One morning, Jasmine was cleaning Nikolai's room when someone knocked on the door. The prince was away from the palace, and she wondered who had come to look for him.
When the knocking persisted, she walked to the door and opened it to see the princess. She stared for a couple of seconds longer into her brown eyes before bowing deeply.
"Good morning Prin-"
"What are you doing here?" The princess cut her off and narrowed her eyes at her. Why were all the royal members fond of interrupting someone? Jasmine almost exhaled in frustration.
"I am cleaning the room," Jasmine replied, looking up at her. The princess was a year younger than her but appeared far more privileged and spoiled.
"Cleaning the room or stealing things?" The princess questioned, and Jasmine frowned slightly.
"I wasn't stealing anything-"
"Then why did it take you so long to open the door? You are stealing things from the room," the princess insisted.
"I wasn't stealing anything. Not like there's anything I could steal in the first place," Jasmine blurted out, which only made her appear more suspicious to the princess, who narrowed her eyes further.
"Does that mean you'll steal if there was something valuable in the room?" The princess implied, causing Jasmine to internally frown at her lack of common sense.
"I didn't say-"
"How dare you talk back to me, you filthy maid?" The princess quickly interrupted her for the third time. She noticed that her brother's maid seemed to have some nerve. It wasn't the first time she had watched her, waiting for the girl to make a mistake so she could punish her. The mere appearance of the maid seemed to always irritate her.
"Princess Guinevere, Prince Nikolai has returned to the palace and he has captured a Fae," Peter appeared in the Prince's chamber and informed the princess. He had been carrying out orders given to him by Prince Lucian when he saw the Princess walk up to the Prince's room. Knowing the Prince's maid, he was sure she would end up doing something to upset the short-tempered Princess.
"He's caught a Fae?" Princess Guinevere's mood seemed to improve upon hearing this, and she sent a quick glare at Jasmine before walking away quickly, with Peter following her.
"A Fae?" Jasmine repeated, and soon she could hear the commotion from downstairs. She walked to the window.
Prince Nikolai was just dismounting his horse and he threw the end of the rope binding the magical creature he had caught to one of the guards. Immediately, the Fae tried to escape, standing up and attempting to fly away, but the guard pulled back the rope. Her wings were black and flapped continuously in the air as she tried to escape.
The servants had all gathered round, watching the Fae, some utterly amused as it was their first time seeing one. Their chatter and the sound of the wings flapping irritated Nikolai, and he angrily collected the rope from the ground and tugged it hard, causing the Fae to land on the ground with a loud thud.
"You son of the-" the Fae began, annoyed by this, when Nikolai struck her face so hard that she bled.
Jasmine, who had been watching from the Prince's room, froze in place when she saw Nikolai walk behind the Fae and take hold of the Fae's wings that were still clapping at each other. Her mind immediately registered what he was going to do and urged her to look away, but she didn't. She saw the prince tear off the two wings from the Fae's back, and her loud scream pierced the sunny day, bringing silence to the open ground.
Jasmine held her breath and slowly released it. The Fae had become surprisingly calm, but the anger was still visible in their eyes. It was as if the wings were a significant source of their power. Nikolai handed the Fae to the guards to lock in the dungeon before heading into the palace, where the Princess was walking out from.
"Brother Nikolai, can I go see the Fae in the dungeon? I'll keep myself-"
"Do as you please," Nikolai cut off his excited sister and walked further, with Peter following closely behind him.
"Prince Nikolai, Mr. Quill has arrived. He's currently in the drawing room with the King," he relayed.
"Hm," Nikolai replied before entering his room. His gaze fell on his slave, who stood at the window, looking dazed and lost. She shifted her eyes from the window to look at him before bowing her head.
Without saying a word, Nikolai changed out of his clothes and into a plain blue shirt and white trousers. He rolled up his sleeves, revealing his muscled arms, and stepped out of the room, asking Jasmine to walk with him.
They crossed passages and halls and descended two flights of stairs before arriving at the drawing room. The Prince knocked on the door before stepping inside.
"Come with me," Nikolai said when Jasmine went to stand beside the door without following him in.
"Prince Nikolai," a brown-haired man sitting in the room called and stood up to shake hands with the Prince. He was a young and handsome human with wavy locks falling all over his face.
"What brings you here, Quill?" Nikolai asked, moving to one of the cushions to sit down without looking at his father, who was also present in the drawing room.
"The-" Mr. Quill started to say but then paused and pushed up his glasses while looking at Jasmine.
"You can continue," Nikolai urged.
"You, go stand outside," the King ordered Jasmine.
"Speak, Quill. We don't have to worry about her," Nikolai said, a smile threatening to come to his lips at the thought. "She's really good at keeping secrets."
Quill adjusted in his seat and continued, "The kingdom in the west, Norlande, keeps sneaking into our kingdom, stealing crops, and buying from our markets without paying taxes. I have presented this to their Highness, King Arnold, but he is completely fine with it. I gave him a warning, but he brushed it off. Recently, I received news that he's collaborating with the nearest small kingdoms beside them to rid this place of its wealth and value before attacking."
"Stupid," Nikolai muttered under his breath, keeping his elbow on the armrest of the chair and placing his chin on his fist as he listened to Quill's report. His gaze had moved to his maid, who stood motionless beside his chair with her head dipped really low, but he could see her eyes, which looked away from him. Glassy ocean blue eyes.
When Quill finished the report and left the room for his next assignment, Nikolai made his way out of the room, but the King stopped him before he could step out.
"Would you like to be the next King?" his father asked, and Nikolai turned to look at him. Jasmine had already stepped outside, waiting for him.
"No," Nikolai replied.
"I would like you to think about it. Aetheria needs someone like you to rule over them. Please Nick, will you think about it?" King Darren pressured, getting up from his seat.
"Okay," Nikolai said, and a smile formed on the King's lips.
"Thank you," he was saying, but Nikolai had already stepped out of the room and shut the door.