Masquerade

Chapter 4

Yitha walked through the posh corridors. She had found many friends amongst the maids, and Yitha was very glad that she had chosen Milés. It was amazing.

"Yitha?! Is that you?!" a voice exclaimed. Yitha spun around. She faced a short woman. She had flaxen hair and dark green eyes.

"Dianna?? Is that truly you?!"

"Yes, Yitha, it's me!"

Yitha embraced her aunt. She had been kidnapped by someone the night of Yitha's fourteenth birthday. Tears poured down both women's faces as they did.

"What happened to you? We had looked for you for years, how many tears we shed."

"I was kidnapped," Dianna said. "On your fourteenth birthday, when we were camping near this estate, we made too much noise and the people in here got fed up. I was taken in here and I was going to be put in the dungeons, but Maddalena said she wanted a new personal maid. Eventually, she convinced her father to make me her personal maid."

"Poor you." Yitha gasped.

"Now what happened to you, little one?" Dianna asked, hesitantly.

More tears pooled in Yitha's hazel eyes.

"I went to a masked ball a few days ago. I was begging and two nobles, who are now my friends, gave me one gold echna each. Instead of taking the money back to my family, I was vain. I bought a dress for myself. I went to the ball. Then, it.., it burnt down. The building. I tried to slip into the caravan, but father was there. He was mad at me and kicked me out of the caravan. I lived on the streets for a couple of nights, until kind Aleksandra Brask and Maddalena Milés offered a position as a maid. I chose Milés estate over Brask. And... here I am."

"Do not worry," Dianna said as Yitha cried into her shoulder, "everything will be alright. I am sure father would be very proud of you if he heard of your achievements and all you have been through. More than me though, I must say."

°°°

"You befriended the Milés girl?"

"Not the girl, father, the woman. She is nineteen." Aleksandra corrected her father.

"I know, I know, she is the same age as you."

"Did you do this to kill her?"

"What?! No!! I would never kill Maddalena!" Aleksandra exclaimed. "How could you even mention that!"

"This is not happy smiley days! This could lead to war! You are so stupid, Aleksandra! How could you?! Do you have no pride for your family?!"

"I am not my family. I am myself; Aleksandra Brask."

Aleksandra's father, William Brask II stood up. He glared at Aleksandra with his intense grey eyes.

"If you are not your family, the Gods send you to exile! If I hear this trash once more, Aleksandra, it is banishment! Am I understood?"

Aleksandra rolled her eyes and looked down at her feet as if in shame. She felt slightly weak, much unlike her usual self.

"Yes."

His hand suddenly came down, but Aleksandra noticed it. She grabbed his wrist and twisted. Her father's other hand came down, but Aleksandra grabbed it as well. She pinned his arms above his head.

"I am an assassin in training, I remind you again. Don't touch me again, you will highly regret it. Yell at me, scream at me, do whatever you want, but don't you dare touch me."

"You don't have the right not to listen to me. You are my daughter. I am your father. I teach you, not the other way around."

"I am nineteen. I am not a child anymore. I am an adult. You cannot say that."