Bright One | Empire of Blood and Swords Series

10. Past

-10-
-Past-

I had a bath in one of the guest room that the maids made for me. They filled the bath with warm water and rose petals of different shade of colour. They didn't leave even when I stripped off my clothes.

"We're all women," one said and smiled.

I laid in the bath as they helped massage my aching shoulders. Seth got the maids for me. And he was the one who took me all the way to the guest room. He said his other siblings are training, but his uncles and aunts are still here. As long as I don't look anyone in the eye, it will be right.

"But it won't be," Saoirse said after we exited the Meeting Room. "We don't have guest over often, people will notice you. If you ever meet anyone, just tell 'em you're Seth's lover or whatever."

"Sister!" Sans cried. "You're so mean. I bet you've never—"

"Just take her to her room."

And that was how I ended up here. When I was done, they gave me a towel. I offered to wipe myself but they still wanted to help me. They were ordered to, they said. They had to do so or Princess Saoirse will be angry.

When they were done drying me, they handed me undergarments. It was wool, expensive, I couldn't afford that. But then again, this belongs to the royals, of course they could afford it. Then, I wore a sleeveless tunic on top of that. It was quite tight, I can't believe Saoirse and the others wear these all the time. The final piece of clothing was the gown. It was yellowish colour, with embroideries on it. It was beautiful. They braided my hair and tied it together on the crown.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror. The girl in the mirror was beautiful. Her hair was put up beautifully, her skin was smooth and glowing, she looked like royalty. But her eyes...they were the sea, thrashing and drowning everyone. I couldn't recognize myself anymore.

"My lady," the maid said. "The prince granted you permission to visit your human friend. Would you like to visit her?"

"Yes," I replied immediately. The last thing I want is to see her freaking out, alone with a bunch of strangers.

The maids opened the door for me when I could clearly open myself. I was shocked when standing outside my room was a man with blonde hair, his skin was pale but wasn't glowing like mine. Instead of wearing armor, he wore a brown tunic, with embroideries and a badge on. The maids bowed and left, clearly he is respected here.

We stood there in silence, he smiled warmly at me. I was starting to feel like I should be bowing, but he bowed first.

"My lady, I am Rubio, one of the generals," he said and smiled. "Would you like to visit your human friend?"

I nodded.

"I'm Odette," I replied.

He nodded. "I know. Follow me."

I walked beside him. I stared outside the windows, expecting to see the town but all I saw was a garden.

"Talk to me," he said. "You'll be seeing me more often than you will see the prince."

"I thought you were a general?"

"I am, but I often help with babysitting the royals." He gave a sheepish smile.

"But they're like...old," afraid to cause any offense, I quickly added to my sentence. "Old enough to take care of themselves, I mean."

"Yes, but they cause trouble a lot. Can't leave them alone unsupervised even for a few minutes. They fight, cause trouble, might as well be five year old children."