AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Alrick nodded.
“Well spoken, my lord,” Paul said, bowing his head.
I opened my mouth to thank Alrick for his praise, but before the words could form on my tongue, the hysteric voice of a maid echoed through the courtyard.
“The princess...where is the princess?”
I exchanged confused looks with Alrick and Paul as we all made our way out. The silver-haired woman was one of my mother’s maids. The moment her wide eyes found me, an icy-cold shiver replaced the warmth I had just felt.
“Your Highness!” the maid cried. “Come, quick. It’s your mother. There is no time left!”
Tears running down her cheeks, the maid stormed over to me and grabbed my wrist. Her fingers dug into my skin.
“Hurry, the queen, hurry,” she muttered as she dragged me back to the castle.
I had never felt so scared in my life.Out of all the things in this world, please, God, not her, I begged as I made my way up the stairs to my mother’s chambers.
I had no idea where Alrick was, but strangely enough, his words started running through my head like a galloping stallion.
The gods show kindness to those who show kindness first.
I was taking the stairs two steps at a time in order to keep up with the maid.
The gods show kindness to those who show kindness first.
Over and over again, I summoned those words like magic.
The gods show kindness to those who show kindness first.
A painful heaviness pressed down on my chest. I couldn’t breathe. I was burning up from the inside.
We turned around the corner into the hallway that led to my mother’s bedchamber. It was filled with hysterical maids and servants, all of them crying, some of them holding their heads in their hands in outright despair.
“The gods show kindness to those who show kindness first,” I shouted, jerking my hand out of the maid’s grasp. I had stopped walking, afraid to take another step.
“The gods show kindness to those who show kindness first,” I yelled at the maid as if screaming it might make it true.
But the moment I heard my father’s pitiful cry coming from my mother’s room, I knew that the phrase held no real power. And I vowed never to speak them again.
