Maid In Royalty

♛ 47 ♛

Aiden's POV

"I'm scared."

"Now, why would there be a reason to be scared of her? She's your friend. And she's very sad."

"What if she doesn't like my present?"

"I'm sure Iris would love the flower. It's her name after all!"

I smile at Fabio, the royal gardener, and with a huff and shaky hands, my tiny steps make there way towards the crying girl. She sat on a bench right outside the church where her mother's body lay in the sheer, silk blanket of the casket and flowers showered on top. Now closed and ready to be buried, the fellow servants watch her go under-

But she sat on that wooden bench and wept.

A gentle touch on her should make her turn around with a jump and smile at the warmth of my face. My eyes look into her red, glistening ones, and all of a sudden everything made sense.

I had to protect this girl no matter what.

And no matter how.

I hide the flower behind me from embarrassment and look at her wiping her tears. "Where were you?" I help her clean the tears with my little thumbs as her once glossy eyes turn back to normal. As if my touch magically heals her.

"I'm sorry," she says quietly which made my heart break in two. The pain in her voice envelopes her entire soul, and I could feel the breaking point coming out at any minute. Her face turns red, mostly her cheeks which makes me smile.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath and when I open-

She stops crying and looking up at me with her eyes. She's much older. Maybe twenty. She's tired and exhausted and almost dead. I look at my hands and just like her, I'm older too.

The flower falls out and drops to the ground as a pain rises in my stomach and up to my throat. The clenching bitterness spreads throughout my mouth causing me to collapse to the floor, hoping o catch my breath.

She's looking down at me with those eyes.

Those dead eyes.

Those weak, helpless eyes.

She's crouching down and leaning into my cheek. My hands are stuck to my side, and my body is jerking from the loss of breath, but she just leans in until her lips touch my cheek.

And the shaking stops.

The breathing stops.

My mind and its thoughts all-

"STOP!"

I jerk up and stare at the person standing in front of my bed.

A nurse and a doctor. Looking at me with absurd as I pant and sweat. I scan around and notice that I am in bed. In fact, I was in my bedroom. All neat and tidy and no sign or smell of the toxic gas.

"He's awake," the nurse strolls over and puts her backhand on my forehead to check the temperature. "Hm. Warmer than before."

"Your Highness, how are you feeling?" The doctor whom I don't recognize asks me. I gaze at him absentmindedly as they both await my answer.

"F-Fine."

He scribbles something down on his clipboard as the nurse types on her tablet. "Trauma. Nightmares. High fever." He checks everything on his paper and returns it to the nurse, and she exits. "Your mother is in a coma. We have eyes on her and a nurse monitoring every hour to see about her condition. You are lucky the forces showed up in time, or you would be a goner as well."