Maid For You

Chapter 40

The only thing that would have perfected the cliché of this moment was if I had said to the Prince, the queen is standing right behind me, isn't she?

Queen Klara had to have heard me call her son a big dummy, and even worse, refer to her as the "freaking" queen.

She was examining me carefully. The queen looked to be in her forties, yet still undeniably beautiful. Her tall stature combined with slender shoulders, a pretty face, raven hair, and glittering green eyes all added to her beauty; her aura commanding respect.

I clumsily dropped into a low bow, and mumbled, "Your majesty."

"You have yet to introduce to me to this young woman, Coleman." Queen Klara still eyed me.

"This is Cassandra Carmichael, Mom. Though she usually goes by Cassie. She's my maid, that's all," he answered casually. "Though today, she is acting as my butler since I gave Lucas the day off."

Her eyebrow rose and a hint of a smile crossed her face. She again addressed her son, and I heard my name and the name "Lucas" in there somewhere, but as for the rest I had no idea what she said. She was speaking another language.

"Mama!" Prince Coleman cried in response, flustered. "Hör auf!"

Whatever was going on in this conversation was apparently pretty funny, because the Queen starting laughing.

"I apologize, Miss Cassie." Her eyes glinted and her mouth quirked up in an amused smile. In that moment I saw quite a resemblance between the Prince and his mother. "I have excluded you from our conversation. But I do so love to tease Coleman, and I'm kind enough to sometimes do so in German rather than English."

Suddenly I grinned. Queen Klara seemed different to me than my initial, intimidating impression of her.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance at last, Miss Cassie. I've heard a fair bit about you, and so far you are living up to what I expected." The Queen's eyes gleamed.

I looked at the Prince, to which he immediately cried, "I don't know how she heard about you! I certainly don't waste my time talking about you!"

"My handmaiden, Alexandria, keeps me informed about new servants, and of course my interest was piqued to find that Coleman had gotten a new maid. Rumor has it that you two met in Embryia."

"My parent's own a Souvenir Shop in the Capitol, and Prince Coleman met me there," I explained.

"Clearly you made quite the impression, Miss Cassie." Though the Queen spoke to me, she was looking at Prince Coleman.

"Mutti! Hör auf! Du blamierst mich noch!" His face twisted with irritation.

"Warum so peinlich, Coleman?" The Queen smirked.

Why did I take Spanish in school? I thought. Clearly, German would have been more useful.

Finally, after their squabble I couldn't understand, the Queen left us to finish her preparations for the tea, leaving her son in quite a mood.

"The Queen was much nicer than I thought," I told him with a smile.

"My mother's a twit, that's what."

"I liked her a lot," I grinned.

"Of course you did." He rolled his eyes. "You never know what nonsense she is going to say."

"Well, it seems most of her nonsense must have been spoken in German."

"And thank the heavens for that!"

"By the way, I had no idea you spoke German fluently!" I said.

"I speak five languages fluently." 

"Five!" My eyes widened. "Is that even possible!?"

"Of course it is, stupid. Maybe not for a simpleton like you, but it is for me!"

"I'm not a simpleton...I just don't happen to be naturally gifted with foreign languages!" I retorted. "And what do you even need five languages for? Seems excessive." I crossed my arms bitterly, refusing to admit the impressiveness of his linguistic skills by devaluing the necessity for them.

"Not excessive when you're a Prince, little maid."

"Butler." I corrected. "I'm your butler."

Tea time finally arrived, the ladies primped and perfected. We entered the ornate tea room, where Queen Klara sat at a beautiful round table with a warm smile on her face. I recognized her handmaiden, Alexandria, standing behind with a pot of tea at the ready.

"Welcome, ladies, son." She smiled warmly and gestured to the seats beside her. "Please, come take a seat."

Prince Coleman sat on the Queen's right, and Lady Madeline on her left. Queen Klara motioned for Alexandria to begin pouring tea for the guests, and I stood at attention by the door like Prince Coleman had instructed me to do, silently watching the scene play out before me.

"Lady Madeline." The Queen spoke gently and kindly. "Your dress looks so wonderful, it really brings out the blue in your eyes."

"Thank you, your majesty. Your compliment is of the highest value to me." She beamed.

"Of course." Queen Klara's smile grew, and her sharp emerald eyes dazzled with mischief. "It is so refreshing to see you in clothing for a change, Lady Madeline; I do hope you continue to wear some in the future."

Two faces turned beet-red. Madeline's, whose horror and embarrassment at the comment could not be contained by all her years of Ladylike practice, and mine, whose face was so red from holding in my laughter. Prince Coleman looked un-phased, and if anything, somewhat amused.

"She comes to our pool from time to time," Queen Klara explained, addressing the two other ladies. With their back turned to me, I could only imagine Serena Richie's and Lady Anne's expressions.

"Queen Klara..." Lady Anne was apparently eager to change the subject. "How is the planning for the Autumn Festival going?"

"Oh, it's all going wonderfully. Though, I still have to decide who I want to be the Queen's Maiden," she answered. "Who knows? It could be someone in this very room."

Each woman sat a little straighter.

"Or not." Her lip quirked to the side. "We shall see."

What is the "Queen's Maiden?" I wondered.

"Oh, we mustn't be so inconsiderate of our other guest here." Suddenly Queen Klara locked eyes with me. "Miss Cassie, you must be wondering what the Queen Maiden is."   

Author's note

We've hit 10k reads!  Thank you so much for your support!

Also, if the German in this chapter was incorrect, I apologize!  I don't speak any German, so I just looked up the words and hoped for the best.  If you speak fluent German and recognized a lot of flaws in the translation...uh...just pretend that it is perfect!