Maid For You 4

Chapter 7

I woke up at 10am, and after remembering where I was, I immediately thought of how lazy I must have looked to sleep in so late. If memory served correctly, Prince Nikolas was a crazy early bird and would have been up for hours by now.

Ugh, I thought. Why am I so tired? Then memories came back to me of staying up late fretting about Esmerela, calling Coleman, which was clearly a late-night-induced BAD DECISION, until finally going to bed.

Oh gosh. I draped my arm over my eyes. What's wrong with me?

"Good morning, Miss Carmichael," a voice suddenly said.

"Ahh!" I yelped, and sitting up and whipping my head to see a startled Melaniya standing in the doorframe of the room. I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I didn't expect to see you there."

"No, my apologies, Miss," Melaniya said, swooping into an elegant bow. "I did not mean to scare you."

"No worries," I said, flopping my hand for emphasis. "Besides, I did sleep in pretty late."

"Are you hungry, Miss?" she asked me.

"Actually, yeah," I admitted. "Breakfast sounds good."

"What do you want for breakfast?" Melaniya asked me.

"I'm good with whatever." I thought for a moment. "Maybe scrambled eggs, with bacon on the side."

"I will say to the Chef what you want," Melaniya smiled, nodding her head. "Then, when you are done with eating, I can help you get dressed. At 12:00, you have lunch with the Prince."

"The Prince." I thought. It was kind of strange, hearing Nikolas referred to simply as "the Prince." Usually, that phrase was only used for Coleman.

Toto, we're not in Aregano anymore.

***

I walked into the room wearing elegant white dress pants with a royal blue buttoned shirt, clothes that Nikolas had given me several months ago, with a pair of heels under my feet. The room was the same one that we had dined in the night before, with its pristine white walls and navy blue carpet. This time, Prince Nikolas already sat at the table, and he stood up when I walked through the doors.

"Cassie," he said, nodding at me. He smiled slightly for a moment, but it didn't feel like his normal smiles—it didn't seem to reach those crystal blue eyes of his. Contrary to his employer, Ivan, who was standing in the room behind the table, had a big smile on his face, though he wasn't looking at me—his gaze was fixed just behind me at Melaniya. His smile didn't deter him from his work, however, and he was quick to pull out the other chair for me.

"Spasibo, Ivan," I said, which meant thank-you in Russian. I'd learned something that morning, at least. He nodded at me, a soft smile on his face.

Nikolas dismissed Ivan with some Russian words, and we were left alone with our lunch already laid out before us. There was a spread of grilled chicken, asparagus, and mashed potatoes.

"Did you sleep well?" Nikolas asked me, cutting his chicken with his fork and knife.

"I did," I said. "Though I woke up pretty late, I'll admit."

"Yes, you were still asleep when I had breakfast, otherwise we could have had breakfast together," Nikolas said. A little wry smile tugged at the corner of his lips for a second, before he settled into his dreary look and he resumed his attention to his plate.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked him before spooning a mouthful of mashed potatoes. I tilted my head and looked at him curiously. He seemed off, though maybe he had just been in an unusual mood last night and I was judging him based off that.