Loved by a Dark Heart [COMPLETED]

Chapter 8 - Dinner Part 2

Chapter 8

I finished off the salad quite quickly and I hoped my manners hadn’t been terrible whilst I was eating; that would be mortifying. Salem finished a mere few minutes after me, so I guess I didn’t eat too fast. I took a quick sip of my lemonade and watched as the server took away our plates. I said thank you to him and he wasn’t as shocked as when I first did it, but Salem still said nothing.

“Why don’t you say thank you to your servants?” I asked Salem out of the blue. It was like the question just blurted out and as soon as I asked him, I felt like I shouldn’t have. He looked at me strangely, like I had been talking in some foreign language and it made me feel like I shouldn’t have said anything.

“It’s the way it has always been. They live to serve.” He told me in a regal voice that anyone could tell was the voice of a Prince. I still didn’t understand why he didn’t say thank you. I mean, they were people like he or I and yet, he barely acknowledges them like they are nothing and that’s not nice. It was kind of the way I was treated back at that school.

“Still, everyone deserves a thank you for their job. Wouldn’t you want to be thanked for being a good Prince and someday King?” I asked him and he looked at me before raising his eye brow at me like I was nuts.

“I am thanked, but servants are to be seen and not heard. We barely speak to them.” He told me and as he got more and more pompous, it got me more and more annoyed.

“My mother is a cook, but she still gets thanked for the food. A simple thank you can go a long way. Many at my school would say the same about me; that I didn’t belong and should be seen, not heard and that I would never amount to anything other than a servant.” I told him and his eyes hardened at me like he was glaring.

“You are a Princess now; you will act as such and be treated as such.” He told me, well more like ordered, as he sipped his blood.

“So to act like a princess I have to give up basic manners and act like those pompous bitches back at my school? Act like I’m higher than the rest? That I’m not just a normal person? If that’s the way Princesses here act then I’d rather be a servant.” I told him and he glared at me. I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to act like I was better than anyone. I’d been treated as low, so I wasn’t going to treat someone else that way.

“It is how things are done.” He told me.

“Well things need to be changed.” I huffed and I watched as he gripped his glass a little tighter. “I had hoped for a nice chat with you, perhaps get to know you and understand you, but I see that you are no better than those assholes back at the school. I thought you and I could get along, but I see I was wrong. If you treat normal people like dispensable rags then what will you do with me when I don’t follow your rules?” I told him as I stood up to leave, my stomach no longer hungry. “I’ll be going now, goodnight Prince Salem.” I said his title and curtsied like a servant would before turning to leave.

I heard the crack of the glass, probably caused by the strength of his grip on the glass and then the shatter. I sighed at his anger, knowing that it was directed at me, but I wasn’t going to go against what I was taught. I didn’t stop walking till I felt a rush of air come up behind me and his hand land on my shoulder. I stopped and shivered at the contact he made on my skin.

“Cassandra, I’m sorry if I offended you, but this is the way things are. They haven’t changed in years and it was the way I was brought up.” He told me and I turned my head slightly to look at him.

“No offence Salem, but you’ve been around a long time. Things have changed and so should you. How would you feel if you were them? Think about that or better yet, think about how I was treated and realise that it was barely any better than the way you treat these lovely people.” I said as I pointed to the servants who were just staring at us, unsure as to whether or not to move or say anything. I felt his anger come off of him in waves, but he needed to realise that if he didn’t like the way I was treated, why do it to another?