Just One Drop

Chapter 13- The Dream

Felicia's POV

The room was large and golden, with crystal chandeliers and large, golden accented doors. I saw the throne up on it's platform, standing tall. It was golden too. Everything shimmered like molten gold.

Somewhere deep inside of me, I knew it was a dream. The throne room did not look like this. I took a step forward, and the floor rippled around my feet. Suddenly, I began sinking.

Slowly, slowly, ever so slowly. I tried to move, but my feet were stuck. I stuck my head up so I wouldn't choke on the gold, but I just kept sinking. Until there was no more stopping it. I took a deep breath, and disappeared under the gold.

I opened my eyes. My lungs were already starting to ache. An image appeared in the gold. It was me, I was in the vision. Someone was speaking to me, I think...

Suddenly, vision-me leaned in, eyes closed. Her lips met someone else's. Master's, I realised. I was kissing Master. The kiss was furious, nothing like the one with Tristan, full of passion and lust and wanton desire.

I could feel my cheeks reddening; I would never dare do that. Only in a dream.

'Dreams can become reality...' A voice whispered.

I shook it off. This was wrong. It would never happen.

Suddenly, my lungs began aching urgently. I was running out of air, and quickly. I tried to breath in, but the molten gold began running down my throat, suffocating, drowning, killing. Deadly.

And then I woke up. My breaths came ragged, my entire body was drenched in sweat. I breathed out. It had only been a dream.

I got out of bed slowly, my back aching.

"Felicia?" I heard my name called.

June walked up to me and handed me my chore list. I took it from her and turned away to start getting ready. Days here were long and hard, and I needed all the energy I could get.

After dressing, I moved on to the room next door, where I was served my morning gruel. I forced a spoon or two into my mouth, but the rest I gave away.

I checked my chore list:

'Scrub the windows in the slave quarters.

Clean the bedrooms in all the suites.

Clean the king's suite fully.'

Oh no. Not again. The windows I could do. The bedrooms would be uncomfortable, but I could manage. But doing the king's suite? I must be the unluckiest girl in the world.

I heard the bell toll, signalling the end of breakfast and the beginning of chores. I grabbed my equipment, and got to work on the windows. It wasn't hard. The room was huge, but there were only a few windows here and there, and I knew the male quarters would be taken care of.

I moved on quickly; it had only been about one hour, but the king's suite was HUGE, and I couldn't afford to mess a single little thing up.

I started with the empty bedrooms, which didn't require much work. Then I moved on to Duchess Morgana's room. She was supposed to leave a few days after the banquet, but Master was forcing everyone to stay within the castle perimeters. Only for a few more days, though. That was at least something. Morgana was horrible to be around.

Luckily for me,  Morgana was in the shower. I knew she tended to take a long time in the shower, but I hurried anyways. I was out before I knew it. Morgana's father was in his lounge area, and I was only cleaning the bedroom, so that wasn't a problem either.

I entered Prince Damien's suite unsurely, hoping that he was busy doing something else. I'm not a lucky person. He was sitting on his bed in a relaxed position, reading a book I had never heard of before, called 'Eon of Galactica'. It seemed like some sort of strange sci-fi novel; I wasn't quite sure.

I tried to ignore his presence, but it was difficult. He kept sneaking smug, suggestive glances at me, that I desperately tried to avoid.

But perhaps I did have a smidge of luck in my favour that day, for I left the room unscathed. The next suite was right down the corridoor, and if my memory served me right, it belonged to Princess Chloe.

Chloe was sniffling softly in her bed; she was even harder to ignore than Damien had been. I pitied her. Master's change must have come as a surprise to her, too. Or perhaps she was crying about something else.

She looked up from her pillow, tears running down her cheeks, her eyes wide and bloodshot.

"Please," she said softly. "Please let me see him. I need to see him."

I opened my mouth and then closed it again. I could not help her. It was not for me to let her see Master.

She got up from her bed and started walking towards me. I backed away slowly, but she grabbed onto my shoulders.

"Let me see him. I need to see him!" she sounded more and more desperate by the second, perhaps even a little insane.

'I CAN'T' I wrote simply.

She looked at me forlornly, and backed off. She lay herself down in her bed again, continuing her quiet sniffling, and didn't bother me again.

After the cleaning was done, I moved on to the next suite. This one was right next to Chloe's, and belonged to Princess Imogen. I dreaded what I would face in here. The young girl was only about eight years old, and if Chloe was that torn up, what would she be like?

I entered reluctantly, expecting to have to face loud sobs and cries, heart-wrenching shrieks, and an emotionally broken little girl. Instead, I was met with silence. Imogen lay on her bed watching me. She looked surprisingly passive and calm.

'Are you alright?' I wrote.

"Braith will be back. He loves me."

'Sweetling, he is here, in this very castle, probably doing something very important.'

"No, he's not. This isn't Braith. I know it isn't. Braith would never do this to me. He was always so nice to me, reading to me from my favourite books, comforting me when I was sad, playing with me when I was lonely..."

I wanted to tell her that she was right, that everything would be fine, that we'd all live happily ever after. But I couldn't bring myself to lie to her.

'I'm sorry, but this is him. I suppose he's just... Changed.'

She didn't answer.

And so, I finished cleaning the room, and left. I walked up another flight of stairs, until I reached the door to the suite that I knew to be Master's. I took a deep breath. Then, I entered.