The Dragon Princess

Chapter Five

Annamaria spent the next few days working her way nearer and nearer to the prince's kingdom's capital as she finalized her assassination plot.

When she finally reached the capital, she found that she was in luck - there was a position available in the castle's maid staff. She immediately applied, sneaking some alcohol into the head maid's tea as they chatted so that by the end of the interview, the wobbling woman was signing Annamaria onto her team while slurring about "the good old days."

The next morning, the woman would wake with no memory of hiring the strange maid who began working under her command, but her pounding headache would be too great to pay any mind to the incident.

The next month passed slowly and boringly. Annamaria worked harder than she had ever worked before. Her knees were eternally bruised from scrubbing floors and she had a constant layer of grime that even the maids' biweekly bath couldn't purge. Her elbows began to creak from bending to scrub every surface in the castle, and the skin of her fingers and palms were eternally rubbed raw, sometimes to the point of bleeding. Every night, she collapsed into her rock hard bed with a groan of pain, and spent the night in a twilight zone of suffering and regret.

But she was not too regretful, for she was quite lucky, all things regarded. After all, only a month after being employed into the castle maid staff, Annamaria was promoted to cleaning the royal bedrooms.

Annamaria had fantasized about killing the prince the way other girls would fantasize about their weddings. She had considered every possible option, weighing them all in her head and wondering which would be best. Although poison would be the easiest and safest, she finally had had to admit that there was a burning desire within her to watch the evildoer die, knowing it was by her hand as he choked on his own blood.

Yes, murdering him by hand - that was the way it would have to be done.

The morning of her first day as a promoted maid, Annamaria rose early, threw back her blanket, and dug in a slit she had made in the side of her mattress until she pricked her finger on what she was searching for - the one weapon she had been able to smuggle into the castle: a wickedly curved dagger. She strapped its sheath to her thigh, letting her thick maid skirts fall to conceal it, and bustled out of her room with a whistle on her lips.

Annamaria was the picture of innocence. She had been honing her acting skills for years, after all, to hide her true identity as a long-missing princess. This morning, she had a spring in her step as she hurried through the castle halls, lifting a hand in greeting as she passed her fellow maids and lowering her eyes as she murmured words of respect when her path crossed that of a nobleman's or woman's. In this manner, she reached the royal bedrooms unhindered.

She hastened in cleaning out the bedrooms belonging to the king and his queen, his two eldest sons, and his youngest child - a daughter that was barely cresting her preteen years. Annamaria felt a momentary flash of guilt that they would all be losing a son and brother today - and then remembered what kind of person the prince was, what he had done to Eclipse.

Her resolve, if possible, hardened even further.

Finally, she completed the royal family's bedrooms, all but one. She meandered into the prince's room and took her sweet time cleaning up, praying to whatever gods were listening that he would arrive while she was in the room.

Even with her training and reflexes, Annamaria jumped when the prince barreled into his bedroom, stopping short at the sight of her.

"Hello," he said slowly, the word drawn out as he surveyed her, and disgust crawled over Annamaria's skin, something she hurriedly tried to mask. She turned slowly to face him.

The prince's brow furrowed at the sight of her face. "Do I know you?"

Trying to keep her expression as neutral as possible despite the fury that burned within her, Annamaria crossed the room and reached behind him, getting unnecessarily close to him to shut the bedroom door. His eyebrows raised as she tried not to gag.

Annamaria curled her toes in her slippers. Do it for Eclipse. Slowly, she raised her mouth to meet the prince's, stopping just short of his lips. She moved her head to the right slightly so her lips brushed the prince's ear as she spoke, surreptitiously hefting up her skirts to grab her dagger.

"I guess I just have one of those...faces." She smiled coldly as the prince shivered ever so slightly. Letting her skirt drop as she had retrieved her weapon, she adjusted her grip on the dagger's hilt at her side.

"I mean, isn't it every day that you murder helpless dragons?" she continued idly.

The prince stiffened as if he had been electrocuted. "What?"

Annamaria stepped back back and drove the dagger into his chest with all of her might.

The prince's jaw dropped and his eyes widened, but he made no sound. His hands raised to feebly scrabble at the dagger buried to its hilt in his rib-cage. The ex-princess's stab had been deadly and true. Perfect.

Annamaria's lips twisted into a cruel grin, only her white-knuckled grip on the dagger's hilt keeping the prince upright. "This is for James" - she twisted the dagger - "and me" - she twisted it slightly again - "and Eclipse." She ripped the dagger in a full circle and tugged it easily from the prince's chest, breathing heavily. He crumpled to the floor, blood starting to pool underneath him.

Annamaria stared down at his lifeless body with cold satisfaction. Do-gooders say that isn't supposed to feel good, she noted idly, but that certainly did.

She lifted her skirt, slid her dagger back into its hilt, and made her escape via the window.

Annamaria would have to keep low for several months, possibly years. On the rare chance that the prince was truly that important to his kingdom or people, she would likely have to change her appearance, living a hidden life for the rest of her existence.

But she would live it with James, once he had fledged into a full dragon. She would carry on Eclipse's legacy by teaching James all that she knew. 

Finally, the thought of her best friend didn't physically hurt Annamaria.

After all, her friend's soul was finally at peace.