CHAPTER 2.

　　Jasmine

　　"They aren't bad, right?" I asked for my own needed assurance, the nervousness pumping in and out of my veins made my movements slightly clumsy.

　　"Of course, they are not," Martha let out a small chuckle.

　　A small sigh escaped past my lips and my back muscles relaxed from the stiff posture, we got down the boat taking my luggage and the side bag full of art supplies hung on my shoulder; I couldn't live without painting, it was as necessary as water for me.

　　The rough surface underneath my laced boots felt bumpy, the smell of wind on this side of the city was different. My nostrils seemed to catch a few scents even I couldn't identify.

　　"Martha, Can you smell it?" I lightly nudged her arm while she was paying the bill to the boatman.

　　"Smell, what?" She questioned, looking confused.

　　"The scent the wind is carrying, it's different," I complied.

　　"Silly, girl," She lightly pinched my cheek causing me involuntarily let out a huff in Disturbance, "You've never been here, that's the reason you think that it's different."

　　Sighing and deciding to believe upon her sentence, I moved along with her toward the Road that soon started to get closer to Market.

　　"What are doing in the Market?" I questioned as we pushed past the crowd-- Here Identifying Vampires and Humans was easy. The clothing and Luxury was the only thing that'd made it possible, nobody seemed to bother in dividing their attention except for the few vampires whose lustful gaze fell on me, it was quite awkward to have the vampires staring at me--I hadn't met many vampires in my life but the guards that'd often come to our city were decent.

　　The carts with people moved their way, the white horse's fur shined under the sunlight. The man wearing a black hat remained seated whilst the other man made the horse move faster with a rough tug at the leash in his hand.

　　From the corner of my eyes, I noticed a small group of people gathering around the blood collection spot. Nothing seemed misplaced or out of ordinary. Everyone seemed casual even though the red eyes of each Vampire were unnerving.

　　"You'll find it later," She responded, shunning my trail of thoughts.

　　"Okay,"

　　Soon I found us passing the Market and the long rows of buildings started, from the overly gorgeous ones to the totally simple ones. Each building's decoration was undeniably beautiful, of course, Vampires and Royals were wealthy than humans.

　　I'd barely recovered from my stunned state when the scenery in front of me unfolded like a dreamland. The Castle! Dark blue-grey stone walls, high towers with small slit-like windows, the long rows of horses stood at one side and the limos on the other side, hundreds of stairs lead to the entrance through the big gate that five men opened for us.

　　Never in my life, have I'd thought the Castle was this beautiful.

　　"What are you doing, come here!" Martha's usher snapped me out of my daze.

　　I hastily walked toward her and soon both of us made our way inside the castle. If I'd said the exterior was gorgeous then the interior was unbelievably elegant. From the Maron Carpets to the beautiful lightning and lastly the spacious rooms and windows--Everything was breathtakingly amazing.

　　But I decided to keep my attention on myself because I had a very higher possibility of messing up today.

　　"Jasmine, before I take you to the kings I need you to be careful of a few things," Martha spoke suddenly, the tinge of fear rising within my body due to her words.

　　"What is it?" My voice trembled.

　　Noticing my vivid anxiety, Her eyes softened and she let out a small laugh, "You are unbelievably fearful," She shook her head, "I've told you, the kings are kind. You don't have to worry about anything."

　　"But you said, I need to be careful of a few things!" I mumbled, ignoring the gazes of a few female vampires who walked past us--They were heavily perfumed.

　　"Yes, since you know most of the workers here in the palace are either human or low-rank vampires I want to be careful when talking or saying anything about the royal matters," She added, "Don't interfere in anyone's matter, don't disobey the kings besides they are not going to put you through a lot of works, you might only need to fetch them a few records or stay around them for any work they give you." I took in her words, making a strict note in my head.

　　"And yes, As I've said the kings are kind but you might need to be extra careful when doing works for them because they have temper issues but don't get scared, they won't hurt you for any mistake."

　　"And?"

　　"They don't talk much so you better keep your chatty mouth shut when you're around them," Her words ended with a small chuckle and I instantly rolled my eyes.

　　"I'm not chatty,"

　　"Okay, we both know the truth,"

　　Upon her sentence, a silence stretched across. I knew it—I was chatty, so arguing would be unfair, and sealing my mouth was the only fair thing in this case.

　　"We are here, after we enter the room you'll bow with me, and keep your thoughts low because all of them can read our mind especially when our thoughts are loud, " With her reminder, we stood in front of the giant door.

　　Two guards opened the door, and the view of the room was the first sight my eyes caught, and before I could look at anything else Martha's hand pulling me inside with her diverted my attention but only a few steps, and I was admiring the decorations again. Many bookshelves were surrounding the entire room, desks and other accessories were also there. Till now I was sure that It was their study for but It was extremely elegant, more than what I could afford with the income I'd make in my whole life.

　　My thoughts were broken when I heard Martha's voice greeting the Kings, without looking anywhere else I quickly bowed following Martha's movements, and once I was done and stood straight my eyes finally fell on the three male figures sitting on their chairs.

　　All the air in my lungs vanished in seconds, a soft gasp escaped my lips. Words couldn't describe that feeling. All of them had Jet black hair, that was the only thing common in their features.

　　The one sitting in the middle had curly hair, his sharp features stood drawing most of the attention toward his gorgeously shaped face, the chiseled jawline, light stubble, and full lips. A tattoo etched from the lower end of his jaw and disappeared under his t-shirt, He looked...enchanting.

　　The next male my eyes took a look at, had a blue shirt on, the few buttons he'd left undone provided a good view of his masculine chest, his straight nose, V-shaped face was stunningly holding the attention toward him. Unlike the previous male, his hair was not curly but it wasn't flat either. He could easily take anyone's breath away.

　　Then my eyes fell at the last male, unlike the other two makes his outfit was different, he wore a turtle neck sweater and his holding a book closer to his face, the pink lips and sharp jawline seemed to attract me the most, his hair loosely hung over his forehead, he had his tongue firmly tucked in his mouth as he overserved something.....it took me a few minutes to understand that he was observing none other than me.

　　I instantly averted my gaze! I just shamelessly checked them out, what the kings must've thought about the new maid checking out their sons! Shit, this is so bad!

　　The low chuckle from someone made all the hair on my body stand up! Martha had told me to keep my thoughts but I messed up!

　　"So this is the girl whose going to work?" The curly-haired Greek God spoke, his eyes were now fixated on me and mines on the floor.

　　"Yes, your Majesty."

　　Majesty? What the hell?

　　My eyes darted to gape at the males.

　　they look so young! How can they be The Kings? Kings are usually old and grumpy.

　　Upon the completion of my thoughts, I saw the other male's--The one wearing a blue shirt-- lips lightly twitch upwards.

　　That was it, I knew it my thoughts were loud and I completely shut the conversations in my mind. But even though the conversations were now stopped, their gazes still hadn't moved an inch from me.

　　The goosebumps prickled my skin like a mystery.

　　What did I get myself into?

　　"Okay. She'll get to work from today," The reply came, "In fact from now,"

　　The announcement caused a hitch in my breathing, for some reason the thought of being around these devilishly handsome predators terrified me but there was also mere anticipation hidden.

　　I hadn't expected them to be so young, neither so handsome and nor having such a powerful aura. Even breathing seemed hard at this point.

　　"As your wish, your Majesty," Martha politely nodded and turned to face me, her expression gave me a look of encouragement, and her eyes gave a warning as if they were telling me to remember what she had told me to do but little did she know I had already messed up?

　　"I'll take your leave, Your Majesty," Martha bowed and I was about to follow her movements when the reality hit me, I wasn't allowed to leave. I had to work for them.

　　And then with one last smile at me, she was out of the room. The sound of the door getting shut increased my nervousness to ten times. I fiddled with my fingers standing on my place unmoved, eyes fixated on the floor.

　　There were a few minutes of silence that included their stares lingering on me until the tattoed king spoke.

　　"What's your name?"

　　"Uh--Jasmine," I didn't look up.

　　"Jasmine..." He pronounced my name as if testing on his tongue, and indeed my name came rolling on his tongue like silk.

　　"So, there are a few things," The blue shirt one spoke, "Your only work would be getting the food for us, and organizing the library or fetching us the records. Besides that, you might need to help us with the regular tasks throughout the day."

　　I meekly nodded at his words, which resulted in him letting out a hum of approval.

　　This time the one with the tattoo spoke again, " And more thing, We are not The Kings' sons, We are the Kings you have been referring to " There was hidden laughter behind his words, pinks tainted my cheeks upon his statement.

　　"I'm Micheal," He spoke, this time my gaze finally moved towards them only so that I don't mess up in recognizing them, "He's Archer," He pointed to the one wearing a blue shirt.

　　"And he's Lucien," So the one who hadn't spoken a word till now was King Lucien.

　　"Okay, your Maje..." I couldn't finish as he interrupted me.

　　" King Micheal would be fine," My brows rose in surprise, I'd known Kings disliked to be called by their names.

　　"And the same goes for my brothers, and yes...you don't need to know each time you come to us. It's pretty old fashioned anyways," He shrugged and walked back to his chair.

　　"We prefer silence so whenever you are around us you should keep your mouth shut and the conversations in your head down, is that clear?" King Lucien finally decided to open his mouth, and unexpectedly his tone seemed extravagantly harsh.

　　The embarrassment brought the pink tint to my cheeks, I bit the inside of my cheek and nodded.

　　"Do I have any work to do?" I mustered.

　　"Not for now, but you can take a look at the library if you want to," King Archer spoke.

　　"Ok," I nodded and proceeded my way anyways.

　　For some reason I knew, working for them was not going to be easy.