Serendipity ✔

VII

"Come on skinny love, what happened here?"

♫ Skinny Love - Birdy ♫

♛

"Alexander," his mother gasped, standing up. Annabelle had to guess they had not seen their son the whole day. She could not blame him for not wanting to leave his room. If she could, she would have done the exact same thing.

"Good evening." The prince had said in a chill tone.  Annabelle kept her gaze to the plates, arranging them and rearranging them. She was afraid that if she would to look at him, she would lose all her composure. 

For now, she was focused on keeping her trembling hands in order.

The prince sat down at the table, merely sparing a glance at the young maid that was setting the plates. "Where have you been, Alexander?" his father asked in worry.

"Where has he been?" Queen Katherine turned her head to her husband. "He was in his room all day, was he not?"

"No." Prince Alexander said simply, taking a sip of his tea. The atmosphere around him was dark and gloomy. Even though Annabelle did not dare to look at him, she could feel his energy was low. 

"Where were you, then?" Her Majesty urgently asked.

The prince cleared his throat and once again, his voice was neutral and low, "I was looking for her."

Annabelle's poor heart could not take being near him any more than she already was and not grab his hand and touch him. 

"Is there anything I can do for you, Your Majesties?" she asked politely, but not before she changed her voice up a bit so that she sounded like a country lass. It was not hard for her to do so, because she grew up with that accent. 

"You can go ahead, Miss." King Adam had said, while his wife was looking at the prince rather sternly. She started to leave but not before she stole a brief glance towards the prince. 

He was discreetly looking at her, as well. 

  ♛  

Annabelle could barely catch a breath that night. Her mind kept reliving the moments where the prince held her hand and danced with her. And, the moments where he came so close as to kiss her. 

And, oh, she could not forget the look on his face when she left the dining hall earlier. He was so emotionless that when he looked at her, she felt like he was looking through her. 

Not getting much sleep, Annabelle got up very early that morning. She started doing chores around the castle, in hopes of keeping her mind occupied. She double wiped the windows and cleaned the nonexistent dust from the pewter statues before the sun had fully risen and everyone had gotten up.

The young maid was in the garden when Madam Mary finally found her and informed her of the recent news. The prince had fled the castle to look for the princess once more.

Annabelle's brown eyebrows furrowed in a deep frown.  

"You ought to tell him, young lady," Madam Mary tried to give her advice, but Annabelle just shook her head. 

"What should I tell him, Madam Mary? That he did not dance with a princess but a maid?"

Madam Mary gave the girl a warm embrace and said, "The truth will come out sooner or later, sweet Anna."

 "Not if I try so very hard to hide it."

  ♛  

The prince laid in his bed in a sleepless slumber once again. It seemed ages ago since he had a good night's sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he dreamed of the beautiful princess in the crimson dress. Her eyes was as green as the first time he saw them and her lips were full and red. In his dreams, he always got close to kissing her just to watch her turn around and run away, just like she already did in real life. 

Groaning in frustration, the prince let his feet touch the cold ground of his room. He needed to wander around in the castle for a bit to catch a breath.

Taking a candelabra from the table, he opened the door and made his way through the many hallways. Somewhere along the way, a big draft came from one of the open windows. The prince's only source of light suddenly disappeared and he was all alone in the dark castle.

On the other side of the castle, a young maid could not sleep either. She either felt too hot or too cold. Having enough of that, she decided to step into the silent night.

The moon shined as bright as ever through the castle windows, making Annabelle reminisce of the time she had been with the prince. She frowned and leaned against the window. If the circumstances were different, if she was not a maid but a princess, she would have never ran away. 

Instead, she would have been holding him closer as ever.

She had not noticed for how long she was walking and staring at the moon, until her face had hit a solid surface. She almost let out a scream when she heard that it was not a solid surface, but a mere person.

"Shh," the person urged at the girl to keep quiet and she complied. Alarms went off inside her head, fearing the possibility of a murderer inside the castle. 

As if the person was reading her thoughts, "It is me, Prince Alexander."

If the prince had been any closer, Annabelle thought he would have definitely heard her raging heartbeat. There she was, thinking about him, when he appeared right in front of her in the darkness. 

For a moment, she was grateful that there was no light near them, for that might have exposed her to him.

"Your Highness," she cleared her throat and changed her voice a bit. "What must you be doing in the dark?"

"I could ask you a similar question," he chuckled. "Who are you?"

"I am a maid in your castle," answered Annabelle,  trying to stop her voice from trembling. 

"Oh," he said, relieved to find out it was not an intruder in the castle. "What is your name?"

"M-My name is Anna." she replied and bit her lip. She hoped the prince would not be suspicious of her. She still need her job as a maid. And, as much as she would have liked to touch him and tell him that it was her who danced with him a couple of nights ago, she refrained from doing anything of that sort. 

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Anna." the prince had said. Even though he could not exactly see her, she sounded lovely to him. And, maybe a bit shy.

Anna shivered. "I must be going now, Your Highness."

"Wait," he said and that brought memories back to Annabelle. Her bottom lip quivered. "You did not tell me what you are doing in the dark, either."

She cleared her throat, her mind racing. "I was hiding."

With that, she left him in the dead of night, like she had done before. 

The prince, too, turned around to go to his room, but not before he caught the familiar scent of vanilla. But the girl was long gone, just like his princess.