He tried to focus on the book he was reading but he couldn't. He couldn't focus and he knew it was because of the thing that kept fighting with him. The second being inside him. These past few years, he'd been easily provoked and people kept testing his patience. He knew he'd changed and people feared him, feared him more than his elder brother. But he didn't care, he was better off alone.
A voice came at his door and he made a sign for her entry. He knew it was the new maid he ordered to bring him tea.
She gently put the tray on the table before him nervously. Who wouldn't? Her hands were shaking and she shut her eyes to calm herself.
"Here is what you asked for Your Highness". And before he could say anything, she bowed and turned immediately to escape.
"Wait". He ordered and she stopped dead on her tracks.
He brought the cup of tea to his nose and inhaled. "Who made this?" He asked furiously and he could see her trembling.
"It was...was I Your Highness".
He stood up and walked close her. "You really made this?" He asked again, pointing at the tea behind him. He was angry and she could feel it, hear it in his voice.
Krysia immediately went to her knees , her forehead touching the floor as she trembled. "I am sorry Your Highness. Please spare me. I wasn't the one who made it. Please spare me Your Highness". She begged, her eyes full of tears. The prince brought her up on her feet and stared into her eyes.
"I'll spare you but on one condition". He paused and krysia's heart seemed to stop. "Bring her to me now". He growled and in one second, krysia was out of his room.
He turned and tried to control himself. He took the cup again and inhaled the tea. This was the exact tea his mom used to make when he was a kid, before she died. It was his best tea and no one had ever made it in years. He tasted the green tea and almost lost his patience. The same tea, the same ingredients, the exact way he liked it. The exact way his mom had created the taste. The tea was rare and preparing it coincidentally to taste exactly like this would be a lie. Who prepared this?
He spun around as he heard a his door opening. He recognized her. He'd seen her before.
"You called for me". She said, looking straight into his eyes. It took her time to realize she was supposed to stare at the floor. With that, he immediately knew where he saw her. She was the one he saw dressing awkward yesterday. He wanted to say something about it but the urgent question needed to be answered.
"You were the one who made the tea?" He asked and she replied confidently. There was no fear in her eyes and neither was she trembling.
"How did you make the tea. How did you know about it". He was trying to get himself together but something inside him kept telling him to step on the line.
"I have no idea of what you're talking about". She replied with a flat tone which boiled his impatience.
"Are you messing with me right now?" He growled and grabbed her chin roughly. "Do you want me to pass an order?"
"Are you threatening me?" She spoke in between his hard grip and the hard look on his face was replaced by a mixed feeling. He was astonished and beyond overwhelmed at her response. Even with the way he was trying to scare her, she didn't look a bit scared.
She brought up her hands and removed the prince's hand from her jaw.
She massaged her jaw as she talked. "I mean how are you going to know how I prepared it if you kill me? You'll only rot in curiousity if you pass an order...you almost broke my jaw". She massaged it continuously and the prince could only stare. It'd been long any woman had ever spoken to him like she did. She wasn't scared and she talked whatever she felt like saying. Was she clueless of who he was, who he was said to be? Even if she was, he was a prince and a prince must be respected and feared.
"Well..I made the tea casually. If you don't like it, I'll take it back and make a new one". She made an attempt to walk past him and take the tray but was stopped with a command.
"Either you tell me how you made it with this exact ingredients and not another one or you stay in the dungeon without food".
Her eyes widen and instead of falling on her knees and confessing everything she knew and plead for her life she flared instead. No one wanted to go to the dungeon especially his own made dungeon.
"Dungeon? For what? Because I made a tea you don't like? If you don't like it then say so and let me take it back and make a new one. Why are you making a fuss over something that can be done in a twinkle of an eye?" She paused. "Why should a woman be sent to the dungeon anyway."
He had lost it. Lost it completely. He wasn't used to being addressed to like this by a maid. He had lost his patience completely and letting the young lady in front of him a minute longer could cost her life.
"Ansel!.....Ansel!!" He called and he entered immediately after the second call. "Take her to the dungeon. No food, no water till she's ready to say something". He ordered him without taking his angry eyes off her.
"Fine! Dungeons aren't made for plants anyway. They're for humans". She retorted and stormed out, not letting Ansel touch her.
Who was she? Why was she talking to him this way and he wasn't doing anything about it? He had given her three chances since he met her which he wasn't known for.
He turned back to the tea and sat down. He took it and tasted it again. The drop filled his tongue and he wanted more. He missed drinking the tea only his mom could make.
Instead of drinking more, he dropped it and stared at it instead.
Ansel entered in no time and bowed. "I took her there already".
The prince nodded and Ansel felt something in the air. He sniffed in slowly and almost gasped. "Isn't that..."
"Yes it is." He cut him off and nodded slowly, still in thought. Ansel had been his personal guard, more of a friend--bestfriend-- since he was thirteen. Ansel was two years older than him and was fifteen when he was trained as a prince guard. He only had his mom and Ansel back then when he was thirteen. His mom always treated Ansel like a son and never neglected him. She'd secretly call Ansel in to have tea with them whenever the other guards were out of sight. Even if it was against the law, he would still force himself to have tea and chat with them before returning back to his duty. They were like his family until she died.
"How did she do it? It's the tea the queen created herself and no one knows about it other than us". He was confused. Surely, there was something about her. Her manners, her actions, her words...there was something fishy about them. She wasn't as ordinary as she looked. She wasn't.
.
.