Behind Golden Bars {Solangelo Neko/Royalty AU}

3: Until, Of Course, Everything Changes

Throw yourself into the unknown
With pace and a fury defiant

Clothe yourself in beauty untold
And see life as a means to a triumph

Today, of all days, see
How the most dangerous thing is to love

How you will heal and you'll rise above
Crowned by an overture bold and beyond

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NPOV

Track: Achilles Come Down, Gang of Youths

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The Thirteenth of September, Five Minutes To Noon...

Strangely, my to-do list is different today than it normally is. In general, I am kept mostly on the lower floors—the royal family does not like for nekos to be seen within the castle, and nobility mostly like to stay on the upper floors in order to access the best views.

I start my shift at noon—and then I work through the rest of the day and night until the sun rises again. The king claims that my kind do not need as much rest as humans do. He's not correct, but fear keeps me awake on days when the sleep is not enough.

So, as usual, I head to the lead servant's office—her name is Hera, and she's the sort of woman who always seems to need a break from everything but never ends up getting one. She's human, so she doesn't work as many hours as I do, but she seems to at least realize that my hours are ridiculous, and occasionally she'll apologize for the king's actions.

Today is one of those days. When I push open the door with gloved hands, she is sitting inside her office writing away, putting together some letter. She looks up when she hears me enter.

"Oh," she greets. "Hello. I've got your task list. Sorry about another long day for you, Nico. King's orders, you understand—are you holding up alright?"

"I am always fit to serve His Majesty," I respond automatically—we've had this conversation hundreds of times.

"You look less tired than normal, at least," she informs me, and I'm a little surprised. I didn't get any more sleep last night than I usually do. Perhaps it was yesterday's mandatory break that the prince ordered? It was nice to step away from work and do something enjoyable for once.

"You're probably going to need that today, anyway," she continues. "King Apollo has given notice that tonight he will be checking in on, uh, your...level of the hierarchy—" I want to roll my eyes. Just say nekos. "—to determine who will be allowed to continue work here—apparently, he's planning to replace some of...your staff with human staff. Don't miss that, alright? It'll be at eight o'clock in the nekos' quarters. Attendance is mandatory." As she speaks, she rifles through the papers on her desk until she finds a handwritten list of chores that I'm responsible for, and she holds it out to me.

"Thank you for informing me, ma'am," I say, reaching out to take my to-do list from her. The king himself showing up to fire an unknown number of us does not sound good. I am in the best-ranking servants, though—with the exception of yesterday, I never slack off or break any rules—

I nod at her and turn around to leave.

—and since Will has been using my work as a coping mechanism, we've finished a lot of my night work at double the regular speed, and no one knows that I'm getting help. I can never be perfectly confident in these sorts of things, but so long as the king doesn't plan to fire the entire staff—