Maid For You

Chapter 51

The sky had darkened, and I was still in the middle of somewhere on the mountain with a broken foot and no sense of direction except to head downward. After a long day of berating myself and enduring the pain in my foot, I was completely exhausted. If a bear jumped out to attack me, at this point my best defense would be to politely ask him to not eat me.

Barring some ravenous animal jumping out to kill me, I knew I would eventually make to the bottom. It's what I kept telling myself. I would eventually make it back to the castle, where I'm sure I would be promptly fired for ditching the Prince on his hike and then being lost in the mountainous wilderness for days. Well, a day. But it had been the longest singular day of my life.

I thought about Luke and his warm eyes and the cute freckle under his eye and his gorgeous, crooked smile. Would I see him again once I was fired? Maybe. Would he be disappointed in me for running off on the hike? For sure. Especially for so stupid a reason. Things were starting to progress between us, too. We'd gone on our amusement park date, he'd told me about his problems with Marstella...things were getting good.

And now I'd ruined it.

And for what? Because I had a moment with the Prince? So I decided to spout my mouth off about some mystical connection that we had? Something that clearly was only in my head. I mean, this was how he got girls. Because somehow we were all delusional enough to think that we were special to him. Clearly I was not. And I was stupid enough to tell him that I thought we had something between us in some faux chivalrous effort to set boundaries.

I stopped trying to move down towards the bottom and let myself rest for a moment. Tears welled in my eyes.

Why am I so foolish? I wondered. Because now I was stuck on a mountain. Alone. Because I couldn't handle the situation like an adult, and instead acted like some bratty 15-year-old and threw a tantrum. And why? Because he didn't care about me? Because I was a little embarrassed? All when I had someone else who I really liked.

"Cassie?" I heard a light echo of my name carry across the wind.

My head whipped into the direction of the sound. Had I finally cracked? One day alone on a mountain and I was losing my sanity.

"Cassie!" I heard my name again.

I began to tremble in anticipation, and tears began to stream down my cheeks.

"I'M HERE!" I screamed. I started crawling towards the voice as it continued to shout my name and I called back. The voice grew louder until suddenly, the light of a flashlight and a figure was before me. A tall, broad-shouldered man. The man raced over to me, and I found that it was Prince Coleman's face that filled my view.

"Cassie!" he cried. "You're here!" And to my absolute shock, he cast aside his flashlight and crouched down to pull me into a warm, safe hug. And perhaps it had been because I had just been crawling around in the dark, but it was the best hug I'd ever had. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held onto him tightly.

I buried my face into his shoulder, allowing tears to fall onto his jacket. "I'm so sorry," I sobbed, my shoulders shuddering. "I'm so sorry I left. I'm so sorry. I never think about anything. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm so—"

"Hey, let's have no more of that," his deep voice vibrated in my ear. He relaxed his hold on me, so I unwound my arms from him. Coleman gently brushed away some of the oncoming tears from my face and looked me straight in the eyes.

"I've been so stupid. I should have never—I'm so foolish—"

"Cassie." His eyebrows drew together, his face soft and compassionate. "You—" he paused. "You're not the only one who was foolish today."

We looked into each other's eyes for several seconds.

"What I said..." he finally started. "It wasn't entirely..." He was at a loss for words.

"Wasn't what?" I asked.

"Well, you are right. We don't exactly act...normal."

I sat there, unsure of what to say. Finally, I said, "Coleman?"

"Yes?"

"I think my foot is broken. Could you...could you help me—"

"Of course, of course!" He said, his eyes widened. He immediately stood up and snatched his cast-aside flashlight and put it in his pocket. Then—once again surprising me—he bent down scooped me up in his arms, lifting me up and pulling him against him. I could feel his heartbeat pound against mine, feel his heat warm my own body, and feel his strong arms wrapped around me. My cheeks flushed, as did his. I placed my arms around his neck and gave him a bashful thank you.

Prince Coleman only had to carry me a short ways before several bright flashlights focused their attention on us.

The Prince then announced, "I found her!"

When I woke up, I found Missus Lucille sitting in a chair across from my bed, facing me with a frightening intensity.

The rest of last night had been a blur. I was taken from Prince Coleman's warm arms and was carried down the rest of the way of the mountain. I was driven to the castle, where I was placed in an unfamiliar room while a physician looked at my foot, only to pronounce that it was not broken, merely sprained. I then fell asleep.

Now full sunlight poured into the room, illuminating the sharp look in Missus Lucille's eyes.

"So, you're up then." She said in her crisp accent.

I shifted my position to sit upright against the pillows. "Um..."

"You ran away yesterday."

When I hesitated to respond, Missus Lucille continued.

"The Prince returned from his hike in quite a mood, Miss Carmichael. He was angry that you had abandoned him whilst on the hike." She stood up and walked to the end of my bed. "But, he was quite concerned when he discovered that you hadn't returned yet."

My mouth was dry. "Was he?"

Missus Lucille drew a deep breath. "Clearly, you've won some favor from the Prince. But you need to understand your place, Miss Carmichael. Regardless of how often he may smile or wink at you, you are still his servant, is that understood? You cannot just up and abandon your duties when you feel like it. This position is a job. That means that you have to work and that you have to put up with things and with people that you may not like. It's part of being an adult." She narrowed her eyes. "It's time to grow up, Cassie."

My heart snarled. Missus Lucille could tell me how I should act in my job, but she wasn't my mother. It wasn't her responsibility to patronize me and tell me that I should grow up. And yet, the fierce look in her eye suggested that I'd better not tempt her. Instead, I sat in silence.

"The queen requires your presence," Missus Lucille then said.

"What?"

"Her majesty, Queen Klara, wants to see you. So get yourself ready and head to her quarters immediately!"