i just might love you (a hosie royalty au)

Part 3 "Especially Satan."

A/n: I write very slowly. come bother me on twitter
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It had been a whole week since the incident in the grand hall. Josie was getting used to the routine.

Wake up.
Help Lizzie get ready.
Eat breakfast in the Parlor.
Go to her History class.
Eat lunch.
Read in her favorite spot.
Go to her Cultures class.
Eat dinner.
Play the ukulele.
Sleep.

Sometimes she would even sneak down to the kitchen and "borrow" some food. All this whilst not even laying an eye on the Mikaelson heir. No one had seen her since that fateful morning. Though people did whisper about shadows traipsing through the hallways at night, disappearing behind corners or walking through walls. It was almost like the Princess had become a ghost, a legend. Josie was desperate to see her again. That's why she had found herself wondering into the parlor late at night.

"Do they feed you back home?" The raven haired girl that seemed to always be reading by the fireplace asked sarcastically. This time she had looked up from her book, and had a perfectly manicured eyebrow raised at the girl.

"Huh?" Josie asked dumbly. She wasn't prepared for anyone to still be awake, let alone address her directly.

"Don't tell me you intend to search for the ghost of Hope Mikaelson." She laughed, as if she found this whole debacle amusing. Josie guessed that she hadn't been the first person this girl had caught.

"I have to try." Josie responded Weakly. The raven haired girl's words made her feel a little small.

"Why? Because you're special? Please," She rolled her eyes at the brunette's words. "Don't you realize that everything has already been arranged? All that garbage at the beginning about earning the right to marry Hope was a lie. The King has already chosen who he wants."

At the sound of talking, Lizzie comes out of her room with a shawl over her nightgown. She eyed the girl by the fire with a look of destain. "What are you doing? It's super late."

"Who are you, my mother?" She muttered, returning her attention to the book in her grasp to give the impression of reading.

"Don't fraternize with the enemy." Lizzie directed to her sister. "Especially Satan."

"My name's Penelope but okay." The raven haired girl said under her breath, trying desperately to keep from laughing. Maybe she liked that nickname just as much as she was starting to like annoying the blonde.

"That's the girl who put a frog in my bed." Lizzie stage-whispered, not even attempting to hide her words. Penelope simply yawned, completely uninterested in talking now that Josie's twin had shown up.

"What? You don't know that." Josie's response was reasonable. "No one saw anything."

"But she's always here! And look at that face," The sisters turned to study Penelope, who had decided that pretending to read wasn't interesting anymore. "That is the face of someone who enjoys torturing people."

Penelope's bark of laughter confused the two girls, and she gave them pitying looks. "If you think I'm intolerable, wait till you meet Hope Mikaelson." She got up, making her way to her room before anyone could say another word.

"What was all that about?"

"It's best not to try and understand the mind of the damned." Lizzie said. "Let's just sleep."

"You go on ahead, I'm just going to..."

"Don't tell me you're going to try and look for the Princess." Lizzie's tone was full of exasperation, bringing Josie back to how she had felt when Penelope had been speaking to her. She hadn't revealed to her sister that the Princess was that mysterious girl that had helped them. She didn't know how to. If her sister knew, she may try and use that as leverage. Elizabeth Saltzman loved to win, so if she could find a way to get a leg up on the competition, she would. There's no telling what she would do.

"I'm just a little hungry." Josie lied, but Lizzie never paid enough attention to her twins lying face. "I was going to sneak down to the kitchen."

"Grab me one of those cute little pastries they make here. The one with the jelly."

"Sure thing."

Josie is careful not to make a noise as she shuts the big oak door to the parlor, letting out a sigh of relief as it closed with a soft click. The hallway isn't that bright, a continuous theme throughout the castle it appears. No wonder people think they see ghosts. Josie hoped she might see one tonight.

She decided to meander in the direction of the grand hall, studying paintings of the important people on the wall as she went. They had that same hard expression that King Niklaus had. Just as she reached the staircase she heard the jingling of chainmail. Not wanting to get caught by the guards, Josie quickly darted down a hallway. She hid in the shadows of a statue, relaxing slightly as the clinking armor sound faded. However, a door opened before she could leave, the light from the room casting the hallway in a faint glow. If she moved the people exiting could see her.

The person leaving had been a little careless, not fully closing the door. There was a sliver of light poking through, with loud voices echoing through to the hallway. Josie couldn't help but to overhear what they were talking about.

"I won't apologize!" A deep voice boomed, causing the girl behind the statue to flinch. "If they couldn't handle me then, how were they going to handle me later on down the line?"

"Your Majesty, our relationship with the powers that surround us are already fragile, I think you need to reconsider your decision."

Josie flinched at the sound of something shattering.

"Get out!" The king growled. Josie's limbs became stiff with fear, and her heart was pounding a mile a minute. The door is thrown open hastily, and slams into the wall as the guy scurried away. The brunette decided in that instance she needed a better hiding place. She sprinted to the nearest door and pulled it open, finding a staircase. At the sound of footsteps she descended as fast as her feet would move. When she reached the end a glorious smell hit her nostrils. It was warm and comforting, reminding her of back home. She was in the kitchen.

There were plenty of wooden tables set up around the room, with huge ovens and stovetops on the far wall. The tables themselves had different kinds of bowls or pots, all covered with pieces of cloth. A few of the lanterns remained lit in their places dangling from the ceiling overtop of one of the workstations. Josie stilled as she saw a short girl with a cap over her hair, and a simple dress and apron kneading bread. She seemed to be taking out her feelings on the bread though, Josie surmised. She was hitting it rather aggressively. Maybe she was upset about being here so late? The Saltzman girl had seen a few kitchenmaids getting in trouble when she had snuck down here before. Perhaps she was walking in on someone getting disciplined.

The girl paused her movements for a split second, causing Josie to hold her breathe, then she lifted up the dough and placed it gently into a nearby pan. As the girl slowly started to turn around, Josie had the sudden urge to dive under a table. Without knowing it she had subconsciously been moving closer, drawn towards the kitchenmaid somehow. Maybe it was magic. It certainly was magic when she realized who it was.

"What are you doing here?" The Princess asked, a startled expression on her face before it relaxed into an amused one. "Carriage stuck again?"

"Huh?" Josie replied, her mind instantly blank. God, why was her vocabulary disappearing tonight of all nights? "No? What are you doing here?"

"I live here." Hope said with a single braw raised at the girl. "So tell me, why are you here?"

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