Her Maiden

Chapter Twenty-three: Smoke

***Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the late update!! (I know I say this all the time argh). I've been pretty ill this week with a bad cold, all I've managed to do is curl up in bed with some audiobooks to keep me company while I sweat it out - *nice*.

Feeling better now though! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, hope you enjoy and thank you so much again to everyone who still FOR SOME REASON reads my story!!! Hope everyone's having a good week.***

You wake up the next morning feeling strangely at ease. Light streams through the window, casting your surroundings in a soft golden haze. You stretch, yawning and rolling over lazily. Birds sing from outside and you can hear the soft sounds of movement around the castle as servants began their daily chores.

It's strange to think this place had once filled you with terror. Now, as you bathe in the sunlight, in the comfort of this luxurious bed donned with silk sheets, you could almost convince yourself you had died and gone to heaven. Especially with the quality of the orgasms you had experienced last night.

You gaze over at the shelf where that special bottle of wine stood - the first maiden's blood from which you had ever partaken. You wonder, as you gaze at the green bottle, what she had been like. If she; like you, had fallen so hard and so fast for the woman who owned this castle, this room, this bed in which you lay, even owned your body itself - not that you minded.

You wonder if she had been as attached to Alcina as you were. The idea fills you with a strange feeling. You wouldn't call it jealousy, so much as trepidation. You eye the bottle, as though it may be watching you back - observing you follow in it's same, doomed footsteps. Maybe one day you would join it. Maybe the next maiden might be laying in bed one golden-hued morning, gazing up at you both from your shelf and pondering the exact same things.

The thought fills you with dread.

"Y/n, it's me. Can I come in?"

Sorina's voice breaks your mile long stare and you find you're actually quite grateful for that. You glance one last time at the bottle before answering.

"Yes, come in."

Sorina enters, holding your clothing for the day in her arms. She looks tired, her hair messily strewn into a bun and her uniform looking uncharacteristically creased. She lays the clothing on the bed hastily.

"Are you okay?" you ask, concerned.

She rolls her eyes.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just a little tired. I had some extra laundry to do last night. In the middle of the night," she intones, sighing as she shoots you a disapproving look.

Your eyes widen and your cheeks flush red.

"Oh..." you begin.

"Yes - 'oh'," she snips, but she can't help but crack a smile at how embarrassed she's made you.

"I would have done it myself, only Alcina -"

She dismisses you with a wave of her hand.

"If I had servants, there's no way in hell I'd bother changing my own sheets. Don't worry about it," she smiles.

"Thanks," you manage bashfully.

She grins and hops up onto the end of the bed.

"So, it must have been pretty good, right?" she teases.

You stiffen a little, wary.

"Sorry, I shouldn't ask," she says quickly.

Now she's the one looking embarrassed.