Oath of Steel

9 |A Deal with a Black Star|

The scraping of the cutlery against various glass plate was one of the many things that had the power to completely wake up Rosalynde on the days her body didn't want to get up from bed, spurring her thoughts till all she could do was to let her feet touch the cold floor, the fire raging inside the fireplace always died before she woke up every day.

On these days she liked taking things slow, striving to achieve more than the usual perfection she'd been accustomed to.

It could go with braiding her hair in more complicated hairstyles, or maybe picking out a more extravagant set of jewelry she'd bought while accompanying Pharah around the High Strands the few times she secretly snuck out of the palace.

The possibilities were endless, and the one she'd opted to use today had been braiding her hair with little black beads, which intertwined with her hair made them look like small black stars coming out of her hair.

Another thing she always made sure to do was dress up herself without people wandering around her room, as the only time she took her gloves on was before going to sleep, only to put them back on again after finishing preparing herself in front of the mirror.

She didn't mind the scars all over her hands, for those were the undeniable proof attesting that she'd made it out alive.

"You didn't come to my room at dawn, had to suffer the tedious attempt of the maids trying to strike a conversation with me." Pharah said as Rosalynde entered the apparent heir's private study.

Rosalynde curtseyed with one leg, crossing the right behind the left one as the imperial etiquette hand book had taught her.

"Impeccable curtsey I must say, maybe even better than mine," Pharah commented soon after telling Rosalynde to stand up.

"That's because most of the time you're the one receiving the greeting, not the one making it." Rosaynde replied before sitting on one of the couches that were mainly used by Pharah when receiving guests. Rosalynde, unlike the others, didn't need permission to sit down, that mannerism between the two of them had already been swept under the rug a long time ago.

Pharah muttered something to the four winds before getting up from her seat, telling Rosalynde to scoot over so that they could share the same couch.

She'd brought some papers with her, spreading them on the table as she took out a pencil from behind her ear.

"In your opinion, how should I arrange Lord Hestre and Lady Jedrì? They are soon to be engaged but I've heard rumors saying that those two hate each other," Pharah sighed in frustration as she turned to look at Rosalynde.

Rosalynde who'd already started regretting taking a single step into the study, despite having gotten in less than two minutes before the downfall of the situation could only give her master a mocking smile in return.

Pharah mimicked the mocking smile of her attendant, threatening to pop an eyeball with the barely sharp pencil if cooperation would have been denied from the latter.

"Don't tell me you called me in for this idiotic, burocratic seat-arranging meeting because two idiots can't stand being in the same room," Rosalynde threated, doing it while keeping her taunting smile in check.

"Why? Didn't you swear you would have accommodated every single childish whim of mine," Pharah reminded her of the oath she'd taken years ago on the day she'd been invested with honor of being the one-and-only attendant to the crown princess of their empire.

A lady-in-waiting that would have accompanied the princess everywhere her heart desired by day, to then switch tasks at night, making the two aspects of her life alternate themselves every day.