The Indentured Mistress of a 'Human'

Don't Flatter Yourself

            “I-I knew that,” Brook mumbled, trying to make it less obvious that she wasn’t a human. “I just thought that you guys wouldn’t think to give Lily special treatment. I mean, she’d not even a royal.”

            Her last words were drowned out by a splash. Lily frolicked in the large bathtub that could fit five of her. The maids laughed, and brought forth sponges and soap from beneath the large marble sink’s counter.

            Brook stepped forward to help, but they cut her off.

            “Oh no, Miss Avery! It’d be a disgrace to us maids if the fiancé of a Walker were to do this kind of work! Although you love the indenture, please let us take care of it.”

            Brook watched, from a cushioned seat, the maids scrub Lily whose wounds were already slowly closing up. After a while, she spoke up.

            “Are all royals like Nathan?”

            The maids looked at each other, and answered in close unison. “No; Young Master Nathan is the nicest one we know!”

            Brook forced herself to smile knowingly. “I- always- knew- he- was- a- gentle- person,” she managed to choke out.

            The maids squealed and sighed. “How romantic~!”

            After the bath was done and dinner was shared with just the two of them having a blast, Lily and Brooklyn walked hand in hand to an extra guest room in the West Wing.

            “Now, Lily,” Brooklyn smiled gently at Lily in her white linen sleeping gown.

            “Yes, Miss Brooklyn?”

            “Oh no you don’t. You call me Brook.”

            Lily’s eyes widened. “Oh! Really?”

            Brook nodded.

            “Then, yes, Brook?”

            “My room is in the East Wing, the one with big brown double doors. Yours is here,” Brook said as she turned the ornate silver knob of a white wooden door, and it soundlessly opened into a dark room.

            When the lights were flipped on, Lily’s eyes widened, and she exploded into a bundle of giggles. Lily ran up to the fluffy white bed and landed in the feather stuffed blankets. Brook smiled as Lily jumped off of it to explore her personal bathroom, already stocked with toothbrushes and towels.

            Lily froze as she picked up a tube of toothpaste, and scrambled over to her walk in closet. When she swung the mirror door aside, rows and rows of outfits that fit her size hung on polished hangers organized by color.

            Brook joined Lily in the closet, and the two of them gaped in unison until Lily pinched herself and gave a small yelp. Brook turned to look at Lily, noticing tears streaming from the little indenture’s face.

            “Lily? What’s wrong?” Brook asked worriedly as she knelt in front of her on the soft white carpet.

            “I-I-I,” Lily sniffled, “I’ve never even dreamed of anything like this!”

            Brook’s eyes watered a little when Lily’s skinny frame hugged Brook with shaky arms.

            “Thank you!” Lily wailed as she burrowed her face into Brook’s shoulder. “Thank you for saving me! Thank you for saying nice things to me! Thank you for giving me a name!”