CHAPTER 6:
By the time everything was done, the sun was setting.
I watched everyone go in groups while I stood alone.
Watching a handful of them socialize with one another while I stood in a corner feeling cursed.
"so, you're Lyra?" the lady came up to me with a little smile on her face.
She looked less scary than when she was giving a speech about how worthless we are.
"y-yes ma'am" my voice was like a whisper.
"you're going to get tired of this whole ma'am thing. Please call me Ms. Melody" she looked so sweet.
If anyone had told me she would give a death speech, I'd kick them.
"ok ma- Ms. Melody" my head was down as to show respect.
I couldn't tell if she was a vampire or not but I didn't want to take that chance.
"follow me and be quick. We haven't got all day" she walked into the palace and I followed behind.
We took the back door and found ourselves in the kitchen.
There were so many servants walking up and down busy with one thing or the other.
The size of the kitchen was equivalent to that of my old home; in two places.
If the kitchen was this big, I wonder how the rest of castle was.
"you'll need to get something to eat first" she threw an apple at me and thankfully, I caught it.
"as the Kings personal servant, you'll have to be at his beck and call. Never talk back to him, say no, speak unless spoken to, look him in the eye and or cry. Those were the things I said outside"
I was hard to keep up with Ms. Melody, for an old lady, she could walk fast.
I tried to look and listen at the same time but it was stressful.
Everything in the palace was royal.
The walls in some part looked gold.
Other parts had different colors.
The floor was with a beautiful red carpet and chandeliers were atop us as we walked through the long never-ending halls.
There was no way I could not get lost even if I had a freaking map of the whole place!
"you'll be staying in the servant quarters. One more important rule. No wandering or going to the boy's side is strictly forbidden"
That should come in handy(!).
We kept on walking till we got to a pair of double doors.
Majestically, they swung open and I was gawking a bit.
"this is the slave quarters. The boys sleep by the left and girls by the right. Each room can fit two to four people and a little bathroom is inside. Your servant clothes have already been prepared. You get to choose your size. Same goes for shoes"
There were so many doors.
How do I know which room is mine?
Just as luck would have it my room was 331.
The numbers were engraved into the wood of the doors.
All I have to do is remember.
It was small with three beds and a closet with another door I assume is the toilet?
There was already a girl busy doing something in the closet.
"she'll tell you the rest" was all Ms. Melody said before shutting the door and startling the poor thing.
"Lyra?" she said like she knew me.
That's when I looked closely at her face and I couldn't believe who I saw.
"N-Nadia?" this was a miracle.
She ran towards me and gave me a tight hug.
"I thought I'd never see you again" tears clustered in my eyes.
Yes, she was taken more than weeks ago but that was more than enough time to get killed.
"how's the village? And my sister?" I could see the excitement in her eyes.
Amongst everything that has happened in the past two days, this is the only good thing.
"she's fine. Everyone's fine' at least now I'll have a friend and fortunately, a roommate.
"what of your 'me-maw'?" the painful memories of how she died came back.
Nadia suddenly stopped smiling.
"she died in my arms last night" after Eri, Nadia was the next best person on my list.
She was silent and gently rubbed my shoulder.
"that's a story for another day" I tried shaking off the sadness.
This wasn't the time.
I had to be strong and last for as long as I could.
"where do you work?" I honestly hoped she had a good job and she wasn't serving any of the royals.
"I urmm I'm the personal servant to Prince Alex" I looked at her with utter confusion.
"Prince Alex is the King's younger brother. He's like a teenager in their years" that made way more sense but how many of them were there?
"how many royal family members are here?"
*just three. The King and the Two Princes as well as their cousins but aside the cousins, only three"
Well there were more blood suckers than I hoped.
Fortunately, I wouldn't run into any of them but there was one I couldn't avoid.
"so, where do you work?"
I swallowed the gi-mongous lump in my throat.
''I'm the K-King's p-p-personal s-servant" the words were having difficulty leaving my mouth.
Nadia looked like she'd just seen a ghost.
"is there a problem?"
"well erm-I d-don't want to scare you so I'll let it slide"
We'd been standing since I'd gotten so, she led me deeper into the room.
I chose a bed that was the closest to the bathroom.
"if you don't tell me, I might not sleep. Please tell me. Maybe I would be careful" deep down, I hoped that was enough to convince her.
"well I heard that the king gets a new servant or should I say pet every month. They say he does terrible thing to those who he owns"
Me and my big mouth.
Why did I have to talk?
I could've just let it slide and pretend like nothing ever happened.
But did I listen to my inner self?
NO!
I guess Nadia noticed the shattered look on my face and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"anyway. You should get some rest. Life starts early" was all she said before taking off all of her clothes and covered a thin blanket.
I wondered why she did that but maybe because we weren't blessed with the privilege of having too many clothes.
I followed in Nadia's footsteps and took off all my clothes.
With time, I'll get used to it.
With that in mind, I blew out the candles and covered the thin blanket that was already on my bed.
Believe it or not, it's was better than the one I slept on when I was still in the village.
You guys are going to see the dumb thing I did involving the Princes and their names.
What do you guys think?
COMMENT, FOLLOW AND VOTE
XOXO.....