Chapter 10

My mind was stated in shock. It was still blank my entire time sitting there in a tub half-filled with half-warm water. Elise, one of the chambermaids, accompanied me, brushing my hair slowly and on my skin gently on a sponge on my shoulders.

"My name is Camilla... "I whispered, listening to the only noise: the water dripping.

"Yes, ma'am, Camilla, you told me before..." The chambermaid looked at me with a charming smile.

"Called me Elise, ma'am," she replied with a complete gesture.

"How old are you?" I looked at her and asked.

"I'm only twenty-two," she smiled, pouring liquid soap on the sponge at the same time as looking at me.

"How long did you work here?" I ask, and she gently continues doing her job.

"Since I was eighteen..." I stayed quiet after I spoke, processing.

"Did you see her in tears?" Those words came out of nowhere.

"Yes, ma'am, I saw everything. It's my first time seeing her that way. I think she likes you," she said, assuring me, still having a charming smile at her. I giggled a bit when I heard her opinion.

"Call me only Camilla... and Elise, by the way. Is her father here together with her?" she asked without taking a glimpse at her.

"She's living on her own, Camilla. Her father only visited here on several occasions of the year." I start to enjoy listening to her. Telling me while she's combing my hair. I felt the tenseness of my body come at ease. I felt so good with her gentle hands; she stopped but then continued wiping the sponge on my chest down, encircling the form of my breast. It felt so good when I tried to close my eyes to forget to calm down myself seeing what happened.

The half-warm water of the tub that comforts me feels secure. While the sponge continues massaging, encircling around my breast, teasing my nipples.

"It feels so good," I whispered, and then suddenly I recognized the scent.

My heart jumps. I open my eyes. I see her standing in front, facing me. I saw her calm face again, those gentle hazel eyes looking at me. I immediately covered my breast by blocking my arms so she couldn't see.

"Left us, Elise..." she speaks without looking at Elise standing at the door. Florence's voice echoed in the area. But still, I love the tone of her voice, even if she is bossy. Her accent, and even if she was so angry with that man. I take a look at Elise and nod.

"Thank you," I whispered.

She smiles back at me, taking a vow on Florence before she left us both. I felt warmth rush against my cheeks; I felt conscious of what she saw. She was amused seeing me that way. I could tell that face I saw from her; a smile escaped through my lips, but I hid, biting it and looking down.

"I'm here to ask and explain if you allow me..." She pulled Elise's chair away from the side of the tub she took put and sat across from me.

"First I want to ask the blood on the sheets: Is it from you? Did he succeed?" Looking at her face and eyes, he turns to anger, seeing she gritted her teeth, holding herself, and saying those words.

"No, he didn't." I stopped and looked away. I don't know what to feel anymore here.

"I saw bloodstains and semen on the sheets, so I asked you if he successfully didn't, didn't he?" Florence cracked her voice this time.

"No, I scratched him hard with my fingernails." I only nod because I don't want to talk about raising my guards again with her.

"Good, second, I only knew that your father ran away with your mom because he didn't want to marry that woman; they think they were destined to be that arranged marriage of the counsel; they call it the Brotherhood in order to have a union so the lineage won't break.

This is the first time I've heard from other people talking about my parents; it's been a long time.

"These men are after your father and his family, and that includes you. We don't have any traces of your parents until so many years later. We won't assume they were dead because nobody has been found. My father kept searching for them." Listening to her, I gasped and covered my mouth.

Seeing her, she scopes her right hand, and with warm water in the tub pouring on my back, I turned and looked at her that way, wearing a serious face.

"I get it; these men came after my father, but they didn't have him, so they came to find me instead and paid whatever my father did, is that it?" Moving my hands through the water, I wipe away playing with the bubbles in front of me. I felt the tension again. I don't know what to believe anymore.

"Is my father owed them that much? And about my parents, I am still having a hard time and a bit puzzled little by little; I can't resist the truth," I whispered, avoiding her eyes.

"These men are responsible for this when I and my father heard the news. He negotiates with these people. We are here protecting you, Camilla." Looking at Florence, she pulled her chair closer to the tub.

"All I know... my father promises one thing to your fathers, and that is what the Brotherhood should do. "I witness her face turn into sadness.

"I don't want to hear it anymore." I picked up the sponge, poured the liquid soap, and gently wiped it on my shoulder. I felt a stab in my chest to know the truth. It's not because of my parents that I almost didn't know or remember, but the fact that she's my real cousin. I don't care about my parents, and I couldn't take it anymore. I felt weird about that except being related to each other.

If I can ignore her for a moment and I can ignore the pain of the situation, I think I felt something for her, not only admiration. That day I saw her; that was real. I couldn't deny it to myself.

She held my hand to stop me. Played along with the floating bubbles. I let the sponge float on the water, staring at it, and she took it. I turned around, avoiding her face. Hate the fact that she's my cousin.

Moments passed. I felt her gentle hands from my back wiping the sponge. I closed my eyes, listening to the water sounds pouring and dripping on my back. I felt good about it. I closed my eyes again, and it took a while for me to process everything.

I gasped when a hand cupping my left breast under the water released a deep breath. I felt warm lips on my neck. I felt her lips pressing; a slight moan came out of my mouth.

"Please... stop teasing me," I whispered to her. She squeezed gently on my nipple, and she stopped.

"I said, We are not cousins. We are the princesses to our fathers," she whispered in my ear, and then she stood up, leaving me stunned and hopeless as I heard those footsteps fade away.

Tears escape from the eyes when a tongue refuses to speak.

A tormented heart cries out loud with no tears trapped inside of me.

Why am I here? Maybe the water could be washed and ease the pain.

Is there another way the pain would disappear?

I couldn't escape the silence of truth pounding into your ears till I went deaf.

A single soul not worth keeping,

A word refuses what you want to hear.

It turns out to be like me dying in pain.