A Beast's Tale

Chapter 1

I just wanted to read in the library. Alone. I didn’t want to talk to anybody; I didn’t want to hear anybody; and I certainly didn’t want to see anybody.

Leon had accosted me in the hallway before I even made it to my office, yelling about my latest purge. He’d change his tune once he knew all the details surrounding that unfortunate event.

If I ever told him.

If Obsidian didn’t win this time.

The near invasion, the arms dealing, the new weapons in development, the informant - everything was a mess.

Except for the library.

The smell of wood polish assaulted my nostrils as soon as I opened the familiar, large wooden door carved with intricate floral designs. Of all days for the head maid to insist on having the library cleaned. I frowned, scanning the room for the offender. The walls, lined floor to ceiling with bookshelves, shone from recent attention. The free-standing shelves scattered about the massive room had also been dusted. Not just one maid, then. At least two, potentially more. Even the woodwork of the ornate sofas, chairs, and coffee tables glistened. The large chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling was dark, as were the smaller chandeliers radiating around it. The maids had left already. But, then again, they may not have needed to light the candles, with the ample amount of sunlight pouring in from the many windows along the southern wall.

A book lay on the window seat in the alcove below the central, largest window.

I crossed the wood floor, my booted footsteps intermittently muted by the occasional rugs imitating roses in bloom. I didn’t tolerate books left carelessly lying about, but at least the volume of short stories that had been abandoned in the alcove was not one of mine. My irritation was growing, even before I saw the plain wooden door that guarded my inner sanctum standing open. Had the head maid lost her mind? It wasn’t that the library didn’t need cleaning occasionally, but she and the other palace maids knew better than to enter my private library without my permission.

Or had she hired a new one?

That stupid head maid couldn’t take a hint. I didn’t want or need a personal maid, especially one who was so foolish as to enter my personal library without my permission.

A soft humming came to my ears as I neared the open doorway. Her back was to me as she dusted the shelves. Flickering candlelight from the single lamp on the end table next to my chair cast a soft glow on the glossy strands of her long, black ponytail. She wore the usual warm weather maid’s uniform, a black dress with short sleeves and a skirt that cut off just above her knees, a white apron tied neatly in a bow just above her hips. Her petite frame and slender limbs gave the impression that a stiff breeze would be more than sufficient to blow her away.

And this was what the head maid had hired for me? Laughable. She wouldn’t last the day.

“Get out,” I commanded.

She nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned to face me, startled by my arrival, but there was no fear in her bright green eyes as she looked me over. Surely, she knew who I was. At the very least, she had to recognize that I was a prince. And yet her eyes met mine with clear irritation. The foolish creature had taken offense to me. I could snap her like a twig, but she had to bite her lip to keep from blurting out a sharp retort as she steadily met my glare.

“You have something to say to me?” I asked threateningly.

She had to force herself to drop my gaze. “No, your highness,” she said, her voice as soft as her humming as she feigned meekness.

I smirked at her mockingly. “A wise decision.” I selected a book at random and went to my chair, watching her out of the corner of my eye as she left the room. “Shut the door,” I added, and she did so without looking back at me.

This one may be of interest.

I read for a couple of hours in silence, and at four thirty, I got up to put the book away and get another. The shelf in front of me was spotless. I glanced around, noting that she’d finished dusting three of the four floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall bookshelves before I arrived. Had there even been any other maids? Was it all her, single-handedly accomplishing more in a day than two or three typically accomplished in the same time period? Curiosity drove me to open the door, and there she was, putting her mop away. The scent of soap filled the air, mixing with the citrus of wood polish. She’d been busy.

“Maid,” I said sharply. Her slim shoulders immediately tensed, but she turned to face me and met my eyes again. I went back to my chair, opening my book as I sat down. She followed me obediently.

“Yes, your highness?” she asked politely, without a trace of fear in her voice.

“Bring me some tea,” I said, not looking up from the book.

“Of course, your highness. Would you like any cream or sugar?”

Not only could she hold my gaze, she could form a sentence and ask a question of me without falling apart. I raised my eyes from the pages to study her bearing. At first glance, she appeared to be calm, but I noted with satisfaction the first flicker of fear in her green eyes.

“What do you think?” I asked mockingly, adding an edge of threat into my voice as well, to better gauge her reaction. The fear disappeared as she bit back a sharp retort again. How unusual to come across a servant with a backbone.

“I couldn’t presume to say, your highness,” she said.

I smirked at her again. “Maybe you aren’t as foolish as you look, simpleton. Neither.”

Her green eyes flashed. “I don’t appreciate being insulted, your highness,” she said coolly, glaring at me defiantly.

“Oh?” I narrowed my eyes, sending her a clear warning, but she didn’t even flinch. She was brave, I’d give her that. “You’re new here, so I’ll give you one chance to rephrase.” I closed the book and set it on the end table, waiting for her response. That flicker of fear appeared again, just for a moment, but was quickly replaced by irritation.

“I apologize if I was out of line, your highness. I’ll be back in a moment with your tea.” She turned to go, thinking I wouldn’t pick up on the qualifying ‘if’ that only made her statement sound like an apology. It was time for the brat to have a lesson in manners. I got up and slammed the door shut before she could leave, grabbing her by the shoulder and spinning her to face me.

“That was your chance,” I said, my voice low and threatening. She had the sense to try to back away, but I had her trapped. There was genuine fear in those striking eyes now as she looked up at me. I slid a finger under her chin, noting with pleasure the shiver that ran through her as I tilted her face up more. “Now, how shall I dispose of you?”

Her thoughts were racing behind those eyes. She really thought she could talk her way out of this? I slid my finger down to her neck, tracing around her soft, smooth skin, emphasizing her danger.

“Go on. Try me,” I teased condescendingly. It would be amusing to see what she could come up with.

“Wouldn’t it be a waste to dirty your hands because of me, your highness?” she asked, her quiet voice distinctly lacking the tremor I’d been expecting.

What would it take to get her to that point, I wondered?

“There are plenty of ways to get rid of you without making a mess,” I said, resting all five fingers on her throat and sliding them around until my palm was flat on her neck. “Try again.”

Her racing pulse betrayed how truly frightened she was. There was no reason for her to hide her fear. It would be to her benefit to show it, actually. That would make me lose interest. I was almost a full foot taller than her and could easily extinguish her life by simply tightening the single hand around her neck. She couldn’t hope to fight me. Why did she feel the need to pretend?

“I’ll be of no use to you if I’m dead, your highness,” she said evenly.

If I’d really meant to kill her, it was a good point. She was clever.

“And what use do I have for a maid who doesn’t know her place?” I pressed on, my curiosity piqued.

“I’m sure you can think of something, your highness.”

I smirked again, sliding my fingers up to either side of her jaw, tilting her face up further so she couldn’t look away. Did she even realize what she’d just said? She’d given me a complete license to do with her whatever I wished. Not that I needed her permission.

“You really are foolish. But even a fool can serve a purpose.” I released her and stepped back. “My tea, then.”

She was trembling very slightly, and that tremor finally crept into her voice even as she fought to keep it out. “Yes, your highness.”

I watched her leave, smiling to myself with satisfaction. The head maid had finally made a good choice. This one didn’t look to be very old, but maybe she was one of those who always looks younger than they truly are. With her level of control and maturity, I would guess she was in her twenties. I went back to my chair to wait. If it were anybody else, they wouldn’t come back. But she would.

And she didn’t disappoint me. I opened my book as soon as the doorknob turned, pretending to read as I studied her out of the corner of my eye. She was carrying a tray bearing a teapot and teacup, accounting for the possibility that I may want more than one cup. A proactive gesture demonstrating close attention to detail. She could prove very useful indeed.

“Will there be anything else before I go, your highness?” she asked, setting the tray on the table and pouring a cup of tea.

“Go?” I looked up at her sharply as I reached for the teacup. “I haven’t dismissed you.”

Her fear of me was growing, but she met my eyes unflinchingly. “I have an arrangement with the head maid, your highness. I leave at five o’clock.”

I took a sip of tea, considering. She didn’t live in the palace, then. Maybe the head maid really had hired her for the library, and not for me. It was about time. But the library was my domain, and she would answer to my demands, not the head maid’s. If she even came back tomorrow.

“We’ll see about that. I only need one cup. Take the rest back and go.”

“Thank you, your highness. Goodnight.” She dropped into a neat curtsey and left.

Polite, with a curtsey that could put many a noblewoman to shame. With a little polishing, her manners would be impeccable. How amenable would she be to further discipline, I wondered? If she was brave enough to return. It would be interesting to test her limits.

I hadn’t been reading for long when Clavis stopped by to annoy me. He’d done this since we were children, following me around and prattling on constantly about this or that whenever he felt the urge to harass me. Very rarely, he actually said something worthy of a response.

“Hey, Chev. I see you finally let a team of maids in to clean up around here,” he said, running a brown-gloved finger across a shelf.

“Not a team. Just one,” I replied, not taking my eyes from the pages.

“Really?” he asked, leaning casually against the shelf and crossing his blue boots at the ankles. “You don’t mean to tell me the head maid hired a new one?”

What a foolish question. None of the current maids would dare to set foot in the library when I was here, let alone in this particular room.

“Yes.”

“What’s she like?” he pressed further.

“Efficient.” And eminently more interesting than him.

“That’s it? C’mon, Chev. Is she young, old, thin, fat, pretty, ugly?”

I finally looked up at him, irritated. “Her appearance is of no importance.”

His golden eyes glittered as he crossed his arms over his chest, the violet sleeves of his jacket pulling back slightly to expose the crisp white cuffs of his shirt. “You must have noticed something. Why don’t you describe her, and I’ll decide what I think?”

“Why don’t you leave?” I snapped.

“Don’t tell me you like this one?” he asked, smirking as he shifted his weight slightly. The brown leather of his sword belt squeaked across his white pants.

“Like her?” I scoffed. “She is competent, and that is all that matters.”

“To you, maybe. What’s her name?”

“Her name is inconsequential.”

He sighed and shook his head, not hard enough to dislodge his neatly combed violet hair. “You’re impossible, Chev. Guess I’ll have to stop by tomorrow to check her out for myself.”

That would be an interesting test‌.

“Do what you like,” I said dismissively.

“I always do,” he said cheekily, and fortunately, he seemed to have lost interest in me already. “Later, Chev.”

I was glad to see the back of his white cloak billowing behind him as he left. He would find her attractive and quite entertaining. With any luck, she would distract him quite nicely from pestering me for a while.