Fire Under Ice

Chapter 2

I woke up a few hours later, unfortunately still exhausted, but now hungry as well. Judging by the fading light from the windows, dinner would have happened some time ago. I decided to go find the servants' area so I could steal some food. Surely I, a privileged young prince, would have no problem on such a mission.

I left my room and followed one of the footmen to a servant's staircase. I smiled to myself and stopped, thinking to give him a few minutes' head start. I didn't want to bump into him on my clandestine mission.

A few moments later, I stood up and began to descend the spiral staircase. As I turned the corner, I found myself face to face with the feisty princess from earlier. She was carrying a basket of laundry and scowled when she saw me.

"Get out of my way."

I smiled cheekily. "And if I don't?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Then I'll hurt you."

I laughed at the bluntness and audacity of the claim. I had trained with a sword and crossbow since I was nine. There's no way a little girl like her could hurt me. "No can do, darling."

Next thing I knew, I was sprawled over the stairs with a broken and bloody nose. Nicole picked up her basket and continued up the stairs. "And don't call me darling," she added, almost as an afterthought.

I sat up and dabbed at my nose with the cuff of my already stained travel jacket. I must have been quite a sight for the next young maid who passed. In fact, she stopped cold at the sight of me.

"Who are you?" she asked curiously.

With a groan, I stood up. "I'm Prince Joshua; I'm looking for something to eat."

Her face cleared. "Oh! My name is Myla, and I can help you with that. All the servants are gathered for their evening meal. You can dine with us if you like. I know it's highly inappropriate for someone of your status to break bread with servants, but-"

"Stop!" I groaned, cutting her off. "You're giving me a headache. I don't mind eating with servants."

Her face turned pink. "If you'll just follow me, then, sir."

I followed her down the staircase and into a large room with a number of servants already seated at the large table in the middle. Myla went to a seat about halfway down the table and directed me to an empty seat on her left. "You can sit here."

"All right," I replied. "Can we begin?"

"Yes," she answered, smiling. "Enjoy. We get the leftovers of whatever the royals don't want."

She turned and engaged in conversation with the person on her right. I attempted to turn my attention to the meal, but looked up when I heard their conversation; mainly, because I heard a familiar voice.

"Late again, Myla? You know, one might think that you don't like talking to me."

Myla laughed. "Perhaps tonight I'm simply trying to avoid the angry rant about your encounter with the prince. You know, the one you gave Carmen?"

"I swear, if I had a gold coin for every time an arrogant nobleman came in and tried to flirt with me, I'd have enough to buy Agatha off her throne."

"You may wish to defer this conversation until later, he's sitting next to me. Was it you who broke his nose?"

The conversation stopped as Nicole leaned over to look at me. "Yes, that was me," she said, her voice devoid of the happiness and excitement she had showed to her friend only moments before. "I think I'm going to go start washing the dishes. I'll see you later, right, Myla?"

Myla looked as surprised as me at the change of subject, but recovered quickly. "Of course you will. I'll join you on the dishes when I finish my dinner."

Nicole smiled at her. "Of course. I'll make sure you do."

She strode off, and we heard the sound of splashing water a few seconds later.

One of the maids went off to join her, and together the two of them made short work of the dishes. They passed the time chattering together cheerfully. I didn't quite understand the words, but it drew my attention every time she threw her head back and laughed at something the other woman said

Despite her cold attitude, I couldn't help but notice how her whole face lit up when she smiled. She really was stunning behind the servant's attire and harsh demeanor. I suddenly found myself possessed with the resolution to find out what happened to her, and why nobody talked about it.

Hey you guys!
This chapter is both too short and long overdue. As I edited, I cut out a lot of stuff. The reason this came so late was because I was trying to come up with fluff so I could reach my word count.

The other reason this is so late is because I lost motivation to continue. I've been writing this story for over a year, and the prospect of completely rewriting it was a daunting one. Not to mention, I rarely saw fruits of my labors during its first run.

This morning I finally returned to this and saw Serena_Fallin comments on Chapter 1. Shout out to her because seeing her response made me want to keep going. Thanks.