Crimson

Dearest Constantine,

Mama had told me lots of stories .

Intriguing stories of the lowly maid at the ball in a risque gown and glittering glass slippers , the prince had become instantly drawn to her , because he was secretly a collector of ladies slippers. So, he approached her for a dance,the maid had instantly agreed .

They danced for hours because the prince could not risk losing sight of her and the slippers which were an epiphany to his life as a collector . The maid in turn rejoiced at how easy this was .

A few minutes to midnight , she asked the prince to walk her out for refreshing air , when they were far from prying eyes , she put a throwing blade to his groin. The prince knew how important his balls were to their nation ,so ,he led her to the coffers as she had requested .The maid had her stepsisters and stepmother lying in wait .

They emptied the coffers of every valuable item .

At exactly midnight,the prince started his day as the only man who had paid his nations' weight in gold to keep his balls.

A royal achievement.

****

As a child , I had often wondered why mama put me in female clothes .

Had she wanted a girl child so desperately or had she just been crazy?

Anyways, it was all good.I was used to it , it made my job a lot more easier.

I scaled the last brick and landed atop the chimney . Wealthy folks were obsessed with clean chimneys , so, I just put my foot into the ledge and slid down the darkened hole with no finesse at all.

Please,Finesse was saved for public gatherings .

As I thought , the chimney led to a kitchen, I listened for a second before I stepped out .

It was empty if you were not counting the rows of food trays that lined the long table .

The kitchen was probably the size of the land my house sat on and I considered my land a great inheritance to be passed down if I did have any children , that was a shaky topic for me .

I grabbed an empty silver tray and studied my reflection to make sure the chimney had truly not been sooty after all .

Satisfied with my appearance , I pulled out the thin blade holding my hair , Lucia , she had been the first blade I bought myself .

My hair cascaded down framing my face , falling down my chest to hide the lack of breasts .

Taking off my coat , I stuffed it into the fireplace , I was ready.

My ivory gown had been an involuntary gift from the city's seamstress , Clara.

I had told her it suited me but she had claimed it was custom made for the governor's daughter ,so, being the bigger person ,I had left it , for a while .

I had returned at midnight and tried out several gowns , the ivory was still the best, so I'd taken it and a beautiful gentleman's coat as a bonus for my time .

It was perfect , it covered up my boots completely .

Once , I had worn a gown that wasn't long enough to cover my boots,not a good look on a tall, breastless guy.It had been a desperate day.

Schooling my face into the bored Noble look often adapted by the Agrippan upperclass , I opened the door and stepped into the ballroom.

The extravagance was revolting .

There was enough food to feed Agrippa for days and they were staring at it with disinterest just because their blood was of a deeper red hue.

****

According to the old books , we had lived in a world that had collapsed on itself because of a lack of hierarchy .

The world had bled out of resources . People had slept and not woken up,those who had woken up did so in an unrecognizable world .

It had simply disappeared , it was there one day and was not there next .

No bizarre happenings had indicated this .

Tall buildings crumbled , those that were related to technology short circuited and burnt out .

Apparently , only a third of the population made it .

Not fully though , when the world had collapsed , the biology of people had been altered .

Tests had shown that it was only physical , the marks .

A lot of people were marked differently with scar like markings of varying colours lining their arms and in worse instances their faces , they soon discovered that these people with scars had undergone changes to their anatomy .

Their bloods had obtained different hues. Even though they behaved and lived normally , their blood had still changed colour.

On this , the Utopias hierarchy was built . Those who had maintained their crimson hue had somehow become royalty .

How that happened was a sketchy topic .

They were few and far between and possessed no scars , they were unblemished and lived in the First city , Caeso.

The next group had become loyal soldiers to the Crimsons , they had developed different skills and become wonders , their blood of a scarlet hue .

They were known as Scarlets and were allowed to travel and settle freely , they lived mostly in the second City , Otho.

Then , the Vermillion .

A popular insult was calling them Vermins , their blood had obtained different hues .

Their marks visible and their eyes full of bloodthirst , says the book . I had yet to see one with bloodthirsty eyes and a lot of them had no visible scars .

They lived impoverished in Agrippa , with no support from the royals or the conclave .

The conclave had risen up after the so called cleansing to take charge . They were unknown and useless to me , but they probably controlled the throne . They had made what was left of the world theirs and called it The Utopia even though it was pretty obvious that Caeso was the Utopia and Agrippa a dystopia .

Otho was in between , though leaning greatly to the Utopic side .

****

This party was that of the better bloods of Agrippa , the Scarlets were celebrating the return of the governor from Caeso .

The governor was somehow related to the ruling queen and he mentioned it every minute .

I could not just look at the spread with disinterest , it was way past dinner time . So, I went over the table , just a piece of cake and I would get to working .

The cake was chocolate and melted right in my mouth , I had only had chocolate cake this saturated with chocolate once , of course , I wasn't leaving anytime soon .

I cut a big piece and placed on my plate , I cut a little and transferred it into my mouth , it melted right away .

I looked up and a girl was staring at me or the gown rather .

She began making her way towards me while I filled myself with chocolate .

She had finally reached my front and was staring at me intently , as if she expected a greeting .

She must be important then , I tried to rack my head .

Nothing.

She was dressed in a yellow gown that complimented her hair and her otherwise pretty face , if you didn't consider the sneer.

" Where did you get that gown ?"

She was practically growling.

I gave her a bored look.

" I was gifted it by a lover,the governor , are you an acquaintance of his ?"

She looked like I had introduced myself as a vermin, definitely the governor's daughter.

I turned and left her still gaping,the governor was strutting down the grand staircase .

A Vermillion servant was behind him holding a silk pillow . The signet ring I had come for sat on the little pillow.

The governor stopped and beckoned the servant , who knelt down and held up the pillow to the governor .

The ring caught the light and caused the whole room to fall silent as they all stared at the stone .

The royal family used their blood to forge weapons and this ring was bejeweled with a stone that had Crimson blood .

It was definitely the most valuable object in Agrippa tonight .

While the king started his rant on how the queen had bestowed him with the ring , I looked around .

I had not expected the ring to be this shiny , taking it without drawing attention would be almost difficult .

The upperclass were stupid , they would rather have a party without guards than have Vermillions around them as they dined which was great for me.

At the other end of the room , I spotted a councillor , Constantine taking shady steps back , he kept looking around to make sure no one had noticed him , soon , he disappeared behind the huge drapes . Oh Constantine.

I looked around at the women and men, you couldn't tell with Constantine .

And of course , a minute later I watched in awe as the blond lass from earlier moved discreetly towards the drapes , well well.

I waited impatiently for a while, before I found the perfect ones .

A big bosomed lady and her slight partner , I walked towards them and swiped a tall glass filled with an unknown beverage from the display . While the couple seemed enraptured by the governor's speech , I tried to find the end of the Lady's gown , finally found it .

I stood at the side of the man and emptied my glass on the man , he yelped and jumped towards the lady , throwing his drink into her wide bosom .

The lady shrieked and tried to move away but her gown wouldn't budge so , she fell instead grabbing the drapes as she went down .

The drapes tore open completely and there was Constantine , his trousers were down and the governor's daughter was in a very compromising situation .

1,2,3.....an animalistic bellow came forward from Constantine's six feet wife . She rushed forward , pushing through people and tables and drinks while I also rushed forward , jumping around tables , I grabbed the ring from the occupied and possibly heartbroken governor .

I went out the window , a drop that was taller than I'd anticipated , found my clothes where I had stashed them and slipped out of the compound .

It was late in the night and I was still very hungry , stealing a ring took a lot out of you .

I went to my favorite bakery and had hot sweets and bread .

By dawn , the news of the Ring would be everywhere.