Abditory

𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓹𝓵𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓭

I awoke to the cold polluted air.

At this point, I have shamefully learned to tune out the cries of men outside fighting for their lives.

I rolled around the width of my bed, finding it empty.

Keir was always gone by the time I had woken.

Granted, I do sleep half the day away. But the few times I had awoken early, I had only caught him on his way out.

He was an early riser.

Me?

Having to wake up was excruciating, especially when I am forced to wake at early hours.

I no longer felt the compulsion to wake at all.

Why should I have to experience a long day when I know I'm just going to spend it in misery? Sleep is my escape, literally.

I dream of leaving this all behind and starting a life somewhere new.

Everyone around me is filled with hate and I can't stand it anymore.

I'm filled with hate.

I hate my father, I hate my kingdom, I hate my life.

It's pathetic.

I want to be strong. I want to kick my ass for being so whiny, but there is absolutely nothing I can do but run away.

I have seen a side of the Eldorian people that I have never seen before, and it is vicious.

My people hate me. There's nothing I can do but run.

I rolled my eyes and removed myself from the glue of my overused bed.

My head was beating with the pain of my over-slumber.

The afternoon air was chilly against my skin. I begrudgingly forced myself across the hall into a hot shower.

I felt superficial dressing myself in fine silks and chiffon dresses, so I settled on a plain cloth corset and a long flexible skirt.

My father is dead against me wearing any long pants. He said I make a mockery of him with my poor manners as a lady.

He demanded that all the maids take the dressing pants from my wardrobe as a permanent punishment.

I never wore a pretty frilly dress again after that. I settled for long skirts and minimal tops that let me move around as I wanted.

My father still rolls his eyes whenever he sees how I'm dressed.

I once overheard him telling his 2nd in command how I looked like a 'lady of the night' in my scrappy clothes.

The officer noticed me listening and gave me a wink.

I try and avoid his quarters as much as I can.

Once dressed I snuck out to bother the ladies in the kitchen.

When my mother was queen, the kitchen was split into different chefs' quarters. We had a beautiful bakery, a kitchen for all the meat and one for the vegetables. The cooking staff would muster up these divine dishes. The smell alone was enough to make my mouth water.

Now the kitchen is quite bare. The staff here is only made up of Hyrath women, all the Hyrath men had been forced to join my father's army and the Eldorians were forcefully kicked out.

Despite hating my father, the lovely women in the kitchen were very kind to me.

They've kept me company throughout my recent lazy days.

I hang around and talk, sometimes they even let me cook.

Though the food they make for the kingdom isn't what it use to be, it is still quite delicious.

I skipped into the kitchen with newfound adrenaline.

"Hi Margret," I said to the older motherly cook standing by a boiling pot on the stove.

"Oh hi Calle darling. Nice to see you finally up." she teased,

I rolled my eyes and threw on an apron ready to contribute anything to help their rather large workload.

"Where can I start?" I asked.

Margaret smiled at me gratefully and gestured over to one of the younger girls by a stack of cabbage. "Help young Keziah over there with the cabbage portioning."

Keziah perked up and gave me a shy smile.

I smiled back at the young girl and started chopping the cabbage down to little strands that I assume would be going into a soup.

Nowadays, all the kingdom could afford to make was a cabbage soup, blood sausages or a stew with both.

When war erupted, the Eldorians cleverly took back their farmlands first as they knew that without them, our resources would be limited. None of the Hyrath have experienced farmers so we were pretty lost for a while, but over time we steadied ourselves with enough to sustain the kingdom from famine.

Most of what we made went to the Hyrath army. My father ordered that they had 4-course meals every day to nourish them to their fullest potential.

That means that these poor ladies were stuck in here every day cooking nonstop for hours on end.

So I stayed with these hard-working girls, chopping pounds of lettuce and cooking smelly sausages for the day. I even enjoyed it a bit too.

My father didn't really care what I did as long as I was out of his way, so I was able to stay in the kitchen all day if I wanted to.

Margret the head of the kitchen was very paranoid though, so after about 5 hours of labour she sent me away.

I tried telling her it was ok but she told me that she received news the king wanted me for dinner.

I huffed out angrily and walked away from her silently.

Always this man disrupting anything that gave me the smallest sense of joy.

I ran up to my chamber and washed the stink of poultry off my clothes. I didn't need more headaches from this man. Although I'm sure I'm about to get another one.

The older strict maid my father had appointed to my chambers had laid out a silly blue dress on my bed for me to throw on.

I kept my regular clothes on under the dress so I could strip as soon as I was done with dinner.

I allowed Maisal the head maid into my chamber so she could make sure actually put on the dress she had laid out.

I also allowed her to pull my wild curly hair into a Victorian-style updo leaving me looking somewhat tame.

Before I left she approached me and pinched my cheeks leaving behind a soft pink blush. "do not test your father's patience today." she warned. "He's extra cross lately Calenthe."

I thanked her and reluctantly travelled to the dining hall to have dinner with my dear old dad.