"Back straight!" The shrilling wail was followed promptly by a stinging slap to the back that made Cassie's entire body jerk.
"What the fuck, woman!"
The said woman tutted annoyingly and smacked her in the same spot a second time. "You shall not use that language again, and you shall address me as Madam Piper or Ma'am."
"I don't care who you are, I don't want you here with me," Cassie grumbled as she rubbed at her back. "I want someone else as my escort." Any of the maids or guards who regularly came to her story sessions were good. Why did it have to be this sadistic bitch?
"And I do not care what you want and don't want. I am here by his Majesty's orders, so you have two choices: stay in your chambers"—she pointed a thin finger down the hallway they'd just walked through—"or walk with me, and listen to me."
Cassie glared at the middle-aged woman with hand strength so disproportionate to the size of her slim, petite figure. Well, it all made sense now. Of course that bitch of a king would send her a bitch of an escort.
After she'd been forcibly removed from King Dane's chambers and brought back to her room, she was filled with dread and worry at the thought of the king reneging on his promise to let her roam free in the palace. If she couldn't return home immediately, then at the very least, she needed to get herself out of the four corners of her room before she went nuts.
When the knocks came at last from this little lady who introduced herself as Madam Piper, who would be her escort anywhere she liked on the palace grounds, she almost shed tears of joy and relief. But a few steps out of the room, and the woman was barking orders at her for every trivial little thing about the way she walked and talked.
Yet the thought of returning to her room, where the walls pressed closer and closer upon her each day... No more of that.
With a deep breath to give herself the mental resilience she needed, Cassie relented. "My apologies, ma'am," she said begrudgingly. "Please, is there a library somewhere?"
The woman raked her beady eyes over her, head to toe, toe to head, then gave a dismissive snort before she walked ahead. Trailing behind her, Cassie wore a dejected expression that reflected every bit of her sour mood.
They turned a corner—
"Chin up!" Madam Piper yelled, as if she had eyes on the back of her head.
They turned another corner—
"Walk straight! One foot in front of the other!"
"Jesus fucking Christ," Cassie grumbled under her breath. "I know how to walk!"
"What did you say?" Madam Prick screeched ahead of her.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
"Nothing, ma'am," she scolded.
"Nothing, ma'am," Cassie repeated obediently before something clicked in her head. Wait a minute... "Shouldn't you be addressing me as 'Lady Cassandra' or 'm'lady'? Like everyone else?"
The woman immediately stopped in her tracks. When she spun around to face Cassie, her smile was twisted, her eyes narrowed in mockery. "Do you talk like a lady? Do you walk like a lady? Do you even sit like a lady?"
"Of course I can sit like a lady!" Oh, how she could sit. She was an expert at sitting in an office chair for ten hours a day.
Madam Piper responded with another snort before she turned again and continued on her way, ignoring the daggers that Cassie glared into her back.
YOU ARE READING
Bride to the Cursed: a Snow White retelling
Fantasía[COMPLETED] When a king makes an order, he expects it to be followed. When King Dane divorced his wife, he expected her to get out of his sight and stay out of his sight. Not reappear three months later in his bed, spouting nonsense about being a 'l...
