Chapter 4

Diana sat in a comfortable chair in an extravagant room.

Looking to the front, she watched her reflection in the mirror.

Her gorgeous orange hair lay over her shoulder, a few strands sinking into the curves of her chest.

Her lips had a luscious shape to them, and she had light seductive eyes.

Her movements were smooth and fluid.

Smiling, she turned away from the mirror to look across the room for the doors that had been closed.

Diana had been at the castle for a year to that day.

She had started from a position at the bottom and had used every opportunity to find and seal the prince's attraction to her.

She was one of the two spies sent to get important intelligence from the castle.

Diana had gotten a small position as one of the accountants in the castle so she could pry into some of the trade and finance secrets of the castle but now, she'd done better.

When she'd realized the prince had a wandering eye, she seized the chance and acted quickly. Seducing the prince had not been hard to do in the least.

Diana smirked.

The boy would do anything she said now. It had been like taking candy from a baby.

Diana still had to be careful, of course. 

She did not want the prince to tire of her, nor his parents getting suspicious.

The king was no loyal husband himself and turned a blind eye to his son's shenanigans whilst the prince's mother kept herself busy with lavish tea parties thrown for her friends.

Diana licked her lips.

She still had to be careful of course. She was trained to not let anything slip her mind.

There were five children that the king had.

The second was the one Diana had trapped and she was bent on securing war strategies and other important information through him.

All she had to do was get intelligence little by little and sneak it into the new spy who'd arrived seven months ago. The small girl worked at the kitchen and looked rather unassuming.

She was a beautiful girl though with long, thick black hair and big, gorgeous eyes.

Diana wondered if she should task her with getting some other official's attention.

She shook her head.

The girl looked too innocent to manage anything of that kind on her own.

It was upto Diana and the other spy who'd mentioned to her when she was being briefed on the job.

It was a male. That was all she knew, and Diana wished she knew more.

It would really assist her with the job and feeling less alone.

--

The sun was beating down on the men as the trailed up to the royal kitchen.

"I hate this."

"No one asked, Treade," Cayle groaned, his usually pleasant face covered in sweat and annoyance, "Damien, is this necessary?"

"You see her, you'll understand!" Damien declared, "She's the most beautiful girl you've ever seen! She's so pretty… and her dress, the way it dips down to her ches-"

Cayle hit the back of Damien's head with a bunch of rags, "You said you'd get us some additional fruit juice."

"I will!" Damien yelled, "She gave me some last time I was there!"

"Some useless hussy-" Cayle threw Treade a warning glare to stop him from continuing.

"I'm not patient at the moment, you two," Cayle said, sounding tired, "If I'm honest, I'm not even sure why I let Damien convince us to go all the way to the castle in this blistering heat to get fruit juice when we could have just-"

"I want fruit juice," Treade declared, "And it better be good."

Cayle sighed.

"Look! We're almost there!" Damien said dreamily. "I can't wait to see my future wife!"

Cayle mustered up what little energy he had left, "And this would be the fifteenth woman you've imagined to be your wife?"

Damien waved him away, "The ladies in the past shall not be in my memory."

"Neither will you," Treade snorted, "The ladies you pick; ones working in kitchens and brothels and bars; they're not there for you or for your future. They're with you solely for your money."

"Treade," Cayle interrupted, "Not all women are after money."

"They are," Treade was determined, "The moment you lose it or they find someone better, they jump."

Cayle sighed, "Well, I'm very sad you have such a poor view of most women but-"

Treade shook his head fiercely, "You will never catch me falling for a woman in these parts. I would never marry a woman I didn't know every single detail about. There is no way I would ever ever marry a girl or decide to marry her the moment I saw her."

"Well, I do agree that we need to know something about them or their family but-"

"Quick!" Damien cut into the conversation, his fierce whisper shocking Cayle and Treade immediately.

"What- What is it?"

Treade reached for his battle axe.

"It's the general!"

The three men looked over to their right to where Damien pointed and sure enough, the old tired-looking general was slowly coming down a gentle hill.

"Run!"

"Don't be ridicul-" Treade felt Damien pull at his sleeve before taking off running.

He shot Cayle an annoyed look and the blond man shrugged before running after Damien.

Treade groaned before running after the other two.

Why were they running?

How could they get into trouble when they still had time until their break was over?

It was not against the rules to get close to the castle, so why were they running like stupid children?

Cayle outran the two and reached the backdoor of the castle's kitchen first.

He threw open the door and the three collapsed before slamming the door shut behind them.

They stood up slowly, catching their breath.

Sweat ran down Damien's face as he wheezed, "That- That was so close!"

Cayle was laughing, "But why did we run?"

Treade growled in annoyance at the two before his eyes caught something.

Standing at the very end of the kitchen, looking completely petrified, was a small girl.