King | j.b

IX

"I can't get this one stain," Harry complained as he vigorously scrubbed a spot on the floor. Ariana had not spoken to him in so long. She wondered if it was finally time to forgive him for almost getting her killed. At first she thought she would never forgive him. But she eventually came to her senses.

She didn't feel like talking much, considering what had happened yesterday. Selena. That woman. She was going to kill the king! One question had been hurling around Ariana's mind.

Should she have stopped the king from drinking the lemonade?

If she hadn't, the king would be dead right now. Gone forever. Swept from the face of the earth. No one would have to worry about him again. Villagers would no longer have to live under the rule of King Justin Bieber. Maybe there would be less death in the kingdom. Maybe there would be less violence; less sadness. Who knows?

But Ariana swept her thoughts away before she could regret saving the king. She prayed none of the servants would ever find out about this. But why did she save him? There was something fuming inside her. Something that told her she had to save him. She just couldn't figure out what or why.

Also why was Selena pretending to like him? And why did she attempt to kill him? Who knows what they did together. Ariana didn't want to know. Boy, did Selena fool him. She fooled him good. What would've happened if Ariana wasn't there? She wanted answers but she knew she wouldn't get them any time soon.

"Ariana, the session is over," a voice said from behind her. She spun around to find Harry looking at her. She looked around and saw that everyone working in the session had already left. It was just the two of them. Harry laughed.

"You were zoning out," he said. Ariana snapped back into reality and looked down.

"Oh, thanks," she simply said to him. She looked back up and saw a sincere smile on his face. He stared at her for what felt like minutes but was really only a couple of seconds.

"Well," he said breaking the silence. "I'd better get going. Next session starts soon." He waited for Ariana to say something but no words came out of her mouth. He looked down, his curls falling down his face. He sighed as he started to walk away, but Ariana stopped him.

"Wait," she said. Harry stopped walking. He slowly turned around to face her once again. Ariana sighed.

"Look," she started. "I'm sorry. I've been ignoring you for a while now. And I just wanted to say that I forgive you. I just want to be friends again," she truthfully said. A smile grew on Harry's lips.

"So we're good now?" Harry asked her. Ariana nodded.

"We're good."

It almost looked as if Harry was about to hug her, but he stopped himself and Ariana couldn't tell if he was or not. He just smiled again.

"Alright. I'll see you around," he said, walking away.

"See you," Ariana replied. She was relieved to finally get on good terms with Harry. It felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

As she started walking to her next session, she started to think about everything that had happened since she got to the castle. First was getting caught in the garden, second was kissing the king, third was finding out that her father had been a servant, and fourth was saving the king from death. It's been a crazy month for Ariana. That's for sure. Did things like this alway go on in the castle?

* * *

For the rest of the day, Ariana did her work. She didn't talk much to anyone besides Harry. As the day seemed to stretch longer, Ariana started to get more tired. Sometimes, her eyelids would even start to close. But she tried her hardest to not let that happen. Who knows what would happen if a guard, or even the king himself, saw her sleeping on the job.