The Prince and His Slave

Arius - [Names]

That dream haunted me again that night and I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I decide that the best solution was to walk around until I got tired.

       I headed down to the first floor and decided to take a shortcut through the throne room to get outside. I knew this palace inside out, so even If I wanted too, I would never get lost.

       A guard was standing in front of the throne room entrance. “My prince, why do you wander around so late?” He asked.

       “Oh, I’m just going for a walk, I can’t sleep.” I told him.

       He bowed down and stepped aside from the throne room entrance. “Please don’t wander around too late, My Prince.” He said. “For your own safety.”

       I nodded. “I will return to my chamber soon.”

       He slowly closed the door when I was in.

       I walked through the throne room and was surprised when I saw someone on the floor. “Oh no,” I muttered as I rushed to the person.

       It was a girl and I didn’t recognize her until I got close. It was the green-eyed girl, Alexandra, I think her name was. She was in a sitting position, leaning against a column, so I doubt she passed out. I looked around to see if anything had hurt her but there was nothing. She must be sleeping… but what was she doing here?

       I looked at her for a second. She really was beautiful. She smiled in her sleep. At least someone’s having good dreams. I sighed.

       I looked around and saw some rags and a jar of water, she must have been cleaning.

       I shook my head. Aziza was too much, making her clean all this, alone... I guess I could help her out. I picked up a rag and started scrubbing the floor, I had wanted to try this, but of course, being the prince, I would never be allowed to do it. I have watched the maids do this before; they would wet the cloth, drain it, drop it on the floor and clean it. They repeated this pattern over and over again.

       I stopped myself and leaned back.

       I suddenly felt stupid, I was probably the only person in the world who found this interesting.

       But I smiled to myself and continued.

       Time felt like it was passing slowly but I was getting a lot of work done. I was quite pleased with myself; the floor looked good as well.

       For a Prince, I was doing a great job.

       Not to mention how amazing of a way this was to get your mind off things.

       When I came near to finished, I sat back for a second and then continued, suddenly I heard a gasp. I quickly turned around and the green-eyed girl was awake.

       She blinked her large eyes a couple times and quickly got up. “What are you doing?”  

       I got up and stretched my arms and legs. “I thought I would help you out.” I smiled.

       Her large eyes widened. “Pardon me?” She gasped. “You! Doing a maid’s job? What are you thinking?” She looked a little scared.

       “Don’t be scared,” I told her, making my voice sound as nice as possible. “I won’t tell anyone you dozed off.” I smiled at her, but she stared.

       “Why do you do this? This is too much work for anyone, why would you, someone of high class, someone who is supposed to be arrogant, someone who wants the best, needs the best and gets the best, want to help me?” She sat back down and looked as if she was in deep thought.

       I dropped the cloth and went over to her, I sat in front of her and said, “I really don’t want the best, or need the best, but I still get the best, I guess I’m not so arrogant.”

       She looked at me, looking a little defeated, but smiled. “I guess not.” She then bowed and said, “Thank you.”

       I nodded my head. “It was my pleasure. By the way, your name is Alexandra, am I right?” I asked.

       She nodded her head.

       “Oh… that’s a nice name.” I said.

       “You don’t need to lie. I know you don’t like it.” She said looking down.

       “Why would you say that? It’s a beautiful name. It’s the name that means ‘man’s protector’, right?”

       She nodded her head. “My Egyptian name is Chione. You can call me that if you prefer that.” She said looking away.

       “Ah, Chione, the Princess of the Nile, that is a beautiful name as well, but which do you prefer?” I asked, curiously.

       Her head quickly turned around and looked at me, her eyes were filled with happiness, but also shock.

       She looked absolutely beautiful, but I couldn’t understand why she looked so happy.

       She smiled, and said “Alexandra, I prefer Alexandra.” Her voice had a musical ring to it.

       I felt my heart jump as I remembered my mothers’ voice, as it also had a musical sound.

       I shook my head a bit, and then smiled. “Nice to meet you Alexandra.”

       She smiled.

       We sat in silence for a little while, she looked like she was waiting for me to say something, so soon she asked. “So, aren’t you going to tell me your name?”

       I looked at her in confusion. “You don’t know my name?”

       She slowly shook her head. Well a lot of people refer to me as ‘Prince’ so I guess they wouldn’t know my name. I laughed. “My name is Arius.”

       “Nice to meet you Arius.” She said, smiling.

       I smiled, hesitantly. No one, other than people who are close to me calls me by my name.

      She seemed to be totally comfortable with me; did she not know I was the Prince?