"I can't get this one stain," Harry complained as he vigorously scrubbed a spot on the floor. Ariana had not spoken to him in so long. She wondered if it was finally time to forgive him for almost getting her killed. At first she thought she would never forgive him. But she eventually came to her senses.
She didn't feel like talking much, considering what had happened yesterday. Selena. That woman. She was going to kill the king! One question had been hurling around Ariana's mind.
Should she have stopped the king from drinking the lemonade?
If she hadn't, the king would be dead right now. Gone forever. Swept from the face of the earth. No one would have to worry about him again. Villagers would no longer have to live under the rule of King Justin Bieber. Maybe there would be less death in the kingdom. Maybe there would be less violence; less sadness. Who knows?
But Ariana swept her thoughts away before she could regret saving the king. She prayed none of the servants would ever find out about this. But why did she save him? There was something fuming inside her. Something that told her she had to save him. She just couldn't figure out what or why.
Also why was Selena pretending to like him? And why did she attempt to kill him? Who knows what they did together. Ariana didn't want to know. Boy, did Selena fool him. She fooled him good. What would've happened if Ariana wasn't there? She wanted answers but she knew she wouldn't get them any time soon.
"Ariana, the session is over," a voice said from behind her. She spun around to find Harry looking at her. She looked around and saw that everyone working in the session had already left. It was just the two of them. Harry laughed.
"You were zoning out," he said. Ariana snapped back into reality and looked down.
"Oh, thanks," she simply said to him. She looked back up and saw a sincere smile on his face. He stared at her for what felt like minutes but was really only a couple of seconds.
"Well," he said breaking the silence. "I'd better get going. Next session starts soon." He waited for Ariana to say something but no words came out of her mouth. He looked down, his curls falling down his face. He sighed as he started to walk away, but Ariana stopped him.
"Wait," she said. Harry stopped walking. He slowly turned around to face her once again. Ariana sighed.
"Look," she started. "I'm sorry. I've been ignoring you for a while now. And I just wanted to say that I forgive you. I just want to be friends again," she truthfully said. A smile grew on Harry's lips.
"So we're good now?" Harry asked her. Ariana nodded.
"We're good."
It almost looked as if Harry was about to hug her, but he stopped himself and Ariana couldn't tell if he was or not. He just smiled again.
"Alright. I'll see you around," he said, walking away.
"See you," Ariana replied. She was relieved to finally get on good terms with Harry. It felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
As she started walking to her next session, she started to think about everything that had happened since she got to the castle. First was getting caught in the garden, second was kissing the king, third was finding out that her father had been a servant, and fourth was saving the king from death. It's been a crazy month for Ariana. That's for sure. Did things like this alway go on in the castle?
* * *
For the rest of the day, Ariana did her work. She didn't talk much to anyone besides Harry. As the day seemed to stretch longer, Ariana started to get more tired. Sometimes, her eyelids would even start to close. But she tried her hardest to not let that happen. Who knows what would happen if a guard, or even the king himself, saw her sleeping on the job.
Ariana was in the middle of preparing lunch when she heard someone say her name. It was a guard.
"Ariana," he said stiffly as he stood in the middle of the kitchen. Ariana turned around and looked at him blankly. Everyone in the kitchen stopped what they were doing and looked at Ariana and the guard.
The guard clearly noticed this and a look of anger crossed his face.
"Did I tell anyone to stop working?" he barked. Ariana and the other servants jumped at his sudden outburst and immediately went back to work. The guard cleared his throat and then turned his attention back to Ariana who was confused.
"Ariana," he repeated. "Would you like to step outside for a moment?" he asked, motioning towards the door. Ariana looked at him, then at the door. Step outside? What did he want? Did she do something wrong?
"That wasn't a question, that was a command," he raised his voice. Ariana's heart started to pump faster. She walked outside along with the guard. He shut the door to the kitchen so no one could hear them. He then looked sternly at Ariana.
"Now listen carefully. The king would like to meet with you in his room at seven. No later than that. You hear me?" he said. Ariana's heart leaped for some reason when the guard mentioned the king. Why did he want to meet with her? Ariana was confused. She assumed the king wouldn't want to see her after what had happened. But Ariana nodded.
"Yes," she said. The guard grunted and walked away, leaving Ariana in her thoughts. She walked back into the kitchen and all the servants looked at her. They looked out the door the make sure the guard was gone and looked back at Ariana.
"What did he say?" Austin asked her. They all looked at her waiting for an answer. Ariana had to think quickly.
"He just switched around some of my sessions in the schedule," she lied.
"Oh," she heard some of them say. Then they all went back to work. By this, she was relieved. It was typical for guards to switch around sessions for servants. It wasn't something that rarely happened. And Ariana was proud of herself for that good lie.
But then she thought about what the guard had really said. The king would like to meet you in his room at seven. His words replayed in her mind over and over again. She was nervous. Was she in trouble? There was no way of finding out until she got there.
For the whole day, Ariana wondered why the king wanted to see her. But she wouldn't be curious for long when the clock finally struck seven.
It was time for her to see the king.
As she walked along the halls, her heart felt heavier and heavier. What was the king going to do to her? Why did he want to see her? Her footsteps echoed through the large building and she felt so alone. She felt isolated from everyone.
Soon enough, she was standing in front of those familiar doors. The doors to the king's room. Ariana thought her heart might burst. She breathed heavily as she wrapped her hand into a fist. She brought her hand up to the doors and held it there for a moment, hesitating before knocking. Then she finally knocked on the tall door; the sound echoing around her.
At first their was silence on the other end. Ariana waited for a sound; for any any sign of movement. But there was none. She had been standing there for over a minute before she was debating whether she should leave or knock again.
But suddenly the door started to creak open. Ariana's pulse became faster and faster as the door swung open.
There. Standing in front of her was the king himself in his lovely robes. He stared at her with his red eyes and an evil smile grew on his lips. Ariana thought her legs would give out but she somehow maintained her balance.
"Ariana," he said in his deep voice. "Come in." She started shaking as she walked into his massive room of red and gold. It was just the way she had remembered it before: beautiful and luxurious. She heard the door shut behind her and she flinched. She kept her back towards the king, nervous to even look at his face.
She then felt a cold hand on her arm and she flinched again. The king chuckled.
"Why are you shaking, Ariana?" he asked as he walked in front of her. He stared into her eyes and no words could come out of her mouth. He chuckled once again.
"Can't you speak?" the king said coming closer to her. Ariana immediately nodded.
"Yes," she said shakily. She looked at the ground. "Yes you're majesty." She fiddled with her fingers.
She felt the king come even closer to her if that was even possible. He put his finger on her chin and lifted her head to face him.
"Look at me when you're talking," he said softly but surprisingly not angrily. Ariana peered into his eyes. His beautiful hazel eyes that shone in the light. His hair was combed upward, making him look even better. But Ariana quietly shamed herself for thinking such things.
"And don't fiddle with you're hands," he said talking each of Ariana's hands in his. He let go and Ariana put her hands to her sides. She took a deep breath.
"Why'd you want to meet here?" she asked bravely. The king looked at her for a moment and sighed. His face seemed to soften up a bit. He walked towards his balcony and motioned for Ariana to come. She followed.
The view from his balcony was absolutely magnificent. You could see most of the garden and even parts of the village up ahead. A lake lay ahead as well, the stars shining in its reflection. A cool breeze swept through Ariana's hair. This was unlike anything she had ever seen. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, filling the fresh air into her lungs. She then looked at the king who was looking at her with a small smile on his face. But he quickly got rid of it when he saw her looking.
"It's beautiful," she said to him.
"Isn't it?" he said. They stood there in silence for a minute, admiring the beautiful view. The king sighed. Ariana looked at him.
"Did you talk to Selena?" Ariana asked. But she quickly regretted it, wondering if she had said the wrong thing. The king's face darkened a bit but he didn't burst with anger. Somehow, he kept that inside him.
"Yes I did speak to her," he said. "It turns out, it was all an act." He rested his arms on the stone rail; the sides of their arms touching. "She never had any feelings for me. She just wanted to gain my trust so she could easily kill me." He paused for a moment and ran his hand through his hair. "I sent her back to her castle. I had the strong urge to kill her. But I couldn't. Because, if I did, the people of her kingdom might've killed me."
Ariana looked at him as he gazed out into the open world. She looked towards the horizon and up at the stars shining high above.
"Well, why did she want to kill you?" Ariana asked.
"Family issues," he simply said. It was obvious he didn't feel like talking about it. "I should've known."
"Look, Ariana. The reason I wanted to meet you here is because I wanted to say-" he started but paused. He took a deep breath. "I just wanted to say thank you. For yesterday."
Ariana looked at him and gave him a small smile. Her pulse started to return to it's normal rate and she started to become more comfortable. The king spoke again.
"But why?" he asked. "Why did you save me?" He turned and looked at her. "I just don't understand." Ariana looked at him sincerely and sighed.
"I don't know," she said. "Something inside me told me to. I don't know what it is. But whatever it is, it's strong. It just won;t go away," she told him. He looked and her and she looked at him. Ariana could feel the tension between them but she stayed put.
The king came closer to her and put his hand on her waist. She looked at his hand and then back at him. She knew what he wanted. But it was Ariana that time who made the first move.
She brought her face closer and closer to his. She could feel his breath on her skin. And soon, their lips met. That same feeling returned to her and filled her whole body with warmth and joy. She put her hands on his shoulders as he started to slip his robe off, revealing his strong, bare arms.
Ariana stopped for a moment and looked at them. She had never seen the king's bare arms before. They were always covered by that robe. His arms were covered in ink. The king noticed her looking at them.
"Tattoos," he said. Ariana lightly stroked his arm. Besides her father's friend, she had never really seen anyone with a tattoo before. Before Ariana could say anything else, the king kissed her again.
But they suddenly heard shuffling noises from below the balcony. They immediately parted from each other. They looked at each other in fear.
They peered over the balcony's rail and saw a guard. A guard who was staring right at them.
"Oh my god," the king gasped. He looked at the guard and then back at Ariana. "What am I doing?" They both saw the guard quickly run back into the castle. A pang of fear hit Ariana.
They had been caught.
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Yooooo hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!
For those of you who are confused why the king is worried they got caught, you'll find out in the next chapter 😉
I wanna let you guys know that I am busy with school and stuff but I'm still updating as much as I can. I'm not gonna ditch this story.
Oh and what do you guys think of the new cover? 😊
Don't forget to comment and vote and comment and vote again. And again. And again. Lol