The Palace Maid { Slow Updates}

Revealed

At the course of the week, Maya caught a fever and Dotty had to look for someone to work in her place while she recovered and Joanna was the right person for the job despite her objections.

"I cannot work so close to the prince, oh heavens, this is not how I envisaged spending the rest of my remaining days." Joanna said as she paced to and fro.

"You will finally get to see the prince." Maya tried to persuade Joanna between coughs.

"His voice has proven to be far from charming, I can just imagine how uncomfortable it will be working in the same place he dines, walks, oh Maya, please get well soon." Collapsing on her bed, Joanna tried to come up with ways she could avoid the prince but none of the ideas she came up with made any sense when said out loud. Sighing in defeat, she gave in to the course her life will soon take.

*******
Joanna was busy cleaning the study when the doors flew open. The prince stormed in the room and shuffled towards his desk, he slammed his fist against the wooden desk and scattered all the books and papers to the floor. Joanna stood beside the book shelve dumbfounded, her legs refusing to move. As if noticing someone else was in the room, Darius cast a glance at Joanna's direction.

"What are you doing here?"He angrily questioned.
"I...I did not, I...I thought you had left, am sorry your highness,I'll be on my way." Joanna struggled to get her words out without looking scared and weak but her trembling hands and lips betrayed her efforts. Without wasting time, she rushed towards the door.
"Wait!"The prince shouted. "What is your name?"
Bringing her speed to a halt, Joanna contemplated for a while if she had heard the prince right. She slowly turned to face him. "I beg your pardon your highness," she said as she slightly bowed.

Arching his brow, the prince questioned, "Are you deaf?"

Joanna's eyes were fixed on the floor but her eyes could still see the prince. He looked exactly like the man she had seen by the river, big in stature and his muscles were vividly portrayed. He was a handsome man but he also carried an aura of fear, something she did not experience the first time she had seen him. His presence had erased every word of knowledge from Joanna's mind and though she knew her name, she couldn't summon the courage to say it out loud. She was also stuck in a web of thoughts, she wondered whether the prince had a twin brother, and if not, what was he doing by the river all by himself. " Maybe he wanted to know what goes on in the Palace when he is not around." Joanna thought.

"Look at me!" The prince's order harshly broke off her line of thoughts
and Joanna weakly obliged. Their eyes locked but contempt was the only visible thing in Darius eyes, he looked at Joanna as if she was a piece of dirty rug. Without uttering a word, the prince moved away from the door, a sign Joanna perfectly understood. She walked as fast as her legs could carry her out of the room, several thoughts swimming in her mind. She wanted to shout and cry at the same time but she knew that will only get her into more trouble.

"How can a man be so cruel?" Joanna asked herself. In that moment of thought, something else occupied her mind, the prince's eyes, she realised his eyes were not green as she had first seen. Prince Darius's eyes were dark as coal.