Chapter Six. The maid

Darius made his way to the stables. He needed a horse to quickly head on over to his next suspect and he was sure it could only be him if it wasn't the queen mother. He didn't mind people hating and saying all they wanted about him as he only cared about maintaining the rule in his kingdom but just a few moments ago, he had discovered that the hate weighed more than he was used to if it was coming from his own wife. He didn't want her to hate him just like all the others. Even if she couldn't love,he at least didn't want her to hate and think of him like everyone else.

He climbed his horse and pulled the reigns before the horse neighed and kicked his front long legs in the air before he set into a run. Soon his ears were filled only by the sound of hooves bouncing on the ground while he left a large sum of dust in the air whenever he passed. He had to get that girl back to his wife at all cost. He didn't want her to hate him,much worse hate him for something he knew nothing about. And with that thought,he pulled on his horse's reigns harder making the obedient animal gallop the rest of the way faster leaving his kingdom as far behind him as possible.

He rode for a whole day until he reached the kingdom of Marlize and entered without a problem only to the surprise of many as he had brought no soldiers to guard him on such a long journey,but the man himself was a great fighter better than any and he didn't expect any sudden attacks as this journey hadn't been planned. He was taken to the waiting room to wait at the king who was said to be attending to important matters right now and he patiently waited. He decided he wouldn't lose his cool unless it was called for. Just how greedy was the king of the smaller kingdom? He not only exchanged his daughter for lands to a far away kingdom but also promised something he didn't fullfil!

King Darius had already figured out the story. His wife Maria must have been promised by her father to be given a maid to accompany her to her marriage which he was sure she had no say into even as he had married her. He thought things should have been perfect until the wedding was over just to keep the princess reassured and right at the last moment, the greedy king should have changed his mind and confiscated the maid and chained her somewhere instead. He hated such men...

And sure enough, when his wife's father came to see him a while later, the man shamelessly admitted to holding the maid back.

" As you already know about the rule king Darius. I had to hold back the maid because she is a property to the palace that can't be transferred to another. She is not just some maid but a palace" the man shamelessly stated the obvious and Darius glared at him.

"Did you promise your daughter to take the maid with her, King Marcus?"asked king Darius. Much as Darius was the greater one of the two,he had to be formal and not undermine the other king as he was a king just as Darius was one himself with subjects who respected and followed his orders. The man then nodded to his question.

"Promises can be broken king Darius. Not every person can keep a promise much worse exchange a palace maid to another" explained the older man with a smile.

"Bring the girl out" said Darius. Much as his voice wasn't commanding, the statement itself was a command and the older man glared at him but he said no more. Instead, he looked the man the other side in the eye and they stayed like that for a moment before the older king humphed and stormed out of the room.

Darius waited patiently without loosing his cool until a teenage girl was finally brought to him and the crown prince explained that she was the girl. He was surprised because of the girl's age and he looked at her but she kept her eyes down without meeting his gaze.

"What is your name?" he drawled questioning the servant but even as she answered, her gaze remained locked down.

"Alexa, your highness" she answered with a bow and he looked at the crown prince who nodded in clarification. He wanted to ask more but he didn't want to scare the girl more than she already was and instead he asked...

"Can you ride?" he asked and the girl jerked her head in fear. It appeared to him they already knew that women in his kingdom were restricted from riding horses. "Can you ride a horse?" he talked more but instead of answering him,the girl's lips trembled as she continuously bowed her head before him until she said

"I...I dare not, your highness" and he nodded. The girl was so scared but he came alone and had no where to carry her back to his kingdom since she was a maid and he was royalty and a king at that. But he had already come to one conclusion.

"Can you get me a horse?" he asked the crown prince and he nodded before he summoned a servant and ordered him to get a good horse ready for a ride and the servant bowed and left. " Let's go then" he told the girl and she bowed in assent.

On getting out of the palace to leave,Alexa saw that her lady Maria's white horse was the one that the servant had brought out of the stables and she almost beamed at the sight but she composed herself. She was happy that her lady would have her favorite horse by her side too in the scary king's kingdom.

Unlike all the ladies, Maria somewhere defied the law of her kingdom and learnt how to ride a horse keeping a low profile not to attract attention. Her father had agreed to get her a tutor after she had fallen thrice from mounting the horse and her mother always almost had a heart attack whenever she fell making her mother worry about her daughter's safety and persuad her king husband to get his daughter a tutor who could teach her how to ride.

And since then, the princess learnt and excelled at riding until she could outrun many but still kept a low profile not bring disgrace to her father King. And when L

Alexa had become her maid, the princess had argued her to learn how to ride too saying it was fun and promising to teach her herself and to keep it a secret until Alexa just agreed as her lady kept looking sad whenever she told her that she was just a maid and couldn't let her lady teach her something which always made the princess sad and angry at the same time until Alexa just agreed. And from that day onwards, the princess and herself always snuck out of the palace unnoticed and went out to enjoy riding the horse.She stood there looking at the white stallion until the king commanded.

"Hop on. We are leaving" she heard his voice and she didn't dare to disobey the blood thirsty king lest he decided to chop her head off and take it with him. She looked back and saw the crown prince standing at the entrance before she mounted her lady's horse without looking back again. She would have to get herself ready for her punishment later as she didn't even know how the great king could have known she knew how to ride. And when the bloodthirsty king mounted his own black stallion, Alexa pulled the reigns of her horse and she neighed before they set to leave.

Darius who had got to know somewhere that the maid knew how to ride led the way back to his kingdom while the maid surprised him by her speed as she simply caught up with him. He wasn't at his greatest speed but he could tell she knew what she was doing. He could tell his wife knew as well if not better and he smiled at the thought before his smile turned into worry.

Finally, they reached his kingdom at late evening and when he asked a maid about his wife, his worry escalated when the maid told him that the princess had already locked herself inside her personal chamber and hadn't come out at all the whole day. She even hadn't eaten at all yet she had no breakfast either. He took a few steps in the direction of their Chamber before he changed his mind and instead went back the way he came after ordering a maid to take her personal maid to her in hopes that the maid would at least encourage her to eat something just by her presence. He couldn't imagine her reaction on seeing him back regarding the way he had left,so he decided to spend the night somewhere else and leave her to her peace for the night. He could tell just by the way she had been that the maid was dear to her otherwise why would a princess cry over a mere servant? And on top of that,he also got to know something else about her as well.