Lumina

7 ~ Hangover

Maizie

Light pierced her vision and Maizie sat up with a start; immediately she regretted the movement. Hammers beat her head all the way back under the pillow- the top side was too damp with sweat. She groaned as the aches and sores from the night before came crawling back to her senses and kicked the blankets away.

When she was told last night would be the biggest night of her life, she hadn't expected it to come with such a massive hangover.

Fading images tore through her dreams that had made sleep nearly impossible, although she couldn't bring herself to wake until moments ago. Now she wished she were still asleep as her brain was struck down.

It took until the third set of knocks for Maizie to distinguish the thundering in her head from the door. Not bothering with words, she grunted a noise of affirmation and a set of feet strode past her foyer. "Hildie," she moaned, "I have the worst headache."

"That won't do," An apathetic voice answered, "you have quite the day ahead of you."

Stiffly, Maizie raised herself from the pillow and looked over to Bridgette who, among being head of the female staff, had made herself the Queen's personal lady's maid throughout the years. And had adopted Vita's lovely attitude towards their princess along the way.

Really, Maizie always thought her a glorified lapdog.

Bridgette's brown eyes assessed the princess with an upturned lip, "Her Highness has demanded your presence regarding last night's. . . activities."

She sighed, already dreading the idea of having to sort through her very foggy memories. She had been dancing in the ballroom and then. . . and then what? "Once I have bathed and dressed-"

"Immediately," Bridgette flatlined Maizie with one stroke of a word.

Her eyes narrowed at the woman's brash interruption. The stated lack of honorifics. Jaw clenched, she locked eyes with Bridgette and nodded, effectively excusing the queen's maid without another word.

She swallowed at the writhing in her stomach, worsened by the wrenching darkness that were the memories of the previous night. Vita would certainly punish Maizie for her stupidity, her cowardice. The alcohol she consumed had fractured her memories; she couldn't even remember why she had gone outside in the first place.

Could have sworn she had been with someone.

Then she was tied to a tree, screaming- crying uselessly. Stupid. Weak. Pathetic.

Each of Bridgette's steps fading away sunk Maizie further to the ground at the weight of what Vita would do to her. By the time the maid's footfalls disappeared entirely, the princess was a mere ball curled in on herself. For long moments the only sound was her ragged breathing as she tried to gather her emotions.

She had to stay calm. She couldn't risk this headache turning into something worse.

Though Maizie didn't hear her enter, warm hands reached down to her. Hildie carefully pulled the princess to stand and guided her to the vanity to attempt the messy braids into something appropriate for the queen.

"Horrendous," she murmured at her own dark-eyed reflection.

Streaks of make-up ran down her face in distorted shades that made her look as if she were on death's door while scratches decorated the length of her arms. It even felt like her stomach was bruised when she twisted her torso left and right. "What happened," she breathed incredulously.

Hildie's pale arm reached forward as she grabbed for pins to start, "You don't remember?"

Maizie turned from the maid's reflection and faced her directly, "I gathered enough that trying my luck out of the window might be better than facing Vita's wrath."