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Chapter 3

Time had passed since my mother’s death, my vigour for revenge had weakened and I still lived in our old shabby room. The way I was treated in the palace had also gotten worse. I was scorned by my fellow maids and the princess, now grown and beautiful had begun to bully me for sport while the King and Queen turned a blind eye to it. All I wanted at this point was to be far away from this life.

Whenever her friends from the neighbourhood kingdoms would come for tea parties, she’d intentionally call me out to serve them and make me trip or spill the tea on my clothes.

One day, while I was taking shade under a lemon tree in the summer, she summoned me to her palace where she and her friends were snickering before I walked in.

“Sit down” Kaelara commanded

“Where?”

“You dare talk back to her? She is your future queen! The heir to the throne of Eldoria!” One of her friends yelled at me.

“I did not mean to disrespect her, I simply asked where she’d want me to sit because there are no seats,” I said in defence as I lowered my gaze, Kaelara hated it whenever I’d make eye contact with her.

As I bowed my head in order to avoid eye contact, my hair fell against my chest and I heard one of the girls whispering again causing the rest of them to laugh again.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps and I clutched my amethyst necklace as Kaelara held my face with her hand.

“It seems you must think we are of the same calibre since we share the same hair colour,” she signalled to her friends as one of them stood up and walked towards us revealing a pair of scissors in her hands.

“What are you doing?” I said as she grabbed my hair and began to cut it.

I screamed for help as her friends held me down and the others laughed.

After they had finished they threw the scissors on me and once again laughed.

This wasn’t the first time she had cut my hair out of hatred but because of the blood of a mage in me, it wouldn’t take long for my hair to grow back. Nobody knew my identity as a mage so they all believed my hair just happened to grow fast or Kaelara didn’t cut it properly.

“Pick all the hair on the floor up, I don’t want you leaving your filthy horse smell here,” Kaelara said as she walked back.

With tears in my eyes and shame enveloping me, I packed my hair up from the floor and then we heard the king’s fanfare play signalling his presence. The girls stood up to greet him and as I turned shamefully, I saw that next to him was Queen Dorian, she was standing in all her regality, adorned in a gold and brown dress with her blonde hair in a boisterous updo while she held her fan against her face.

“What is happening here?” My father asked.

“I was just teaching her a lesson Daddy, she was being disrespectful to me” Kaelara said suddenly changing her tone from the one that shook me to my core to that of a harmless helpless princess.

“Daddy, why are you here? I’m having tea with my friends” she said as she walked over to the King.

“Your father and I want to speak with you… in private” Queen Dorian responded.

“Is it about the Dragons? Daddy said he’d protect me, isn’t that right Daddy?”

“Yes of course my jewel, but that’s not what we want to talk about, let’s go to the drawing room, and you….” he turned to me “Come with us”

“Me?” I pointed to myself as Kaelara scoffed at me. As I turned to follow them to the drawing room in my worn-out dress and patchy hair, I couldn’t help but wonder what they would want from me of all people.

When we entered the drawing-room, the door was shut behind us and the royal family sat down while I, the stranger in all of this, stood at a far enough distance but it wasn’t sufficient enough for me to not see the piercing glares the queen and her daughter were giving me.

“So, Astra,” the King began

“Yes, My King” I answered bowing my head

“A duke from the kingdom of Vale said he saw you carrying out your duties in the garden and he wants to marry you”

“Excuse me?”

“Turns out you’re not completely horrible to look at” the Queen commented.

“But… I don’t understand, I’m just a lowly maid, what could a duke want with me?”

“That is beyond me, all that matters is that he is willing to pay a large dowry for you so it works for both of us, I’m willing to give you the dowry as long as you promise to never return to this kingdom after the wedding, in return for this agreement, from this day on, you shall have your own room in the guest palace until it is time for your wedding, you shall be taken care of and waited on like a princess, you shall also take etiquette and marriage classes and we shall make you a proper bride, is that clear?”

“Yes, your Majesty”

“Alright, your lady in waiting is outside waiting for you, she will take you to your room, we’ve already moved your things to the guest Palace” the Queen added.

“Sorry to ask…” I interjected. “But when is the wedding?”

“Four months from now” the Queen answered.

“Oh..” my twentieth birthday was in four months as well, and my mind began to race with thoughts of what my soon-to-be husband would be like, would he be kind? Or perhaps he would be old? Is he poor? Am I the first wife or the fifth?

“Astra!” A voice called pulling me out of the maze of thoughts in my head. It was Kaelara.

“Why are you still standing there? We’re done talking to you, leave… now!”

I bowed my head and left the room to meet my lady in waiting who was indeed outside.

She led me to my new room and I knew this new development was a turn of events for me and the life I had planned for myself.

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