Royal Rebellion ~ Slave to the High Royals

Chapter One

I was too young the first time my father disappeared.

The memory of that day was seared into my mind. The emotions that had flooded me the moment I saw my mother's distraught expression, the tears I had cried for weeks on end as my mother begged for him to come back to us, and the finality of the realisation that he would never come back.

Those same events were repeating themselves again as I lay alone in the slave quarters. What made it worse was the fact that my mother now wasn't with me either. She was at home, blissfully unaware that her husband had never died, not all of those years ago. Instead, he'd suffered a brutal death in front of my very eyes.

''Violet, are you in here?'' Rose's familiar voice echoed throughout our bedroom. It was strange to be the only slaves left. The others had chosen to escape and been successful as the Queen had been too sickly absorbed in snapping my father's neck in two to pay them any attention.

I scrambled up to a sitting position, swiping at my cheeks to rid them of the traitorous tracks of tears. Rose knew what I was going through, but that didn't mean it was acceptable for me to be an emotional wreck all of the time.

''Yeah, I'm in here.'' I called, my voice cracking slightly.

She entered the room, her eyes instantly landing on me as she made her way passed all of the empty beds, ''Good, I was beginning to wonder if you'd already left me.'' She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

Both of us had been through too much.

''Not yet. I better go soon though, or I'll miss my chance.'' I pushed myself up from my inviting mattress as Rose's eyes followed my movements.

She sighed, flopping backwards onto her bed and rubbing her tired eyes, ''Be careful.'' Those were her parting words to me.

I didn't blame her; this had become a sort of routine over the past two weeks. During the day both myself and Rose were worked to the bone, having taken up any of the jobs we could around the mansion. With us being the only two slaves remaining, the High Royals had been ruthless in forcing us to do as much as our frail human bodies would allow, leaving us completely drained in the process.

My hatred for the King and Queen was growing each and every day; my only solace being in the one vampire that I'd grown to trust and even love over my time of slavery.

Aiden.

He was the very reason why I was about to sneak through the mansion in the hopes that we could see each other again, without all others keeping tabs on our actions. Luckily, due to the lack of slaves and the massive expanse of the mansion, I was confident in my ability to get from the slave quarters to Aiden's room unnoticed.

That was until Millie literally popped up out of nowhere and scared the life out of me.

''Oops, sorry. I always forget that you humans can't hear us coming.'' Her cheery voice echoed down the hall, the noise probably alerting the other vampires in the vicinity that a human was out wondering around when they shouldn't be.

''Millie, please don't draw attention.'' I whispered, shuffling away from her as she watched me quizzically.

We were stood in the middle of the main foyer, a grand room that had succumbed me to silence when I'd first laid eyes upon it. Now, it seemed that its original extravagance had been tainted by the memories linked to those who resided in the mansion.

''Why's that?'' Her eyebrows were drawn together as she frowned, sussing me out, ''Actually, what are you doing out of your room at this time?''

I groaned, my tense shoulders slumping at her questioning gaze, ''I'm going to see my Master.'' I decided using his formal title would be the best way to tackle this, with Millie's thought processes, calling Aiden by his name would be very suggestive.