Charmed

Chapter Nine

I woke up gasping for air. I was gripping the side of the sofa so tightly that my knuckles had turned white. My dream had been a repeat of the events that had happened last night, except that instead of Otis coming to save me, Taylor stood in front of him as they watched me burn, even Darius standing beside them.

He was still very much asleep when I glanced over, which didn't surprise me. Dawn had only just started breaking over the mountains, and snow was falling again. It made me unbearably excited for summer. Other than Darius' soft breathing, the castle seemed quiet, although I knew the servants would be awake and starting to get ready for their day.

I changed quickly into a red dress after finding the bathing room, scrubbing the smoke from my skin and hair. I let my partially wet hair curl around me. I threw on my new red cloak and left the chamber as quietly as possible with a bucket for me to fill with water so I could clean Darius' clothes. The cold winter air slapped me hard in the face as soon as I was walking along the corridors, but it was a fresh wake-up call after my dream.

"A little early to be doing chores, isn't it?" a voice said, making me jump ten feet into the air.

I turned around to see Taylor sat along the windowless wall, her legs stretched out before her. Her hair was tied up into a neat bun with soft tendrils running down her face. She was in a deep purple, silk gown with soft patterns woven into it. I hated how good she looked.

I curtseyed, remembering my place and how snappy she got after I forgot the first time I met her. "My lady. If you believe so, why are you up so early?"

She narrowed her eyes but smiled. "Darius and I are spending the day together. We do that each time he comes here, you see." Her blue eyes glinted with a hidden meaning, but I shook it off, remembering how Darius had told me himself that their relationship was never intimate. "You'll have to stay out of his way today."

"I was planning on it, my lady," I said, trying to hide the annoyance in my tone. "If you don't mind, I need to get started on my chores."

She suddenly dropped down so she was in front of me, blocking my path. "You leave when I say you can leave, servant."

I glared at her, straightening my back so that I was taller than her. I'd taken enough shit from her to last a lifetime. Almost sensing my anger, Taylor straightened up as much as she could despite being a few inches shorter than me. I was almost certain we were going to start hitting each other, especially since her eyes began to fleck with gold.

"Princess Taylor?" a man's voice called. We looked to our side to see a guard looking awkwardly at us. "Sorry to interrupt, ma'am, but your father has requested to see you."

Taylor smiled at the guard before turning back to me with a furious expression. "Fate intervenes. You might not be so lucky next time." And with a swish of her purple gown, she was gone.

The walk to the stream that would give me the water to wash Darius' clothes involved a lot of me talking to myself, specifically cursing to myself over my temper when it came to Taylor. My cloak swept the ground, dragging the snow along with it. The snow boots crunched deliciously beneath me as they sunk deep within the snow. By the time I made it to the stream, my teeth were chattering and my nails were tainted blue from the cold.

I began moving the bucket about the water so hard I feared I would smash it on the small rocks that were lodged into the riverbed. I knew that Taylor was the one my anger was directed at, not Darius. He was only trying to get the idea of a princess trying to kill me out of my mind before I did something drastic like accuse her. He only had the best interests for me.

It still felt like someone was watching me, and I hated it. Despite glancing over my shoulder every few seconds, I couldn't see anyone. I knew it was most likely paranoia, but my mind couldn't be talked out of being scared. Just as the bucket was full enough and I began pulling it from the stream, a force gripped my shoulders and shoved me into the water.