One and only

Chapter two

-An: shorter chapter!! Wrote this one in between OR cases at work...gays in healthcare unite!!-

The castle staff is absolutely bustling over the next week as they rush to prepare for the king's esteemed guests. It seems all Laura had done was run back and forth through the castle, polishing, and dusting, and sweeping, until she felt as if she could do it in her sleep. Though truthfully she did not mind that she was being kept busy. It kept her from dwelling on the conversation she had with princess Eloise just a few days earlier...and how she cried on her shoulder...and begged her to stay with her...
"Watch it, Elis!" Laura was quickly brought out of her thoughts as she narrowly avoided walking into another maid carrying a stack of boxes.
"Sorry Lizzie! Here, let me help you with that!" She took a few boxes from her very full hands.
"What's got you walking around in such a daze, huh? You're not usually the clumsy type.." Lizzie asks suspiciously. She was about as good a friend as you could get around here, but she had an innate love for gossip...
"Oh well, I suppose I'm just tired from all this extra work..." Replies Laura, telling only a half lie. Lizzie lets out a soft hum in understanding, thankfully not catching on to the fact that there was more to Laura's story.
"I know it's a lot of extra work but...I can't help but be a bit excited for the Duke and his family to arrive...it's been a while since something interesting has happened around this stuffy castle, you know?" She asks with a smirk.
"Totally...nothing good ever happens around here." Laura replies unenthusiastically. In reality she wished that the duke would just shove off and take all of Eloise's problems with him as he went. The two girls hand the boxes off to the kitchen staff, who take them down the stairs to presumably be used in some kind of grand welcoming feast. 
"Who knows...the duke might even bring some handsome noblemen who would fancy themselves a pretty maid!" Lizzie says as she grabs Laura's hand excitedly.
"Perhaps so..." She replies as she tries her best to paint on a convincing smile. Truly the thought filled her with only dread. Nothing sounded worse than the prospect of serving some stuck up rich man for the rest of her life...it was like being a maid, only you didn't get paid.
"Laura! I need your help for a moment!"
"Coming!" Laura responds quickly, thankful to have any excuse to get out of this conversation. She turns to the source of the voice and is surprised to see Princess Eloise standing behind her...her arms are crossed and she has an almost...annoyed? expression on her face.
"I'll catch up to you later Lizzie." Laura says, giving her a polite smile.
"You better, Elis!" She responds, finally dropping her hand. Eloise turns around and begins to walk away without saying a word. Laura follows behind her, extremely confused at her strange behavior.
"Do you need something princess? She asks as Eloise leads her into the vacant library. It had been a few days since they last spoke, but she looked as beautiful as ever. She had a light pink bow tied into her hair that matched her flowy pink dress.
"You haven't spoken to me in three days..." Eloise responds, her arms crossed across her chest.
"Well you know I've been incredibly busy this week..."
"Well you seem to have enough time to talk to that little maid friend of yours." she responds, throwing her a vicious glare. Laura scrunches her eyebrows in confusion as she regards the girl...could it be that she's feeling...jealous?
"My lady, I just happened to bump into her, that's all."
"And you just happened to lovingly grab her hand as you bumped into her?" She asked as she took a step closer to her. Laura looked down at her incredulously...she couldn't really be serious, right?
"Well actually she grabbed my hand, you know I prefer not to engage in physical contact." She states flatly.
"Hmph." Eloise huffs out dramatically as she turns her head away. Laura lets out an exasperated sigh as she takes Eloise's hands in her own.
"My lady...are you really getting jealous just because someone else held my hand...?" Eloise whipped her head around to stare at their interlocked fingers. She let out another small huff before replying.
"No...why would a princess be jealous of a lowly maid..." Laura cocked her eyebrow at her, clearly unconvinced.
"Alright, well since you are clearly not concerned with 'lowly maids'..." Laura pulls her hand from Eloise's grasp.
"No, wait!" Eloise exclaims, quickly taking both of Laura's hands pulling her closer. "Perhaps I was a bit jealous...you are supposed to be my friend...not hers.." She mumbles, her gaze cast down at their interlocked hands shyly. Laura lets out a soft chuckle at her admission.
"You can be friends with more than one person at a time, you know that right?"
"But I don't want you to be closer to anyone than you are to me..." Eloise admits very innocently. Laura looks away shyly as she considers what the princess just said. She doesn't seem to quite understand the implications that statement had...
"Look at me." Eloise demands suddenly. Her voice sounded uncharacteristically stern and commanding, Laura couldn't help thinking how much she sounds like her mother...
"I said look at me." She repeats, this time forcing Laura's chin up to look at her. A light blush spreads across her cheeks as Laura meets her cool gaze. This is a side of Eloise that she is not used to...and she would be lying if she said it didn't make her a bit nervous.
"Do you care for her...? More than me?" Eloise asks, gazing into her eyes unwaveringly. Laura pauses for a brief moment as she struggles to find her voice.
"No, of course not." She responds honestly, meeting her gaze. Eloise continues to scan her face for a moment before finally dropping her chin. Laura lets out a breath she didn't even realize she had been holding.
"Good...you're mine..." Eloise mumbles as she pulls Laura into a tight hug. Laura wrapped her arms around her slowly as she struggled to recover from the whiplash of the princess's emotions. She had never heard her take that cold tone before...especially not with her. Laura wondered why it had made her feel so nervous...
"You're very cute when you blush, you know." Eloise states with a grin.
"I wasn't blushing...I was just worried you were going to order the guards to lock me in the dungeon over your jealousy..." replies Laura, trying her best to compose herself. Eloise chuckles lightly.
"I would never lock you away! That other maid however..."
"Alright alright that's enough!" Laura responds, the corners of her lips turning up involuntarily as she tries not to laugh. Eloise pulls back from the hug and looks up at Laura with a big grin on her face.
"It's okay you can laugh, it was funny."
"It's not funny to joke about abusing your royal powers on an innocent girl..."Laura replies, chuckling despite her words.
"Tch she's hardly innocent...trying to touch what's mine..." That cold dark look returns to her eyes...it makes Laura shudder involuntarily.
"How are you feeling about...things." Laura asks awkwardly, trying to gauge how Eloise feels without making her too upset. Eloise lets out a soft sigh.
"Well I feel very...conflicted." Laura quirks her eyebrow curiously.
"Conflicted, my lady?" Eloise nods her head slowly as she stares past Laura, seemingly lost in her own thoughts.
"I detest the prospect of marriage to some stranger...but..." She begins fiddling with her fingers as she looks away.
"My mother and father...have never spoken to me so kindly before...as they have been for the past few days. They speak of how important I am...and how important my marriage is to the kingdom..." Laura sets her jaw as she listens to the princess's words. Her parents would usually not give her the time of day, but now all of a sudden since they can use her to their benefit they want to act like they care...and poor Eloise couldn't help but fall for it. Eloise pulls herself out of her thoughts as she regards Laura's rigid posture.
"Of course I know they wish me to do well, and serve the kingdom...but still...it feels nice to be appreciated...to be seen." Laura's face softens slightly as she listens to the princess's admittance...she wishes desperately that it wouldn't take her marriage to have her parents see how wonderful and special she really was.
"Well that's good your highness...it seems that your parents are finally seeing you for the mature woman that you are." Laura replies with a weak smile, swallowing back all the things she really wants to say. Eloise looks up at her with a wide smile.
"Perhaps they finally are..." The two women look at each other for a moment...unspoken words hanging heavily in the air. Suddenly their silence is cut through by the loud ringing of the clock, signaling that it was time to begin preparations for dinner.
"Well...it was good to see you my lady, but I'm afraid I must go." Laura states with a polite bow. Eloise regards her for a moment before pulling her into another tight hug.
"Do not make me have to fight for your attention again, miss Elis." She whispers against her neck. Laura lets out a slight shudder as she feels the princess's breath brush against her skin.
"Of course not...my lady." She replies, quickly straightening up and flashing her a small smile. She bowed politely once more before turning to exit the library. The whole time she could feel the princess's eyes on her back.

An: did you peep the atla reference...?