A BEAUTIFUL NAME

The rest of the week, I lived exactly as I should have from the very beginning, invincible. I'd wake at the crack of dawn before any of the other maids could have woken up and do my chores. I even helped other maids to do theirs and sometimes they stared at me like I went crazy, some even wondered if I had gone mute overnight not realizing the turmoil that had taken hold of me in the middle of the week.

Flora was the only one who knew what had happened to me. She of course tried to reach out to me several times but I shut her down and avoided her, eventually she took the hint and backed off.

The only ones who were still bothering me were the prince and his best pals. Anya wouldn't take no for an answer, the only time she backed off was when I had threatened to kill myself. The other guy, whose name I still didn't know just followed me silently and watched me from the shadows. If we were close, I wouldn't find his presence unnerving but we weren't, so it was annoying.

Corion on the other hand, well, he did nothing which shouldn't be surprising that seemed to be the only thing he was good at, doing nothing. I silently moved through the kitchen, grabbing my dinner, a warm loaf of bread and stew. I moved to sit in a corner when I felt eyes on me. I didn't need to look because I already knew who it was.

I was about to eat when I suddenly had a thought. Standing up, I turned to where I knew he would be and walked towards him. Where he seemed to be darker than usual and I knew he was using part of his magic to cloak himself, so when I went there too I was swallowed in the darkness.

The man stared down at me but I just offered him the bread, if he was going to watch me he might as well not starve himself.

"I'm not hungry."

Instead of answering, I grabbed his hand and placed the bread in it. I made a move to head back to the quarters when I heard him speak, "Why are you acting this way?"

I turned to look at him, not exactly sure what he was asking. I stared at him, with a blank stare not willing to speak to him.

The man just released a soft scoff at me, "Never thought the day would come when I would see you like this, didn't think you'd be broken so easily!"

Broken easily? Is that what he fucking thinks this is? That I'm broken?

I must have not been able to keep the expression off my face because I the man hummed in pleasure. "Now I'm getting a glimpse of her." He said in a pleased tone

"What's it matter to you anyway? " I finally spoke crossing my arm across my chest, "Isn't that what you all wanted for me to be broken?"

"Despite what you may think that is far from the truth."

"Could have fooled me." I scoffed not buying what he said.

The man sighed, "You think you have it difficult but we do too?"

 "Oh really? Do you sleep on a wet bed? Wake up with worms placed all over your body? Check for insects before drinking your soup and oh, did you almost get raped too?" I asked battling my eyelashes at him.

"Fuck!" The man muttered in response.

I snorted in response, "Yeah, fuck is one word for it all right, look I have to go!"

"Reagan!" The man's voice stopped me before I could leave.

I turned to look back at him with raised brows, "What?"

"To faeries, our names are powerful and they can be used against us if we are not careful, which is why I didn't want to tell you my name. Reagan, that's my name!"

"Reagan!" I tested his name out and felt my lips stretch into a smile at that. "It's a beautiful name, thank you!" I breathed out still smiling at him.

Reagan nodded his head at me, "And just so you know whatever you think is happening to you, well it's not any better than ours, especially Corion."

And just like that, the mention of that name was enough to make the smile vanish from my face. "Don't ever mention that name to me again!" I say with a scowl on my face.

"Okay, guess it's too soon for me to mention his name." Reagan stated before cocking his head at me, "Tell you what? How about you train with me every morning? And this time without Corion or Anya, you and me and I'll teach you to help you protect yourself, even beat Anya!" Reagan said before I could interrupt him.

"Training with just you and me?"

"That's what I said."

"And why will I agree with that?"

"Because it's the only way you can protect yourself within these walls." Reagan said and I couldn't argue with him on that, "Besides, it would be fun to watch you take Anya by surprise the next time you train with her."

Okay, he had me there, "When do we start?"

Reagan looked at me, his eyes crinkling at the side and I could tell he was grinning at me though it was hard to say with the scarf wrapped around his face. Why does he do that though? I mean I understand outdoors but indoors too?

"How does tomorrow at dawn sound?" Reagan's voice interrupted my thought.

"Sounds okay to me," I informed him with a smile.

"Aneesa!"

I heard one of the servants call me which was my cue to leave, I turned to see that everyone was already done with dinner and about to head to bed. "So I have to…" The words died in my mouth when I noticed that I was now standing in the dark corner all alone like Reagan was never there at all and I just had the conversation in my head.