ROYAL LUST

1. Drunk mother

Eyes laced with hope, I stare back at Aunt Rose. Her gaze dims for a moment and all the hope shimmering inside me suddenly disappears. 

"Anyway what was I thinking? That the royal family would be willing to give work to someone as inexperienced as me," I mutter with my arms slightly raised in the air. I let them fall back, slapping the side of my hips. Aunt Rose suddenly begins to smile and I'm drawn into utter confusion.

"Do not worry yourself dear. The prince is willing to let you take over my position. He already paid quite a huge amount for my ''retirement' ," her palms massaged my shoulders.

"Are you serious?" I gasp.

She nods in confirmation and feeling overwhelmed, I pull her into a tight embrace. For a while I just stay put, revelling in the hug of the one person I could call family.

"Just be careful dear. The prince is quiet known for his encounters with women," she warns, patting my head lightly.

"Oh, you mean whores," I pull back from her hug.

"With your mother's reputation people are bound to talk. And if the prince gets wind of it, I fear he may mistake your intentions," I nod in understanding.

"I'll be sure to keep my head low and I will never forget this,"I squeeze her palms appreciatively. 

"Just be the well bred girl you've always been. Now come on, help me with the logs,"She ushers, pulling her shawl over her body as she steps outside. It's chillingly cold and the heaps of snow covering the ground being a proof that winter was finally at it's peak.

Later as we sat by the fire just the two of us eating, she recounted her work tales. How she had held Prince Christian in her arms when he was born. She watched him begin to walk and then talk and now he is grown man. Soon he will be crowned king after his ailing father. I returned to bed, it's frail hinges protesting under my weight. Tonight I was unable to get a wink of sleep. Finally I would be able to know what working for royals feels like. I would get to touch their expensive gowns, tend to their food and watch them laugh around with other nobles. It must have been the time the darkness had been at it's peak and I had just managed to pull in a draft of sleep when I heard the door open. Armed with my dead uncle's bow, I make my way stealthy towards the source.

"These bloody rats!... Oh! It's... What is this? Where are you, you useless piece of f**k?'"My mother cusses drunkenly. One would think after hearing her drunken insults every night fall that I would have gotten used to them but each time is harder than the day before.

Without a word, I light a candle. She blinks at the light but pushes my hand away when I try to guide her to her bed by the corner of the house. She mutters several drunken cusses, drops on the bed and soon enough, her rather loud snoring fills the entire house. I sit by the dying embers and after rekindling the fire, I watch the flames crackle. Sleep had completely eluded me and the only thing I could do now, is console myself that I was not really the girl that my mother claimed to be her digrace. Maybe once I start working for the company Prince, I would be able to show her that I was nothing like her. That I didn't need to give my body to a man for a few pieces of silver.