Royally F**cked

I: Unus

Nothing bad ever happens on a rainy day, Lavinia found herself thinking, staring out into the fields where her mother disappeared. It was always on the days you least expected it. When the sun was gently billowing out across the fields of wheat, a warm breeze, the soft smell of bread in the kitchen. It was on those days everything went to hell.

Like the world just wanted you to suffer, that extra bit more.

And it was a day like this, Lavinia's mother, and only friend, left. She had been going to the neighbouring farm to collect vegetables in their weekly exchange. Vegetables for the wheat they grew. Lavinia had only gone to suspect something when the neighbours boy, Jason, turned up, arms full of onions, potatoes and carrots. Confusion lining his labour hardened features.

Lavinia blinked once, then twice, before pelting it outside. That was her mothers job. She never allowed Jason to come over with the food, always insisting on going over there to collect it. It could only mean one thing. She had never arrived in the first place. In her rush, she had managed to knock over Jason, spilling the vegetables from his hands.

"What's wrong!?" Jason called after her, stuck between collecting the fallen produce and racing after Lavinia. She stood, knee deep in the wheat, looking out over the miles of fields that surrounded them. Pulling up her moth eaten, loose trousers to manoeuvre through mud. It was almost a day's trek to the Kingdom. Her mother avoided it like the plague.

A large hand clasped her shoulder, jolting her out of the reverie she was trapped in. "Come on, Lavi, let's get you inside," Jason soothed, herding her back into the tiny cottage she called home. Lavinia hadn't even noticed she'd begun to hyperventilate.

After setting her down at the kitchen table, he placed a steaming hot cup of Valerian tea in her hands. Urging her to take a sip. "Its not been a day yet," Jason rationalised, tugging at the small ponytail at the back of his head. "Maybe she'll come back tonight?". He left, after a few hours of talking, leaving the vegetables neatly stacked on the table.

Her mother didn't come back. Not that night, or the night after, or the night after that.

Worry and a sense of foreboding built up in her chest, tightening like a grass snake around her heart and throat. A series of disappearances had occurred in the Kingdom over the last few seasons. It seemed more and more glaringly obvious that her mother was just another one. Lavinia wanted to go out, search for her, tread over the hill and into the Kingdom.

But it was unrealistic. She had to take care of the farm in her mother's stead. Not only did they grow wheat, but they kept a few selections of livestock that depended on them for survival. It was when she was tending to Mimi, their sole cow, they arrived.

Two large, hefty men, dressed from head to toe in shining, silvery metal armour marched around to the back of the house where she stood. Leading two rather large horses. Lavinia would have been in awe of the knights, it was a rare sight so far out from the Vespertine Kingdom, had she not been wrecked with anxiety. One of them carried a series of formal looking documents.

Was her mother...? Did they find her body? No. It wasn't possible. Lavinia chewed on her dirt caked nails, ignoring the disgusted looks from the two men. One of the knights coughed pointedly.

"Welcome to our farm," Lavinia greeted formally, straightening her back. This was something she'd had to face, no matter how hard it would be. "What can I help you with?". The knight holding form shoved them into her hands with enough force to knock her back a bit.

"Your tax has not been collected for the past three months. You have a further two months to pay the King, or you are to be evicted." Knight one stated, placing a hand threateningly on the holster of his sword. Lavinia gulped past a suddenly dry throat.

"Pardon me, I don't think I heard you right?" Lavinia stuttered, pushing back an errand stray of black hair. The hand on the sword tightened, causing the armour to tink slightly. "Ok! I understand! But please, my mothers missing! If you just wait, she'll come back and clear this all up I'm sure!"

That same knight rolled his eyes at her. "We are here under the order of our King. It is our duty to collect tax under the name of this Kingdom. You are next in responsibility under the name of Linette Armertris. Procure the money and you will not be evicted," With a huff, he walked away, leading his horse behind him.

The other Knight, the one that had thrust the papers in her hand, lent in, sympathy scrunching his eyebrows. "Look kid, maybe your mother left because of the tax, just get the money. And then you'll be fine," With that, he took off, hoping on his white horse and trotting after the other.

It was just a passing comment, but it had set off a dark doubt in her mind. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Her mother could well have fled from the debt, leaving her only daughter with the burden. Sorrowfully Lavinia patted Mimi, and dragged herself back inside the house.

--

She couldn't keep waiting for her mother to return. It was a hopeless venture, and Lavinia didn't make enough money from the farm alone to get enough to pay back the debt. She'd have to get another job. Which meant she'd have to go to the Kingdom. Something she hadn't done since she was just a toddler. 

With only a thin cardigan, and the loose trousers she owned, Lavinia made the journey to the Vespertine Kingdom. The centre of magic. Under the premise that Jason would regularly tend to her farm in her stead. He was honestly too good for this wasted countryside.

That's how she ends up outside the Vespertine Castle, lost, ragged and shivering. Feeling more unprepared for anything in her life that she ever had before.

That's how she gets to know Delvin Vespertine, Crown Prince and Master of the magic tower.

----

Delvin slammed the door shut, after kicking out one of the many spies his mother sent to be his personal maid. He couldn't stop the rage from consuming him, sparks of black magic tossing and turning around him like a storm.

Frederick, his close friend and Master Servant was flapping around him, waving his hands distressingly. "You must stop doing this, your Highness!" He scolded. Delvin scoffed, he held no sympathy for his mothers underlings. Pawns in a part of her sick game. "The poor girl left crying!".

Rolling his eyes, Delvin twisted, knocking down a picture of the Queen. "Someone turned up this morning for the position. Lavinia Armertris, if I recall correctly,' Frederick pondered, lifting a hand to his greying beard. It only served to make him more angry.

"Tell her to leave immediately!" Delvin spat, turning to look out the window and towards the Royal Gardens. "I don't need another spy sent by that woman!" He turned on his feet, scowling at the old man who had served his family, all of Devin's life.

Frederick held up his hand to stop the oncoming rant, Delvin felt building in the back of his throat. "No. She came here of her own violation. She has a history of family debt, and her house is under the list to be evicted within the next couple of months," Frederick explained.

Delvin paused momentarily, looking at his reflection in the mirror on his desk. Deathly pale blue eyes, and stark white hair stared back at him. Softly, and ominously he whispered "Under no circumstances will I allow her to be my personal maid,". Fredrick huffed, clutching his arms to his chest as he left the office. 

With no one around to see it, a sly smirk drew across his face. A maid, with no connection to his mother? What a rarity. He bit his lip in anticipation, with a thought.

'Lavinia Armertris, just who will you be?'

Authors Note: 

So now that TVATG is finished, and im writing up the sequel, this book has now got all my attention!! A chapter should be out each week. So look forward to it! I hope you liked the first proper chapter of Royally F*cked. 

Thank you for reading! Hope you're all doing okay <3

Lots of love,

Sam.E

Word Count: 1439