A crown of flames

Chapter 9

After spending the afternoon with Princess Alana , chatting and discussing the plan for the upcoming months Jeremiah is back at the door.

Alana had explained that whilst he's the head of staff , he was to be my handler for the duration of my stay.

Lucky me.

"Greetings , your highness and Miss Elide"

We nodded and said hi back.

"I have come to take you to the dining hall" he said.

I give Alana a puzzled look and she explained.

"It's where the non-royal residents of the palace eat , the members of the royal court and guests have lunch and dinner there"

"But aren't members of the royal court royal?"
i ask , confused.

"Yes and no , the are royal but not all of them noble enough to dine with the actual royal family , only my father's top 3 advisors would dine with us before he passed away but now my mother dismisses them , i suppose when my brother is king he will start eating there again and he will bring along Lysander , Milo and Willow"

I cringe and say "I'm throwing up on your behalf"

She laughs in agreement and then i ask "What about Jadiel?isn't he closer to your brother than Willow?"

"Oh no,Jadiel isn't Alex's.......favourite person in the world , but he's a good addition to the court because of his loyalty to the crown , he'd die to protect it , but friendship wise Alex isn't a huge fan of him , much to his dismay"

I nod recalling the prince's reference to Jadiel's loyalty.

Jeremiah clears his throat and me and Alana laughs realising we'd forgotten he was there.

I say my goodbyes and let Jeremiah escort me to the dining hall.

I force him to come to a halt a few minutes later and smile at my marvellous luck.

The sun was shining on me today after all.

I spot the servant from yesterday , the one who was lingering by the door , she must have been the one who put the rat in my cake on the prince's behalf.

She was walking down the corridor, holding a stack of neatly folded laundry,no doubt on laundry instead of kitchen duty today and when she sees me she almost drops what she's holding.

"Julia"Jeremiah snapped "Focus on what you're holding , i won't tolerate your foolishness much longer"

"Oh jeremiah leave her be i am sure julia has more important things on her mind" I say making a point to emphasise her name with a small smile.

"S-s-sorry head of staff" she stammered "it won't happen again" but her knees are trembling so hard she dropped the blankets.

Jeremiah sighs loudly and reaches down to help her pick them up but i stop him.

"Jeremiah please wait for me at the end of the corridor , i want to have a word with Julia"

Her eyes widen as she looks at pleadingly at Jeremiah , he looks hesitant but after a moment he says "very well" and walks away

I wait until he's out of hearing distance and then start.

"So julia mind telling me why you put a rat in my cake?"

"I d-didn't" she stammered

"Spare me the bullshit" i say, putting on a face i hoped was threatening.

"You are out of luck , i now know your name and i happen to be Princess Alana's esteemed guest , and your boss Jeremiah is my handler , i suggest you start talking if you want to keep your job"

It must have worked because she then burst out in tears.

"I am s-s-sorry" she bawled

"Stop it"i said disgusted at her display of emotions "speak to me" i demanded.

"The p-p-prince stopped visiting me"she said "I love him you see , he used to share my bed and then he just stopped , s-s-so when he asked me a favour i had to help him"

Ew.

"So the prince himself asked you to put a rat in my food,and you just did what he said knowing it would get you in trouble,why did you linger at the door and give me that smile if you didn't wanna be caught"

She scoffed , rubbing the tears away from her face.

"He said you'd be gone , that the rat would scare you away and you would go before you had a chance to discover it was me , he didn't give me much information so i just....."

"You what?"i snapped.

"I assumed he stopped seeing me because of you , and then you broke his heart so he was using me to get back at you , it was petty of me and stupid but i was glad to do it, I love him"

"Yeah you already said that" i reminded her.

She glared at me.

"But he doesn't love you"i say thoughtfully "He uses you for his dirty work and then tosses you aside like garbage"

"What are you getting at" she said , her knuckles white from how hard she was clutching the blankets.

"What i am getting at"i say slowly "is that maybe this is time for payback"

She blinks and then seems to considers my words.

"What do i have to do?"