Malevolent Royals

Chapter One

Prudence's POV

I woke up to the sound of rain falling against the steel roof of the orphanage. Next to me, Flora stirs in her sleep as the leaky roof drops water onto her blanket, creating a small puddle near her belly.

"Flora?" I poke her shoulder. She doesn't move so I press harder, sure to leave a small mark. If I didn't then I'd end up waking her up in a way that involved everyone else doing it, too.

"Ouch," she groaned. "What did you do that for?"

"The roof is leaking," I whisper. She looks up and then down towards her stomach where the puddle was growing.

"Great," she said sarcastically. "We just washed the sheets and now it's covered in dirty water."

"It's not that dirty," I lie. "Betty and Jeanie cleaned the roof pretty well last time. I'm sure it just looks brown because it's dark."

"They didn't clean shit," Flora rolls her eyes. "The roof is still covered in bird poo, wasp nests, spiders, and probably still has that dead squirrel beside the chimney. All they do up there is talk until lunch. I don't even blame them, it's the one place Cavill doesn't check."

"Of course she doesn't check," I sigh. "It's too much work to get there."

"Maybe we should create obstacles to get the bathrooms so she won't check those, either."

The sound of thunder roared through the room and the roof began drizzling like a faucet. Flora gets up, careful to avoid the water.

"We need a bucket or something," she says. "Can't have the bed getting drenched all night or we won't have a mattress for tomorrow. We'll need to sleep with gurgling Genevieve if that's the case, she's so small she barely takes up any space."

"I don't want to stay with her," I get up from the bed, as well, and immediately push down my nightgown. It's always riding up. "I won't be able to sleep."

"At least for you it won't be for too long," says Flora. "The second you turn eighteen Cavill will throw you out."

"Don't remind me," I groan. My birthday is soon so I'll no longer be labeled a youth in need, forcing me out of the orphanage with nowhere to go. Perhaps I can live with the man at the pier who sometimes gives me free soup... I'm sure his wife would be fine with it, she seems friendly enough.

Being homeless scares me particularly because I'm an elf. Miss Cavill has told me many times, and I have seen evidence of such things, that people will try and take me away - show me off like I'm an exotic pet and then lock me away so I can't get away from them. She's done a good job of protecting me so far but here's only so much she can do when I'm an adult.

I'll most likely be auctioned off. Rich people love non-humans, especially orphans.

I walk lightly down the stairs, trying my hardest not to make a sound. Flora is still in the room, taking the sheets on the bed as I search for something to catch the rain. The kitchen had pots and pans underneath the sink but nothing big enough. I walked down the hallway towards the storage closet but stopped when I saw that the light to Miss Cavill's office was on.

"You wouldn't want any of them," I hear her say. I immediately crouch down, panicked that she'd hear or see me. Perhaps what I'm doing up isn't terrible and wouldn't get me in trouble, however there's a possibility she's think I was eavesdropping if she saw me now. That wouldn't end well.

"Why not?" Another voice asks. They sound annoyed and male. "You can't possibly tell me that not one of your girls isn't even the slightest bit suitable."