forum The Monster, the Princess, and the Rebel // OxO // Closed

Started May 25, 2020 by @ElderGod-Icefire

tune

Rose nodded a little bit. "Thank you." She replied with a soft little smile. She kept sipping at the soup, letting out a faint breath.

Margret left, and Rose was alone, amid the bustling of the kitchen, and no one paid her any mind.

Rose looked around quietly. She needed some sleep, and then in the morning she would make her move and get her brother out of here.

(Yeah sure! It's fine, don't worry about it :))

Rose had been assigned to a few jobs about the castle, and used those jobs to help familiarize herself with the layout again. It had been a long time since she last walked these halls, and it felt like a lifetime ago, even though it had only been five years.

(Thank you!)

How is that girl doing? Damen wondered, as he sorted through some paperwork, reports from the soldiers who had gone on patrol across the land recently. Being the king's advisor meant that he should be giving ideas as to how the country should be run, but mostly, it meant paperwork. And it was so dull. But he had gotten lots of handy information for the resistance this way, and so he kept doing it.

Rose knew that within a few days, she would be taking her brother and getting the hell out of here. It wasn't the right time to reclaim the throne, but she couldn't let her brother linger here for any longer than he already had.

That girl that had approached him and his brother a few days ago… he wondered if she was okay. But he shouldn't ask Javaid about it. Someone with as high a rank as he had didn't usually go talk to a random soldier, even if they were brothers. Damen wanted to go check on her… but how should he inquire without raising suspicion?

She hummed for a while as she worked. Her duties eventually took her close to where her brother was, and when she saw him, she couldn't suppress the wince. This hollow-eyed, haunted creature was not the brother she knew. This man with circles beneath his eyes and blood beneath his fingers was not the twin she had grown up with. For the first time, she wondered if he was too far gone to save.

Finally, Damen sighed. "Manon?" He called. His personal bodyguard, Manon, looked up.
"Sir?"
"I want you to go bring Ma- the head servant here." He had to stop himself from saying please.

Her lips parted as the prince stalked past her, his eyes dark and his hair messier than she had ever known it. His hands hung loose by his sides and his face looked drawn and haunted. The silver collar around his neck glittered with enchantment, and she realized why the people spoke of him in dread. This was no longer the happy, smiling prince she had known, and she had been naive to expect that. Had been naive to expect his reputation to be so false when she saw now that…that it was true. So very, very true.

“Yes, sir.” The bodyguard left, and soon returned with the head servant, Margret. She was an old lady, but still light on her feet.
“You called for me?” She asked.
“Yes,” Damen said. “I heard you were looking for new maids. Did you find any good ones?”
“Yes,” Margret said. “A fine young lady just applied yesterday. I believe your brother escorted her. She said she was your cousin?”
“O-oh, yes, she is,” Damen said. “How is she?”

Rose took in a breath and went back to cleaning, her heart feeling heavy in her chest. She had had no idea how hard it had been on her brother.

Jav walked down the hall. He was thinking about nothing in particular. It was his break time, and he was going to go find his brother, to bother him.

She continued moving, doing her job and trying to figure out what to do for Korain. How to get him out of here without hurting anyone.

Glancing through the door to the room, the one that everyone tried avoid if at all possible, Javaid spotted the girl from earlier, watching the prince with haunted eyes. He cursed slightly. Why was she watching him like that? Did she want to get found out? No one looked at the prince like that if they were in their right minds.

“Oh cousin!” He called through the open door, trying to get her attention.

Rose blinked, looking over and spotting Javaid. She cast a final glance at the prince, then came over to him. "What do you want?" she asked, crossing her arms and taking in a deep breath, trying to push away the image of her brother that still burned behind her eyes. The fifteen year old she had known, and the 20 year old he was now.

“Just seeing how you’re doing.” He winked at a nearby serving girl, who blushed and looked away. “Be aware of how your expression is,” he said to Rose in a low voice. “You look like someone’s killed your family. I know this is hard to see him this way, but if you’re too obvious, you’ll get caught before you can get him out.”

She closed her eyes for a moment. "I know." she said. "It's just…this isn't what I thought he would be like." the prince had moved on to a different room now; he wasn't anywhere near them. But she couldn't erase the image of what he had grown into, what he had become since she left.

"It's a shock to everyone who knew him before." Jav gave a small, tired sigh. "You have no idea how tiring it is to see all of the old veterans coming in to serve and seeing the kingdom a mess, traitors on the throne, and the only apparent heir a mindless beast."

She rubbed her face with a hand. "Yeah. I…when I left, I never thought…I didn't know it would be this bad." she said quietly.