Alpha Royale

8. It Was An Excuse...

I swear to the Angels of pricks above I was going to rip this demon women's head off before she knows what touched her.

Endless reprimanding, that's what was left for me in this wretched place. Like home wasn't any less, here I was criticized not just for eating and shitting, but for tasks such as not being able to walk with an agile flow and having the essence of a panther when drinking finery piss. Personally I was too busy looking from where to give this hag a fuck.

"Elegance Iva, not horselike," she exhaled, "Quit stomping like an overbearing horse and stand up straight, heavens above, were you not given a spine at birth child!"

She was French, as suspected. French and vile, with an unpleasant sour twist for a face like she had fed fresh lemon every morning since birth. Stern as a bat, and short as a weasel, dark hair of a raven in a bun tighter than my corset, the typical of what you'd suspect for someone teaching princess manners. Ceci be damned, Id like to have a slice this French bitch butchered for Christmas.

It certainly was an effort to not pass a sidelong look of annoyance in her direction while being told to walk from one corner to another with a stack of leather books and apple atop your head. My toes aches to be freed from the bonds of the leather heels, the heavy folds of the black gown's skirt being more and more cumbersome by the second. My bodice pinched the sides of my chest painfully, it ached to breathe and I wished to be freed fighting in my haven with Aaron.

"And now," She clicked her tongue, her pacing and heels clicking stopping behind me.

My knees obeyed for the most, hardly wobbling and slightly quaking when the stack was outweighed to one end and went flying off with the ruby apple crushing the ground in front of me. I gulp.

Madame Benoit objected to the obscure words that came out of my mouth, taunting me of just how unladylike they were to be in court. I suddenly wondered what she make of the inking on my chest.

Nonetheless I was tired and bored, this wasn't my tenth or hundredth time or even thousandth. Sometimes it was stance to blame, or to my lack of an upbringing as she loved to point at, or just the fact I was born with three left feet. The latter was my end conclusion. Madam bitch had even gone as far as calling out on my dead mother, screaming, "what was she good for if she taught you nothing."

A quick simple retort of, "She was long dead before I knew of my menstrual cycle," had her shut up. She didn't dare another word on the matter, carelessly waving for its dismissal. I did, however, get a lecture on trying to make her proud with some effort.

She pinched the bridge to her nose and was turned around when the one book I had managed to grasp, slipped from my fingertips when I made the tossing motion in her direction. My eyes widen and nearly popped.

It was about to hit the back of her head when Gabriel rounded from in front of her and took her hand into a polite bow and kiss, not before taking the book and tucking it behind himself. "Your Highness!"

I could've kissed him in relief, not that I needed an excuse too.

"I'm afraid I may to borrow Iva from you Madame Ben-"

"Oh Your Highness we were just-"

"I do not object."

"Excuez-moi," she cried in outrage.

"Excellent then, we must be on our way now Madame. Thank you for your services," He kissed her palm as she stuttered for words, Gabriel not even trying to hide the the grin lighting his face.

His three pieced tailcoat suit fitted around him like a glove. The white buttoned shirt and vest enhancing his broad chest while the tailed coat of staggering deep blue meant to accommodate for the built of his arms crafted by handling a sword while the trouser of matching slenderizing down his legs and another lower part.

He rounded me with a hand to my (aching) lower back as if he knew what would ached the most. He also gave a final dismissing nod to the Madame still stuck in her spot before taking us out the wide doors.

"Saved by the Prince himself. Show some gratitude," he leered, not slowing his stride. Tiredness certainly didn't weigh him down after what I saw this morning.

His eyes were lit by some warmed faze, his hair...wet. He had just showered, naked.

Oh god, why am I thinking of him naked. Of course you're naked in the shower! Renee face palmed herself.

"Ill show some when you have that demonic lady's head presented on a golden spike for me." I mutter, shaking the images of him without what he was wearing. Gabriel's laugh was anything but majestic, almost boyish if it hadn't missed that essence of it sounding rehearsed.

Mission make Gabriel's laugh sound less rehearsed, I state. Renee began offering a prayer to whatever god or goddess was listening down on us for my well being.

"Do you like to read?"

"You're putting my inner fangirl to shame, you know that Your Highness."

A cough smothered as a laugh. Not quite what I wanted, Reneé cringed.

"J'adore le livres," I pacify, Reneé slumping in the back of mind with a hand to her face and an eye hardly showing from between her fingers in utmost shame.

"Follow me," was all he said, leading me hall after hall. My fatigued lungs were heaving for breathe when we had climbed the 6th set of stairs. Gabriel was jogging for them all eagerly, pausing atop every set for me to catch up before darting up the next.

"This is the 7th floor," he explained, slowing his pace to a moderate stride. It was enough for me to stay aside, paying attention to every dusted crevice of the marble walls lining our path. Everything here appeared to be of dark wood, loitering with a sense of preservation.

The ceiling was higher than I thought, too spacious even for a claustrophobic, an eerie silence hanging among us even though Gabriel spoke. His voice was echoing the abandoned corridor lit by the sunlight peering through the barricades glass. "Ceiling were deemed unsafe when I was around 7, we were banned from stepping foot here."

"Then why in hell would you come here? Felt pity for the demons lurking about and came to make chit-chat?"

We had rounded an hall and came before a ancient looking door of creaking and splintering cherry wood. It's handle of silver gleamed in the pooling light, the only thing touched recently I recognized. He turned it, inspected the insides when my mouth dropped.

His smile didn't meet his eyes. "It was just another excuse to dispose of them."

The rows of shelves towered higher than the ceilings as if they glazed them, the room twice as big as the hall we came from and cozy, despite the tumbling dust balls floating the floors. The room had gigantic glass panels, uncovered and clear and bright with light. There were ladders along each shelves, even the walls were holding books up to the ceiling. A fire roared from the place in the furthest wall, a herd of worn leather reading chairs circling it with their backs to us.

"It was an excuse to get rid of these books from back in the day. Books deemed unneeded, and irrelevant to today's life sadly," Gabriel frowned from behind me as he ran an idle hand over the covers to a medium pile of musty books by the doorway. "I've loved coming here, it's been always refreshing to me the time alone. When I was tired of being someone I wasn't, tired of being unwanted, and irrelevant to everyone's life. No one really knew I was here," He looked back up, pondering his thoughts for awhile before saying,"I never told anyone either."

My breathing hitched. He never told anyone.

"Gabriel." I was pushed back into the shelves, my legs giving out nearly if it weren't for Gabriel holding me. A loud thud banged behind us, heavy book laying over and open dispersed across the paneled floor when I peered over his shoulder.

"I-I."

"Gabriel." I pause. "Why are you-"

"I'll meet you later." He arches his head in acknowledgment before turning towards the door to leave. The spot where he had grabbed me was not yet cold and I could've sworn I felt the ghost of his fingers around my arms when he had shut the door and the sound rang in my ears.

...

I am so burned out from this semester. Also, side note, I know no one is reading, and this story isn't giving me much joy, but I am determined to compete it.