Sovereignty and Servitude

3: A Dashing Rescue(r)

"Hello, Marella," she replied politely, "what seems to be the matter?"

"'What seems to be the matter?'" one of the cronies mocked with a sickening giggle.

"What seems to be the matter?" Marella asked, "What is the matter is that suddenly you're off galavanting with the prince and directly serving the princess out of nowhere."

"Especially when you're a brown eyed freak," added another maid.

Marella agreed, "Yes, and we, as servants to the illustrious throne of Evertalia, are indebted to the throne, and that means protecting it at all costs... do you understand?"

Sophie didn't say anything and held her breath, waiting to see what the maids' next moves were.

"You are filthy. You are ugly. You are beastly and ghastly and unworthy of being in the royal family's favor," Marella's words were cold, and thudded in the bottom of Sophie's heart line stones, "you are unworthy of tending to the princess. You are unworthy of the prince's attention. You are unworthy of your new position, and you are especially unworthy of that dress."

Sophie watched as the girls eyed her like hungry wolves as her own eyes watered. She was scared, and wanted to run, but she couldn't, as the girls kept her trapped there in that section of the corridor, where not another soul was there to witness what was inevitably about to go down.

"I say we do something about it," one of the maids purred maliciously.

"Agreed," nodded Marella, who then snapped her fingers, "ladies."

The girls then closed in on Sophie faster than she could blink, grabbing her roughly and ripping apart the beautiful fabric of her dress. Sophie shouted out, and tried to tear herself free, but there was always a hand ready to catch her. She could use telekinesis, but then that would reveal that she knew the skill, separating her from the other maids in yet another way. Besides, a little telekinesis wouldn't be able to push aside all six girls, and the secret of Sophie's skills would be out, meaning that rebels who would want to abuse her power might come and grab her. So she closed her eyes and grit her teeth, trying to ignore sound of the fabric ripping and the roughness of hands as tears rolled down her face. This would all be over soon... right?

Her mind wandered to the triplets, who she would probably have to face after this. They would ask questions, and she'd have to feed them a lie, which she hated doing. They couldn't know she was struggling, she had to be the strong one. She might have to pass by one of the nobles, who would laugh at her, and that would sting, but she could get over that. The thought of one of the royals spotting her was even worse, as they would try to give her special treatment to make up for how awful the maids were to her, and that would only make things worse. Other than that, they would be so worried. Alden would probably release the maids from their position, Della would be so upset that she might go on another shopping spree, and Biana would feel guilty. Fitz... she wasn't sure how he would feel, because they barely knew one another, but he was so kind that he probably wouldn't approve like the rest of his family.

She felt the shoulder of her chemise* rip, and her eyes snapped open, finally pulling her into reality. They weren't just ripping apart her dress, they were exposing her. Because her chemise ripped, her corset** was most definitely revealed. Now people really couldn't see her like this. Especially a man! How indecent! The maids' wicked laughs filled her ears and Sophie noticed that there was an opening in their human fence, so she took the opportunity to dash out of it, throwing off all delayed motions to try and grab her, as the girls had been so used to her complacency. They started to chase her, but slid on the torn fabric for a few seconds, giving Sophie a head start.