Her Maiden

Chapter Sixteen: Petals

***AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm ngl - this chapter might not be for everyone... *sigh*, I'll see myself to horny jail. Sorry Mommy-Lady-Dimitrescu. 🙄⛓***

You wake up, feeling painfully alone as you look around the room to see Alcina has, as you were growing used to, already left.

You groan and stretch, wincing as you feel that familiar monthly ache take hold in your lower stomach. Your eyes grow wide and you jump from the bed, only to find that you have, in your sleep, bled over the sheets, staining them with pools of crimson which you feared had ruined them entirely.

Your periods have always been heavy and painful, but this one has come early, taking you by surprise. You must have woken up early from the pain of the cramps, because Sorina has yet to appear with your clothes for the day. At least you have time to sort yourself out before anyone will be any the wiser.

You slip out of the bed and run to the bathroom, frantically opening drawers and cabinets, looking for any products Alcina may have kept on hand, but to your dismay, you find none.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," you mutter under your breath, already feeling blood begin to trickle down your inner thighs.

You try and think of a solution, then realise that the servants quarters had a supply in the back of one of the communal lockers. Whilst you were there you could take the sullied bedsheets into the laundry room before anyone else had a chance to find them.

Feeling a surge of determination, you quickly shower off in the en suite before donning the black dress from yesterday. You strip the bed in record time and scurry out of the room, stumbling a little as you struggle to balance with the armful of linen.

You walk quickly, rather than run, so as not to rouse any suspicion from passing servants - or worse, the Dimitrescu women. You cringe as you imagine what their reaction would be if they were to see you like this. No doubt it would amuse them to no end, all at your expense. You were in no mood for it.

You reach the laundry room and throw the bedsheets into the nearest washer, breathing a sigh of relief.

So far, so good.

You feel your stomach cramping again and wince. The sooner you could get your hands on some tampons and painkillers the better, then this day might finally get back on track.

The stone corridors are long and winding, seeming to stretch ahead of you indefinitely as you walk quickly to your old chambers. You pass a couple of servants but pay them no mind, too focused on hurrying yourself to the lockers. You realise now that the servants rarely take you on when seeing you in passing now anyway. Whether it was jealousy, such as in Andrea's case, or, you suspected, fearfulness of involving themselves in any way with Alcina's property.

On any other day the thought might have saddened you, but in this case, it was actually somewhat of a blessing.

Finally, you reach the doorway to the servant's chambers, but come to an abrupt halt when you hear the sound of echoing laughter from within. You recognise Sorina's voice.

"...It's just so weird! You honestly should have heard them last night. I was passing by their bed chambers and from what I heard, some really messed up shit was going on..."

You freeze, though your heart begins to pound, sending a sickening feeling all the way to your stomach.

"...and then, I get the fantastic job of dealing with her the morning after. She thinks she's so much better than the rest of us now, she won't even talk to me like we used to..."

You clench your jaw, wondering how much more of this you can listen to.

"...and you should see the way she was throwing herself at Alcina the other night. Absolutely shameless. It's so surprising really, I never had her down as being such a pathetic little slut."