Chapter 12

Walking to the dining room feels like the scariest thing I've ever done. My knees are buckling and if Shamus wasn't holding me, I know for a fact that I would've fallen down.

"Who is going to be in the dining room?" I ask, only to take my mind off of the fact that we're getting closer to it by the minute.

"Just yer maw an' sister," he assures me.

"No one else?"

"Well only th' servants tae brin' yer dinner, but that's it."

I sigh. "Okay, I can handle that. I can do this."

Shamus smiles down at me. "That's th' spirit."

We walk in silent the rest of the way, but I don't mind. This whole day's been so hectic that I don't mind taking a moment to take in all that's happened.

Too soon, we reach the dining room. "Ready?" Shamus asks as he reaches for the door handle.

I take a deep breath and force my heart to stop hammering in my chest. "Ready," I say, trying to keep my voice from trembling.

I let go of Shamus as he opens the door and step in. Persephone and the queen are already sitting at the table, having a hushed conversation, but they stop talking the moment I walk in.

"Good to see you've come to join us for diner," the queen says as she points at an empty chair across from Persephone. "Please, sit."

Hesitantly, I sit down, knowing all too well she watches every move I make.

"What do you think of the castle?" the queen asks as I sit down.

"It's larger than I thought it would be. But though it's so big it still feels warm and inviting. It's a contrast I quite like."

"Your sister was supposed to stay with you," the queen continues, giving the evil eye to Persephone who seems to sink down in her seat even more. "I apologize for the fact that she left you all alone."

"It's not so bad," I say, coming to Persephone's defense. "I actually asked her to go away so I could talk to someone."

"Who might this someone be?"

"He's a servant boy around my age, his name is Chris and he says we used to be best friends," I say quickly as the servants come in with the food. As we hear something clash on the ground we look to the kitchen entrance. There the man stands who I bumped into in the hall only a few moments ago. He looks from me to the queen and back.

"What seems to be the matter?" a familiar voice calls out from behind the man. The woman from the garden walks in swiftly, picking up the plate the man dropped and shoving it in his hands. "Clean this up quickly and tell the chef to make more." The woman turns around and addresses us. "I'm very sorry for the disturbance, your majesties."

"It’s alright," I say quickly, feeling that it's somehow my fault. "It happens. I've done that more times than I care to remember."

Suddenly, the room goes quiet. I look around seeing everyone stare at me. "What did I do?"

"It's not what you did, it's about what you said," Persephone whispers as the woman shoos all the other servants out of the room.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're royalty now and royalty don't ever do the work a servant does."

"But-"

"No buts," the queen interrupts. "For now, let's eat. Tomorrow, we will explain the things you need to know about being a princess."

We eat in silence, it is only when the servants come to gather the plates and the queen has left that Persephone starts talking. "Care to come with me to my room?"

"Sure."

Persephone starts walking but I hold her back. "Shouldn't we thank them for the delicious meal or something?"

"Why would we? They always make food like this, it's nothing special or anything."

Still, I turn around and say, "Would you please give my thanks to the chef for such a delicious meal?"

The servants look at each other, but after some time, they nod and leave the room.

"That was really unnecessary," Persephone says, sounding a bit annoyed.

"I don't get why you would think that. I know from personal experience that it's nice to hear that the food you work so hard on to prepare tastes good."

"We let them know it's good by just eating it instead of sending it back."

After this, we walk in silence.

'So this is what it's like to work for the royal family, no recognition for the stuff you do whatsoever. I'm really glad I worked for Madame instead.'

Lost in my own thought, I don't realize Persephone stopped walking and I walk right into her.

"Sorry," I say quickly. 'Can this day get any worse?'

"It's okay."

I look at her. 'How can I be her sister and have a normal relationship with her if I don't even know how to act around her?'

She opens a door, probably leading to her bedroom. This door opens up into a massive room. It has a fireplace, two couches, and a few other doors leading to other rooms.

"Is this your room?" I ask amazed.

"Yeah, I know it's not that large but it's good enough, I guess."

"Not that large? It's immense."

She studies me for a moment, looking for a clue that I'm joking, no doubt. When she doesn't find any she just nods. "That's right you're used to tiny rooms now. Sorry I didn't think about that."

I quickly switch to a different topic to talk about. "I think the qu- Mother took the news about Chris really well."

"I guess. But I bet she's not going to stay cool with it for very long."

"Why not? What is it about him that she doesn't like?"

"It's probably because he was with you the day you disappeared and he couldn't stop the people that took you from taking you. That, and the fact that he couldn't remember who took you."

I eye her suspiciously. "I thought you said you didn't know him very well?"

She shrugs. "I don't. That's just something everyone knows around here. He was there and he did nothing."

I start to get angry. How can she not see that what she says is wrong? "First of all, he was just as old as me when I got kidnapped, how could he have helped me, saved me from some grown-up. Second of all, how can she still blame him for what happened? It's not like he did it on purpose. And third of all, why keeping either of us away from him, it's not like being with him increases the risk of getting abducted or anything."

She throws her hands up in defeat. "Easy tiger, don't ask me. I don't make the rules, I just follow them and if you're smart, I suggest you do the same."