Unwillingly Arranged(Liam Payne/One Direction Fanfic)

Chapter Thirty(Sage's POV)

So instead, I plucked a pink lacy dress from the closet, dragging some cute white flats from my shoe rack out as well. I quickly stripped myself of my previous clothing, pulling the dress on with skill, zipping it up myself and all. I poked the flats on my feet, flexing my feet in them carefully as I shuffled into the bathroom to curl my hair.

A few twirls of my curling iron, some swipes of mascara and brushes of eyeshadow later, a loud rapping on the door ceased my getting ready efforts. I slowly placed all my makeup back into it's proper spot, knowing well that it was fucking Jay who was coming to get me. He could wait, he could wait years for all I cared. They could send someone else to get me. But while he was there, I was going to be difficult.

"C'mon princess, your father is waiting!" He called through the door, that sneer that had been in his tone not hours earlier gone, and now replaced with the usual gentleness of his voice, the one he used for all these years as my butler, as my servant..

..as my friend. 

He had long lost that title, especially whenever he had alerted the guards to where I was, worked with Danielle to plot against Liam and I, had tried to make me unhappy. That wasn't something he should have done, mostly if he loved me so much like he had insisted many times over. 

Chewing on my lip, I shut off the light to the bathroom, prancing into the other room and pulling open the heavy door. My lips curled into a sweet smile, voice coming out thick with honey as I said, "Oh hey ass hole. I didn't think you would want to volunteer to escort me anymore, you know, after being a complete idiot."

He sighed, running his hand through his hair as he turned away. His personality from earlier had completely changed gears. No longer confident, no longer snickering, no longer spitting insults and taunts at me. He was just being Jay. Shy, trying to find the correct words to say. He even had his old outfit on, the dress pants and suit and tie, the ones he would wear when he would take me to big events in the main hall.

"Please, can we not talk about that? Can I just take you down there, and we can never speak to each other again? How does that sound?"

"Never see me again? Aren't my parents going to lock me up and force more torture upon me by sticking you as my servant again?" I spoke harshly, but by now it didn't matter. He had caused me a lot of pain, and by his actions could cause life long pain, not just me but for generations to come. And I wasn't going to let him off so easy with that.

"Didn't you hear?" His eyes sparked with annoyance as he turned sharply on me, face inches from mine. "Your parents fired me. After bringing you back here, they fired me. After all I have done for you, for them, for this kingdom. Yeah, you won't be seeing me much longer. This is my last assignment as an employee for the Craft Kingdom."

"W-what?" My words came out in spurts, confused stutters. "Why did they fire you?"

He laughed bitterly, taking my elbow in what I expected to be harshly yet it wasn't. His hand was soft as it used to be. His voice toned down slightly, back into his normal, soft spoken tone of voice, "You'll find out. Now let's go, princess. Your father wants you there as soon as I could get you down there."

I wanted to ask more questions, I wanted to prod. But the fallen and defeated look on his features made me bite my tongue, choke down all the questions I wanted to ask. Because they would be answered soon. I would find out why.

The walk to the main hall was silent, all except for the echoing pitter patter of the heel on the back of my flats, and the clicking noise coming from Jay's shined up dress shoes. His hand was steady on my elbow as he turned me slowly, reaching for the door of the main hall. Before he opened it up, his hand slid to the small of my back, offering a tiny smile.