Stay with me // dreamnotfound

004.

Somewhere along the way, one of his chores had started to include waking up the king and making sure he got properly dressed. It sounded absolutely ridiculous, and that's because it was. He had never seen such a big baby before, and it felt like he was taking care of a child. But according to the workers in the castle, it was something by tradition that needed to be done.

So at five in the morning, he entered the room which belonged to the king and opened up the curtains, awakening him in the worst way he could think of without getting in trouble for it, and barking at him to get up. The king, obviously annoyed, did as told without complaint. It almost felt like he already was awake whenever he got in anyway, and just wanted to be alone. But traditions are traditions, right? This morning was no different.

"Good Morning, my king." He said before pulling away the curtains from the window, revealing the sun which was barely illuminating the sky. It was such a lovely sight, something he missed after leaving home. He wished he could run outside and watch the sunrise, like he used to do back in the flower field. It was the best thing he knew of, and now he may never experience it again.

The king sat up, already awake like usual, sad eyes looking over the room and towards his servant which showed clear signs of distraught. However, there was nothing he could do to help the other man.

The servant got his clothes for the day, and the king waved him off once he tried to get him into the silky shirts and pants. He could only sigh in relief of that, the closer he was to the king, the worse he felt. If he could, he would stay as far away from him as possible, even travel to the end of the world if that's what it would take. He was glad that the king could dress himself, though. One less thing for him to do.

The king took his robe, flung it over his shoulders before glancing in the mirror. Behind him stood the other man, watching his every move with strands of hair falling over his face. Once he would've been such a beautiful person, and the king could almost picture it in front of him. Now, however, that skin was scarred. It was almost as if he could still see the blood staining him. The servant took notice of his glance, and walked out the door.

Today, the king had told him he would need to clean up in the kitchen and cook. Why that was something the king felt necessary for him to do, was unclear. There were already people working in the kitchen for chores like these, but he did not complain. He did not want to spend a second more than he had to with the king, and so he walked down the hall and down the staircase towards the kitchen.

When he entered the kitchen, it was already in movement. There was one girl down there which he had already talked to, her name was Niki. She was sweet, although he sensed that there was something about her that she was not telling. She was definitely plotting something, but so was everyone else in this god forsaken castle.

"Hello Niki." He greeted her as he stepped inside, and she quickly turned around to face the new servant. She smiled, in her hands resting a mountain of different kinds of bowls. She looked tired, and busy. But so was life here, and it sucked. But it was just to grit your teeth and pull yourself together and force yourself through it.

"Oh! Hi there, I wasn't aware you would be joining us today?" She tilted her head to the side, and he had to scoff at that. "The king always needs me for something, it seems like." She put down all the bowls on the counter, opening one of the cupboards and placing them inside carefully.

She was really nice, and he had met her just the day before by accident. She had been running to deliver a letter to the one of the men who made sure that everything worked as properly in the castle. Her path crossed his and the kings, and the king had asked her why she was in such a hurry. Apparently, an animal had managed to get into the kitchen and had disrupted their work, causing quite the commotion and making all of their bowls fall out of their cupboards.

"Ha, yes, ever since the former king died he has been acting strangely, you know? I'm not shocked he is bossing you around. Must be weird to be new, is my guess." She closed the cupboard and cleared her hands off on the apron she was wearing. The servant quickly went to grab the other bowls stacked by the other end of the room, the wood still warm from being washed. He almost felt like he needed to take some of his clothes off since it was so warm here, fire sparkling and lots of people moving around at all times.

Another woman walked inside, her hair a lot thicker than Niki's straight and short hair. It was almost impressive how fluffy it looked, brown but almost bleached blonde like his was. She was very obviously strong, the muscles showing themselves through the simplicity of her clothes. She did not look to be the normal kitchen maiden, instead she looked like she worked on a farm. He made a mental note to ask her about it someday.

"Is that the new guy?" She asked, putting down a wet towel on the table which resided in the middle of the new and pointed towards the servant. Niki nodded. "Yes, it is. He is supposed to help us down here." She responded, and the new one hummed in response. Maybe that was a good sign?

"You can call me Puffy, nice to finally meet you. The other guy was such a dick, you know?" She laughed, starting to rub the table of any dirt that may lay collected there. He himself went to hang up some of the newly picked herbs to dry. "Nice to meet you, Puffy, I'm-"

"Wait a minute, don't you have to be in the morning meetings? I just saw the rest walk upstairs before coming in." She cut him off. The servant's face paled, and he felt how fear rose inside of his chest as he remembered the king's words from a few days prior. They rang inside his head and reminded him that no matter what, he would have to be in that room together with the king during their meetings.

"Fuck." He said before turning on his heel, and he almost thought he could hear a "fuck indeed" getting muttered behind him as he ran out, quickly making his way back upstairs to make it to the meeting. He had never missed it before, but the king had also never dismissed him before a meeting either. He had barely even made it downstairs, was this his intention? Did he want him to miss it?

He could see the door which led to their usual meeting room, and it was closed.

For a second, he stood in disbelief at what he was witnessing. He had missed it, they must have just entered the room, right? Was it too late? He could still sneak inside right? The king must understand the situation. Slowly, he walked towards the door.

His heart was pounding in his chest, making him aware of the blood flooding through his body rapidly. It almost hurt, how hard it beat inside of him. The anxiety was filling him up, and he prayed to god that the king would not throw him back in the dungeon for this.

His hand rested on top of the handle, and then he slowly pushed it down.

All eyes turned to him, but not everyone was seated yet so it couldn't have started. The king sat in his usual spot, his eyes narrowed on his servant which had turned up late for their meeting. He was not sure if he was mad or not, because for the first time in forever the king was not revealing his thoughts or feelings in his eyes. That can't be good.

"Good, I was wondering where you went. We will have to talk about this later." And with those words, he stepped inside and stood in his usual corner, watching as the higher ups talked over the daily news and what orders they were supposed to follow today. The servant hung his head, fearing the worst. From time to time, the king glanced over him, and he did not look pleased.

If he hurried, he could end it before the king would.