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I was still in a trance even after she finished calling out all the names. I felt so numb, my mind and body refused to work. I didn't know if it was confusion, fear, denial or all put together. I only came to when Alex decided to literally shake me into reality.

He was saying something but I couldn't hear a single thing. The only thing I saw was his lips moving. I looked around and realized that the people were beginning to get up and the female were being separated from the male.

"Eve. Eve!" He shook my shoulders again "I'm not letting you out of my sight okay. I'll ask them to change your assigned job. They can't just give you to him. You won't last and I'm not taking any chances," he spoke.

Only after a few moments did all his words sink into my mind.

"Are you out of your mind?! You know you can't do that. They might have your tongue just for asking!" I whisper yelled. What was he even thinking?! Didn't he just listen to all the rules?

"You will do none of what you just said. You will take care of your job and do it well while staying out of trouble. Remember what I said in the wagon. We have to survive for as long as we can. That can only happen if we don't get into any kind of trouble. You can't worry about me anymore. It's best for both of us." I took both his hands in mine "Promise me. Promise me you wouldn't worry yourself because of me. Yes I'm terrified but isn't everyone? Including you? We'll find a way to communicate but for now you must swear you won't risk anything for me or yourself." I looked at him in the eyes waiting for his reply which took ages for him to do so.

"Alright. Okay. I promise not to do anything reckless but don't ever tell me not to worry about you. And I will find a way to talk to you," he kissed my forehead and just as he was about to say something else he was roughly yanked back by a guard.

"Time's up human! Get into your group before I kill you myself!!" He bellowed.

With that me and Alex were separated. For how long?

I don't know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The women were taken to the servant quarters after we were shown around the palace. Our quarters were located one floor under the hall which we were in. We still didn't know where the men went.

They then brought us into a fairly spacious room for around 35 of us ladies. In that room there were three bathrooms and a giant cupboard. We were each given a mattress, one pillow and a thin old blanket. All of these were already arranged on the floor in rows of four.

These items which were given to us were probably used by the previous servants. The thought alone made me uncomfortable.

Soon there would be another woman who will replace me.

"Alright all of you can rest for today. I suggest you make full use of it because work starts tomorrow at six in the morning and ends around nine at night. Remember what I said about punctuality ladies. Tardiness will earn you 10 lashes with the whip. And that's only for the first time." Ms. Odelle warned.

"All your uniforms are in the cupboard. Shoes included. Take whichever fits you," she explained.

As soon as she left, we all chose our sleeping position while some decided to mingle around. I took mine that was at the far left. I didn't feel like talking to anybody. My mind drifted off to Alex.

Is he alright? Is he comfortable? Did he make any friends?

I stopped myself before I could dive any deeper. I needed to let him go for now.

Just for now.

More importantly, I needed to prepare myself for tomorrow.

With that thought I succumbed into a restless sleep.

The next day I woke up to a banging noise. I shot up to a sitting position only to be greeted by Ms. Odelle hitting a metal bowl with a spoon. "Wake up! Time to get ready for work! You all have an hour to prepare and have breakfast!" she said while making sure everyone was up and about.

It's five in the morning??

Lucky for me one of the toilets was unoccupied. I did my morning routine as fast as possible, then tied up my hair up into a loose bun. Next? Uniform.

I opened the cupboard to see the same looking dresses just in various different sizes. All arranged in descending order. Same went for the shoes.

My frame was small and I was short and thin so I went for the smallest dress and it fit me alright but it was still a little loose which I didn't mind. It was a simple light grey dress which reached just below my knees. It included a black bodice with lace at the front so that we could adjust the tightness of it. I also picked out the smallest pair of shoes. They were plain black flats. Even the smallest were a bit loose. The back of my feet kept popping out every time I took a step.

It took me 15 minutes to get ready and those who were ready were escorted to the servant's dining area. It was located just opposite of our room. We ate in silence. When it was time, many of them began to disappear in all directions.

I had no clue as to what I should do.

I looked around, my eyes searching for Ms. Odelle. When I found her she raised her hand to silence me.

"I know what you're going to ask dear," she then looked at the remaining others. "Those of you who are personal servants, please gather around me!" She announced. "Okay the first thing you do in the morning is serve them breakfast. That, you will collect from the kitchen."

At the mention of that my face lit up. I could see Alex. Maybe we could exchange a few words.

I controlled my facial expression when Ms. Odelle gave me a skeptical look. I didn't want to look like a weirdo.

"You will serve them regular food along with a jar of blood." I could hear murmurs come from the rest. "Now listen! If they want your blood, they will take it and there will be no complaining about it. It's very normal for them to have fresh blood." The murmurs turned into gasps. I sucked in a breath.

I've got to tell Alex my goodbyes.

"While serving breakfast you are to wait on them until they're done. After breakfast you will tidy up their room. Not a single speck of dust. Then you'll make sure their laundry is taken care of and their clothes are all ironed. You basically just take care of all their wants and needs and make sure they're comfortable. Easy." With that she gave us a bright smile. "Now go on! Serve breakfast! Quickly!"

All of us scurried to the kitchen.

"Um...Eve? Your name is Eve right?" I heard Ms. Odelle's sweet voice.

"Ye...yes. Is there something wrong madam?" I asked suddenly scared.

"No no. Just wanted to inform you that the Prince is out, dealing with business of sorts. No one really knows when exactly he'd be back," she said. I gave a nod.

We stared at each other for a while before she continued

"It's just that...you see...Prince Phoenix may or may not be in at times. You will never really know. There are times when he will be in his chambers but won't make himself known. Actually he's extremely private and doesn't usually come out or talk unless something displeases him and he gets mad and then you know...." I was getting very confused now.

"I'm sorry madam but I don't understand what you're trying to say."

"It's just that you don't have to wait on him during meals unless he asks you to. No need to do anything extra unless he asks you to." She said

"Oh, okay madam." When I looked at her I knew she wanted to say more but held herself back. It was such an awkward situation as we stared at each other. Before it could get any worse, I gave her a polite smile before turning back.

"And be careful dear. Don't do anything to anger him. Please. The last two servants were not very fortunate."

I stopped. Not very fortunate?

Then I slowly turned around. This situation was getting very uncomfortable with every passing second.

"What do you mean by that?"

Why did I ask?! I wasn't sure if I wanted to know.

"Well they're gone now. So that's that. And that's one of the reasons why a servant was never assigned to him for years. Until now." She answered.

Her face was filled with worry. I could tell she didn't want to lose another servant to him. Well that's not up to her. The Royals do whatever they want. If he wanted to kill me, I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. And shouldn't she be used to seeing servants die?

Ms.Odelle seemed like she has been working here for some time now. We had no right, and we're practically owned. She knew that right?

Yet I still felt her worry. And I didn't like that. She's the nicest person I've known so far.

I took a deep breath.

"I'll be careful I pro...."

"Only clean where the light touches dear," she cut me off before leaving me there.

Her last words only confused me even more.

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After climbing two sets of long stairs and walking through many hallways, I stood outside his room with a tray filled with toast, cheese and and two jars. One filled with water and the other....not water.

I balanced the tray with one hand and was about to knock the door with the other when I remembered he wasn't in.

Stupid stupid me! Why did I bring breakfast?! I must have just gone with the flow and did what everyone else were doing! It was my first day and I am already messing up!

I couldn't go all the way back now, so I pushed open the giant wooden door and went in.

Darkness.

As expected.

I could barely make out a small table near what should be the bed and I put the tray there. I'll have to explain that to Ms.Odelle after this and hope I don't receive punishment for my forgetfulness.

I walked over to the other side to pull the curtains apart. It should be there. I prayed not to trip on anything on the way.

As I got closer I reached out to feel the soft fabric before pulling it lightly to the side. The rays of sunshine streamed into the room and gave the whole area it's warmth. I pulled the other curtain to the other side.

More light.

Not only did the Sun warm up the room but it also warmed me inside out. I wasn't greeted by the Sun this morning as our quarters were located three floors down, one floor under the palace.

So to see and feel the Sun now, it felt amazing.

I turned around to take a good look at the room. The first thing I noticed was how big it was.

Big? Big wouldn't justify this. Big was too small to describe the size of this place. A better word would be huge! Or immeasurable or enormous. Yes those were better words. This room was almost bigger than my house. And I have to clean every inch of it. Just thinking about it made my head spin.

I thought I knew what a King sized bed was, but no!

I don't even know what size you would call this bed. It was gigantic. Maybe enough to fit five grown people!

I continued to look around.

The walls were painted a rich red. There was a single door on the opposite side of the bed. I'm guessing that was the bathroom. I don't want to know how big it was yet.

Further into the room was an oval shaped dinning table. It could fit at least 15 to 20 people. Yes, that huge. The table and chairs were all black. An elegant kind of black.

There were another set of doors on the left side of the wall and the right side had many single shelves that were attached to the wall. They were filled with books. Beside the shelves, there hung a bow but no arrows.

Guess he likes archery besides destroying things.

But what really caught my attention was the rectangular glass box that was fixed against the wall near the bow. It wasn't the glass that caught my eye but rather what was inside it.

A majestic looking sword.

One look and I knew it had magical properties in it. The metal was polished and shiny. There was a kind of a glow around the weapon. The handle looked to be made out of pure gold and at the tip of the handle there was a beautiful emerald stone. The handle was also wrapped in a leather strap.

It's swordsmanship was perfection.

One sharp swing was all it would take to cut off my head.

I didn't like the sword so much now.

Enough Eve! Start doing your job!

I half-heartedly picked up a broom. The cleaning equipment were all left outside the room even before I reached here. These small favors will only be done for us today since it was our first day.

Anyway, some of those were quite fancy. I had to learn how to use them as fast as possible. I decided to start by sweeping the floor. The more I moved around the more I felt how spacious the room actually was.

It was so big that the sunlight couldn't reach every part of the room. The far right side of the room was still blanketed in darkness. I couldn't see past the dinning table but I knew there was more space.

Just then Ms. Odelle's final words came back.

'Only clean where the light touches.'

I ignored the chill that ran up my spine and continued to clean.