AMITY

CHAPTER 4

"Mother" the princess breathed. The queen.

The fear in that was unfurling in Amity's chest kept spreading at a faster pace with each step the queen took towards them. Amity closed her eyes and tried to calm down her anxious heart.

When Amity opened her eyes again, the queen was close enough for the torches placed in the sconces on the walls beside them to gleam over the queen's face, not that Amity dared to stare at the queen's face for too long.

Sharp and gasping breaths being taken beside Amity brought her out of her agitated trance and she stared in the direction of the princess, whom she had forgotten for a while, stood beside her.

Amity was absolutely as she gazed at the young princess.

The princess' eyes were opened so wide and the she stared at her own mother like she was some sort f scary creature only heard about in folk tales. Amity was worried about the young princess. Amity wondered what on earth could cause a child to gaze at their own parent like so.

Had the princess gotten into trouble of some sort?

With her head lowered once more as the queen had finally reached where they stood, Amity could not help but notice the richness of the silky long garment the queen was wearing that evening- which was the garment she probably slept in.

Vanity.

Utter and sheer vanity was her first impression of the queen. Amity had known that it took a tremendous amount of vanity to have a personal room for jewelry when she had been in the room where she encountered the prince, but as the queen stood there in flesh, it dawned on Amity more and more at how vain the queen that stood in front of her was.

The queen had bracelets that matched the gold coloured gown she wore and when she had been approaching them earlier and Amity had noticed that she had a crown on.

Vain.

But who was Amity to judge? For she too, if she had that much wealth would do the same.

After all, it was that thirst for wealth that had been the driving force that had drawn her outside the palace in the first place. Vanity had gotten her into trouble over and over.

Amity was not judging, she was jealous.

Contrary to the tone that Amity had been expecting from the queen because of the fear that Amity had seen on the princess' face, the queen when she spoke, spoke with a smile. Amity could not see it but she could hear it.

"Melody my dear, I went to your room to wish you good night but I could not find you. You had me worried my dear princess".

That was the first time Amity had heard any of the royal children's first names. The king's and queen's names were popular because everyone had to know.

Though no one dared to utter just the first names of the king and queen out loud, everyone knew their names.
It was not the same for the princes and princess.

They were to be referred to by their titles by commoners at all times.

There was silence following the queen's statement and when Amity looked with the side of her eyes at the princess, she understood why.
The princess was sweating buckets. She looked like she was trying to get words to come out of her lips but could not physically do it.

Seconds later, the princess finally managed to produce the words "M-m-mother, I- ".

Amity could not stand by and watch all this without doing anything.
If there was anyone that knew her, they knew she did not poke her nose into anyone else's business.

And besides, she was a servant who was not supposed to be inside the castle at that time of the night.

But doing the opposite of her character, she knelt in front of the queen and put on her sorrowful face again. Tears in her eyes and wobbling lips, at the queen's feet.

Amity despised it but it had to be done.

"Your majesty" Amity spoke in front of the queen for the first time that night. Amity could feel the queen's eyes on her now.

"It is my fault that the princess was not in her room when you went to look for her".

"And why would that be?" the queen addressed the palace maid for the first time that night, with the smile still audible in her voice.

"I was assigned to clean one of the storage rooms on the top floor; today is my last day so after I was done cleaning, I sat down to wait for it to be time to leave but I fell sleep, your majesty. In a rush to leave the castle, I fell done a couple of flights of stairs and hearing the noise, the princess rushed to help me. I am so sorry for causing inconveniences for the princess and you, your majesty".

The story was poorly thought out and Amity scolded herself internally for not coming up with something better but at it would have to do. She prayed the queen bought it and she made sure she shook like a leaf as the wind blew over it.

She had perfected that act, against her will. But Amity could not deny that the skill had come in handy at so many times.

"Ah I see" responded the queen. If the queen suspected anything, she did not make mention of it. "It is late now, so you should get going". "Thank you so much for your graciousness, your majesty".

Amity made sure to add all the exaggeration she could add. The more there was, the better it would be for her neck and the princess' it seemed.
Speaking of the princess, as Amity knelt and waited for the two royals t leave, she stared up at the princess and even though the young princess seemed to have calmed down a bit, she kept throwing fearful glances at Amity.

Amity mustered all she could and gave the princess a reassuring f smile before both royals entered what was probably the princess' room. The smile was all she could give. All she could give.

The feeling of uselessness enveloped Amity once again.

FLASHBACK
For the first time since they had met on the beach 2 years ago, Amity looked at her little sister and her heart tore into two. Coral's blonde hair lay haphazardly all over her head and her eyes were filled with tears and fear.

That was the first time the younger girl had shown fear like this in front of Amity.

It was especially the first time that the blonde-haired girl had shown this much emotion in front a man who meant her harm since Amity and Coral had first met on the beach till that day. Even when Amity had seen Coral being treated roughly the week after the two girls had met, oral had not shared a single tear.

But now Coral cried. She cried as she knelt and begged the man in front of them to spare their lives. All three of their lives, not including the man's that stood before them.

The uselessness that Amity felt came like a wet heavy cloth, that covered her and lift her feeling heavy as her heart felt at that moment.

FLASHACK ENDED

AN: I've never written one of these before *nervous laughter*. If you ever give this book a chance, thank you so much. I'm going to try to get better at writing.