A somber night within him

That next morning Beau woke up in his dorm with a loud pounding knock on his door. He didn’t want anyone to see him looking the way he knew he always did first thing in the morning.

He waited until the knocking went away. He fell back against his pillow and by the second time he’d woken up the clock had read eleven.

He got up and got dressed. As he headed down to have breakfast with the other cooks and maids he noticed that there was tenseness in the room.

He approached Cindy after he grabbed his plate and food.

“What’s going on?” Beau asked.

Cindy looked over at him. “It’s Seren”

“What about her?”

“She’s sick”

“How sick?”

“Sick enough to make most of those who stayed here overnight convinced that your blessing was something of a curse”

“That’s crazy” Beau said. “I would never dream of putting a curse on Seren”

“Tell that to the rest of them” Cindy said waving her fork at the other maids.

“They really think that?” Beau asked. Suddenly he remembered the knock on his door this morning and wondered if it could have anything to do with the rumor about the curse.

“Pretty much” Cindy said. "And now that I think about it, I'm starting to think that a certain someone started the rumor in the first place" Beau had a feeling that she was right.

They finished breakfast in a quiet state and after started work like it was any other day. The only difference was that a lot of people hated Beau now and there was going to be a new king. Possibly one who would have no idea how to actually be king.

He visited Seren on his break and went into her room. Gently he pushed against the door hoping not to scare her and walked in. In her room the walls were painted a blush light pink with a baby blue color for the curtains. Her crib sat against the wall. A rug laid on the floor with all of the letters of the alphabet in a different shade of color. He walked up to her crib slowly and gripped the edge of her white crib. She lay sleeping in her pink gown. Her dark hair sprawled against her violet cushioned pillow. Her face was a beat red. She looked uncompterble as she slept. He watched her a while until her eyes fluttered open and he was the first thing she saw.

She lifted some sort of smile which he was glad to see.

“Hey” He said softly, wondering if she understood. “I hope your okay”

She kept eyeing his pocket and he realized that she might want his clock. He pulled it out and handed it to her hoping that it would make her feel better. She held it extremely loosely in her white chalk hands. Her thumb ran over the glass case. Till it stopped at the center and she pressed down. The glass broke and Beau’s eyes widened horrified.

It occured to him that the unthinkable had happened. Unthinkable meaning that a human child sick with a fever was able to break that strong glass and more importantly his chance at ever being able to transport to the other world. He took the clock from her and cleaned up the mess of glass. Thankfully she wasn’t hurt. But he was. Without that clock he wouldn’t be able to go to the other world where he could get the magic he needed for his blessings upon the living. Without that job, he had no money to be able to stay at the palace. He would have to find a new job and there would have to be someone else to bless those living.

Seren fell back into a sleep and Beau quickly went to inform those who had the most control over the palace. They got him a job as a waiter which brought him down to a lower class dorm but at least he had someplace at the castle instead of living on the streets.

“I’m so sorry Beau” Cindy said when she found out. “Did you get a new job?”

“Yeah. I’m a waiter. I’m working nights like you now” Beau said. “Serving dinner”

“Well it’s better than the maid” She said. “How was Seren?”

“She broke the clock. I don’t know how but she did”

“And to mention she’s human and a baby and sick”

“I know” He said. “Maybe she knew what would happen and wanted me to stay” They laughed at the joke but someplace in his heart it jerked at the idea. What if? And what if she knew that Arlen had a spot at being king and wanted him to always be there for her?