing. Confused, she asked....
"Are you alright? Did something scare you?" She asked and the maid looked like she would faint the very next second. Her mouth was wide open while her were so wide they could as well pop out confusing the princess even farther.
"My lady..." Said Alexa from behind and Maria turned to look at her.
"What happened to her?"she asked Alexa who in return just smiled and said...
"Not every royalty is as merciful as yourself my lady. She is scared because she thinks you are going to punish her. It's a great offence for a maid like us to fall on a royalty's bed like that. Not even when you are making it" explained Alexa and Maria was more than annoyed. First, she didn't understand these stupid rules at all and second Alexa just included herself among the 'maids' that couldn't even get into contact with just a mere bed of her's just because she is a princess.
"Being a maid changes nothing on you." she said turning to face the terrified maid. "Now stop looking like you just saw a ghost because am not one. You are still a woman which makes you a lady even as you are a helper in the palace. Being a princess isn't all about what all of you think of it to be" she explained through clenched teeth before she left the Chamber and went to the larger one that she was meant to share with her husband feeling agitated only to bump into a powerful chest and stumble backwards right when she was about to reach the bed. She looked up to see who was holding her from falling and her anger escalated as it was her one and only husband who had made her cry all day. She hadn't yet forgiven him even as he had brought back Alexa who was right now claiming to be a mere maid when she had wasted all her tears all day and not had a single meal just because she was worried about her yet right now, the girl had the guts to call herself a mere maid.
"How disappointing!" She hissed before she roughly brushed his hands off herself like he had dirt on him and ignored his inquiries of whether she was alright as she lay down on the bed and covered herself completely from head to toe meanwhile the man on the other side of the bed who had gotten worried seeing that the maid was taking longer than necessary to come back and report to him and had decided to come and see for himself if his wife was alright clenched his fists so much his nucles became white. But he kept his calm until he saw that the maids had left the Chamber and he also stormed out of there not wanting to stay for even another second. Did she really hate him that much? It hurt his heart like nothing else ever did.
The next morning, Alexa whom had left her princess's Chambers last night when the princess suddenly went to sleep came in early to wake her up but she refused. Instead she ordered her to leave her alone.( It would be best explained that Alexa took it for an order since she was 'just a maid' ) and she contemplated on leaving before she decided not to. The princess had to at least have her breakfast since she had no meal the day before as she had been worried about her.
"Your highness, please wake up and have your breakfast." His highness will be worried about you because you haven't eaten for a whole day already" she explained but instead of listening to her, the princess suddenly rose from under the huge covers and glared at her.
"Do you care so much about him?" she demanded between clenched teeth looking completely agitated and Alexa wondered what might be wrong with her highness. "Even after all that, you still care to mention him to my face. Leave me alone Alexa. If you don't want to be my friend and only care about being some damned maid just leave me alone,"the princess finally lost it before she broke down and cried.
Alexa was so worried about her lady highness. Her eyes were already swollen from all yesterday's crying and yet she was crying again. It was not advisable for a lady to break down like that in front of a maid like her but Alexa wasn't surprised and neither was she terrified. She already knew that her princess took her for a friend, someone higher than just a maid much as Alexa always tried to remind her of the gap between them,it only agitated her more and Alexa always felt guilty for it.
"Your highness.."Alexa started.
"I said leave me alone" repeated princess Maria. "I was so worried that he might have kidnapped and chained you in some hideous dungeon for some sort of mistake,I even cried and begged him to bring you back to me but you only came back here to remind me of your being some damned mere maid"She ranted between her sobs and Alexa tried to put the pieces together before her eyes widened.
"Whom are you talking about, your highness?" she asked and received a bombshell for an answer.
"That great King Whom else?" she almost barked and Alexa's mouth parted before she opened and closed it for more than three times. So the princess had cried and was so angry because she had thought that the great king had jailed her!! She was dumbstruck and she shivered when she tried to think about what the great king must be cooking up for the both of them. And much worse for Alexa, she had already broken the rules before she even set foot into the palace. No one was going to save the both of them in this palace. She already knew that the rules in this kingdom favoured no one. Not even a royal like her princess and she quickly hugged her princess to her chest,much as she was younger, she understood her better than anyone else could.
And right as they were still there, she heard someone enter the Chambers unannounced and she froze the moment she saw what was at the door. There was a huge forest cat looking at the both of them with hungry predatory eyes and both herself and the princess screamed in terror at once and in sync as they extended to the farther side of the large bed,but still the cat kept advancing on them and they knew they were done for.