Ever Been Sane!

"Slap!" Elara shook with rage while her target stood silently, shocked that she dared to slap him.

As if the god wanted to show her sins to the world. Someone came with the candles and lit the chandelier over them. More gazes noticed them.

They moved from the young maid to horrified Patrick and ended on Elara who was still infuriated.

"You wench! Who do you think you are!" he hissed as he raised his head but she held it without a flinch.

She met his eyes with a dark sinister gaze that shocked him enough to go stiff in her hands.

"I am the nanny of the child and I will make sure that he does not hear a single word he should not and should not see a single thing he should not." she warned the man as she jerked his hands away.

She could hear gasps, whispers and noises coming closer with footsteps, a lot of them and she knew that she collected herself a bunch of spectators. That was completely different from her desire to go unnoticed, invisible in the dark and large palace.

But if they think that she would sell her morals for that, they were thoroughly wrong. If she wanted to sell her morals, she would have been working as a nipper.

"The butler had given me enough authority in the absence of the housekeeper to keep you all in check." she lied when the man finally paused. He looked at her shocked but her smirk told him that she was not to mess with.

"We were just.. Exchanging some pleasantries.." the girl whispered, not daring to raise her head and look into the eyes of Elara, "it would not happen again miss. Not in the premises at least." Elara nodded.

She had no desire to meddle in the affairs of others if they could be discreet about it. She wanted to warn the maid that the man was up to no good but it was not her place to speak without reason. 

When she stepped around the corner, the maids fell silent, but the glance they exchanged spoke volumes, lending their silence a mocking air. It made her wonder what they saw in her face. if she looked shaken?

The thought irked her. She stared at all of them with authority but it did not affect much, not when they had caught her in an act, not the other way around.

"Why are you all staring at me?" she asked in a cold voice as she looked at their faces directly.

They all were sure that she would be embarrassed. She could scare single staff but she had to be intimated when they all would come to her at once. But how wrong they were.. She was young, not the youngest of them but still the youngest of many, yet she stared at them as if they were beneath her.

The thought did not sit well with many.

"You are nothing but a nanny for the child. What made you think that you can meddle in our affairs?" the eldest servant, one of Patrick's confidants, asked in a cold voice as he looked down on Elara. The mockery could not be more evident.

"Yes, for a second we thought you were chosen as the butler or the housekeeper? Shall i remind you that a nanny is not superior than other servants, not from exclusive maids and valets at least.'' Yes! It was better that she was offered the job of housekeeper than she would have to teach them some manners.

"It had nothing to do with my position. It is about doing obscene things in the hall. I am sure the master will sack them if I complain." she raised her head high, trying her best to show intimation but they laughed!

"Do you think so?" the man laughed, joined by many of them, "then prove it! Or apologize to Patrick by kissing him." 

"..." her eyes widened with shock but the man told it was not a joke.

"We do not force others, missy. But that does not mean we will let the new staff teach us manners. You are one of us and yet you insulted us. It is only fair that you pay the price." Sigmund warned her in a scary voice. She could see the criminal in him. Who would believe that he was a servant of a reputation house.

If she wanted, she could have beaten her. She had grown up on the streets and learned how to fight all her life. But if she did that, they would know she was not a maid she told them, she was!

She could show all her courage but not the talent she had learnt from the streets.. But kissing that swindler! She would rather die!

"What are you thinking? Did you not say the master will dismiss Patrick if you tell him, Patrick was kissing in the hall. Then go ahead." Sigmund challenged her again, knowing well that she would not dare! No one sane person would.

But when had Elara been sane?

She looked at all of them who were waiting for her to make a fool of herself and nodded slowly.

"Very well then." to their surprise and amusement she climbed the stairs and walked to his room. The room where she had seen him standing naked and seen a woman running away with tears in her eyes.

She didn't even know if the woman was a willing participant or he had forced her into his room.

What a fool! She would not have been running if she was willing. She cursed her luck! What was she even thinking when she accepted the job! A hideout.. The word echoed in her mind as she gulped and stood in front of the door.

"Shall we knock the door for you?" they mocked and shouted when she glared back at them and raised her hand to knock on the door. But it met with something soft yet hard… a broad chest that was too warm to scald her hand.