Eve did not say anything and she went on to get his clothes. Since it was already late and the royal family already had their supper she picked something he could sleep in.
"I'm going out." Ceaser said behind her.
"To where?" Eve asked turning to face him.
Before she could look at his face Ceaser pushed her head back down to keep her head bowed.
"Don't forget you aren't supposed to look me in the eye. I'm not the boy you fell in love with anymore. I'm your master." Ceaser reminded her.
Her grip on the shirt she was holding tightened at his words that were absolutely correct.
"You have no right to ask where I'm going." he added taking the shirt from her.
"I might need to inform the king or queen about where you are going. I might get into trouble because I'd be the last person to have been seen with you." Eve explained turning to get him trousers.
Ceaser did not reply and just went to sit on the bed. He put the night shirt on and Eve brought him his trousers. She looked away while he got dressed and when she heard the ruffling of blankets she turned to find him getting ready to sleep.
"Weren't you going out?" Eve asked coming to help him put the blankets properly.
"I changed my mind." Ceaser answered with a yawn,"Sing me a lullaby. That one.....the lady of the lake."
"I'll call Elizabeth. She knows the words and she sings better than me."
"And you thought you could be my wife." Ceaser said teasingly and it made Eve frown,"Then tell me what made you fall in love with me."
Eve stiffened at his request. She didn't know what she had loved about him either.
"Did you love me or the land of Dreg?" Ceaser asked.
"The land of Dreg was a dump site when I fell in love. There was nothing to envy or feel greedy over." Eve retorted and Ceaser chuckled.
"Then what did you love?"
Eve recalled the day she'd first seen him. The thing about him that had caught her eyes back then were his eyes and even now they seemed to capture in ways she couldn't explain. He was very concentrated as he looked at her. His eyes were cold and mysterious just as they had been back then and maybe even more today than back then.
"Your....your eyes." Eve whispered.
"My eyes." Ceaser repeated thoughtfully staring blankly at the space in front of him.
Ceaser stood up from the bed and went to stand in front of the mirror. He looked at his eyes and only saw hollowness and emptiness in them.
"What made you love an empty shell?" he asked still staring at his own reflection.
"I thought I'd be the one to fill in the the empty space." Eve answered in a whisper.
Ceaser turned to look at her and he saw how sad her face looked. He walked towards her and made her look into his eyes. She shivered at his touch on her chin but before she knew it she got lost in those eyes of his.
"Leave." Ceaser said and he walked back to his bed to sleep.
"Sleep well master." Eve said and she left the room.
When she reached the servant's quarters she didn't find Elizabeth there. She figured that her friend must be doing work for Crow so she waited. In the garden of the palace, Elizabeth was watering the black rose bush and speaking to it like it was listening to her.
"Do you think mother and father are alright? Father got hurt in the stupid games after the ball so I'm worried." Elizabeth said tiredly,"I wonder if mother has eaten. She'll be grumpy if she doesn't take a hot bath before bed."
"I am now convinced that you are crazy." Crow said behind her.
Elizabeth was startled and turned her head sharply, nearly snapping it.
"Ahh....my neck." she complained,"What....what are you doing here?"
"I was coming to check on the flowers but it seems you are taking food care of them while risking your sanity."
Elizabeth pouted her lips and started pulling out weeds from the wet ground. She was sitting on the ground without having to worry about her dress getting dirty or chasing a potential suitor. She smiled remembering the fond memories of her mother yelling at her for behaving like a commoner.
"How old were you when you discovered your ability?" Crow asked.
"I'm not telling. It's a secret." Elizabeth answered pulling out the last weed.
"You have no right to hide anything from me. You're a slave." Crow reminded her.
"Not your slave." she said smiling.
"Ceaser and I are like one person. We shared a body for years."
"You aren't the same person. One is a master and the other a servant, one loved and the other....."
"Hated." Crow completed her sentence.
Elizabeth nodded and soon she felt bad for say what she had. She looked at Crow who was standing in front of a red rose bush and staring at the roses like they were moving. She gasped when she saw the rose bush started rotting. Crow turned around to look at her with a grin on his face.
"We are different in a lot of ways but we have something beautiful in common. We both love distraction."
Elizabeth felt threatened under his gaze and subconsciously started moving back and he started moving closer to her.
"Now....how old were you?" Crow asked again.
"Six. I was playing with Eve in her garden shortly after her and Ceaser's meeting. She was saying she wanted to give him a flower to apologize to him and to console him after his father's death."
"Has she loved him that long?" Crow asked calming down.
"Yes she has." Elizabeth answered.
"Do you love flowers a lot?" Crow asked changing the subject.
"Yes. I love them even more now that I have this ability. I can save the flowers that die."
As she said that she regrew the rise bush that Crow had killed.Crow smiled at her and clapped.
"Why are you clapping?" Elizabeth asked.
"You made a lovely bush. I need a lot of roses tomorrow. I'll be making flower crowns with the princess." Crow said starting to walk away.
"You make flower crowns with the princess?!"
"Yes I do and I enjoy it very much."
Crow went back inside leaving Elizabeth alone then she also went to the servant's quarters.
"You're finally here." Eve said lying down on the floor.
She had taken her dress off and was only in her petticoat. Elizabeth was quick to undress and join her friend on the floor.
"I've always wanted to do this." Eve said rolling around on the floor.
"Really? Who knew Ms Spotless admired rolling around on the floor?" Elizabeth said rolling on the floor with her friend.
The room was soon filled with giggles of the two girls. The head maid who was tasked to check if all the servants were in their rooms heard the noise and rushed to see what was happening. She was greeted with the sight of the two girls on the floor. Eve and Elizabeth sat up and looked at the shocked woman then the got up and got on their small beds.
"Retain the silence." the head maid said in a gruff voice.
She closed the door then opened it again to blow out the lamp.
"Good night." Elizabeth said barely able to see Eve's silhouette,"I miss your white hair. I feel like I was able to locate you with it."
"Get used to not seeing it. Good night."
They soon fell asleep and in the morning the head maid came to wake them up.
"Get up! You aren't high standing people anymore. You have to prepare the prince's bath."
Elizabeth got up groggily and rubbed her eyes to look at the head maid. Eve was still asleep and this made the head maid prick her with a little pin.
"Ouch!" Eve exclaimed and the sudden movement made her fall off the bed.
"You have minutes to get ready." the elderly woman said then she looked at the dirty girls and said,"Forget it. I'll have someone else do it. You both need to bath before you can show your faces to anyone. If the prince sees you like this he will lose his appetite."