The royal moon witch

Chapter 15 - Betrayed and broken trust

Valentino Pov

Betrayed, that was how I felt. The moment I had walked towards the room of Vira to see if she was truly sitting there and found out she was not. I had right away tried to call Sam but he ignored my call and then I saw his text message saying he had something to do and would be back before the night shift. On my way back to my room I had checked the library and even her old room to see that perhaps she was there. The feeling of betrayal grew the moment I found out she was not at the library or her old room.

Betrayed by my personal guard sounds weird for others maybe but Sam was more that just my personal guard. He is my best friend. I knew it might be weird to call your personal guard your best friend but as a prince I mostly had fake friend and employees. So the fact that Sam and I actually had become more than just boss and employee had made me more than happy. He was the only one I could call my true friend and now he went behind my back and defied my orders. And he didn’t just go behind my back, he helped that witch. I entered my room and closed the door behind me. Somehow I could feel the betrayal from Sam wasn’t the only thing that made me feel so bad.

Was it also her betrayal?  When she asked for my permission and I said no, I had thought she would beg me for it and perhaps if she had, then I would have granted her her request. Maybe. On the other hand maybe not because somehow the idea of her leaving the palace felt wrong. I disliked her, but since she started working as a maid something changed in my actual hate towards her. Probably because what ever Madam Oberman and I thought of as a job for her, she excelled in it and finished it without too much trouble. She was a hard worker and even the moment she had come to me about her wand, she had secretly surprised me. Of course she had angered me a lot with what she had said and after slapping me but when I had thrown her against that side table and saw that even after that, she was still cleaning the stairs, I had been very surprised.

I took a deep breath and sat down in one of my chairs. Was I truly, without even noticing starting to like that witch? I closed my eyes and thought back of her time now as maid. Somehow whenever she was sweeping the floor or hanging the laundry, and she was humming that tune of hers, everything around her seemed to get a glow. As if the world was happy she was there. Which was weird but sometimes it even made me feel calmer and at ease. I knew I liked to make her life miserable or well not miserable but at least a little unpleasant, but there were days that I couldn’t do it. That often were the days that I did not come near her so I would also not feel weird for being near her but not pulling a prank.

Yesterday was one of the confusing days, especially because I caught myself feeling things I had not suspected to feel towards her. She had gotten the job to polish the first floor of the palace. It is a rather long hall to do on your own but she always does her things on her own so this too. She walked with a bucket of polish and a cloth laid on her shoulder when I turned the corner. I walked by and snatched the cloth from her shoulder, my intentions were that she had to go back to get a new one but it turned out different.

She actually followed me and at first she asked for the cloth back, in a rather friendly way. I was surprised because how could she be talking friendly towards me if I kept pulling pranks on her? Because I ignored her, she followed me and I since I was walking quite fast she had to run a little. I was almost down the stairs when she really picked up her feet more and ran down the stairs so she could stand in front of me. As she stood there, she held one hand up. She was about five steps from the ground and I stood another step higher than her. As I raised a eyebrow, I remained silent and didn’t move. I was wondering what she was gonna do. After a short moment, she suddenly jumped up and grabbed the cloth from my shoulder. Yet when she landed, the dumb girl slipped away with her feet.

In a reflex I reached for her and grabbed her wrist. Too bad gravity was already working out it’s own plan and we tumbled down the stairs. I did manage to turn us so she would fall on top of me and not the other way around. She looked at me and was gasping a little from the shock of the fall. I too had a heavier breath and my heart was racing. From so close I could see that her eyes were blue with a little grey line. They were actually very pretty and the close look on her lips made me wonder if they felt as soft as they looked. I saw her look at me and I was sure that the mixture of feelings was showing through my eyes. I pushed her of me before she could start talking about it.

‘’Next time think before you act’’ I said and walked away.

I had been wondering all day about her eyes and lips and it had annoyed me quite a bit. How could it be that I could not stop thinking about it? Today was the same as always and after I had woken up and realized it was her day off, I had felt less relaxed because I had no idea where I would bump into her and where not. My princely duties had helped me come to ease because I would be mostly in my office or in the library.

A knock on the door of my room, made me look up.

‘’Yes?’’ I asked. The door opened to show a maid stood in front of my door.

‘’The car of Sam is seen close to the gate’’ she said and I got up.

‘’Alright’’ I said and walked towards her, she made room for me to pass by. I walked towards the main hall and opened the door.

‘’Open the gate for them before they can hit the buzzer’’ I ordered. When I heard the gate open through the system that was operated by one of the other guards, I waited a little longer and then opened the door. My face was showing my anger the moment I saw Sam and Vira.

‘’Where have you two been?’’ I asked.

‘’Valentino.. Let me explain’’ Sam started but I shook my head stubborn.

‘’First you two will come inside’’ I said and walked back into the palace.

‘’How could you?’’ I asked after they had walked inside the castle and the door was closed behind them by Sam. My anger was clearly there in my voice and I couldn’t help it but so was the feeling of betrayal.

‘’What do you mean?’’ Sam asked as he turned to me.

‘’You disobeyed my order... I told you that I was not allowing her to leave the palace’’ I said.

‘’It was a funeral Vale’’ Sam said. I narrowed my eyes.

‘’Do not call me that in front of others’’ I spit out angry.

‘’Only my friends call me that and you betrayed me’’ I said. I looked at Sam and wondered what his excuse would be.

‘’I didn’t want to..’’ Sam started but suddenly Vira opened her mouth.

‘’You know he had no free will in this’’ she said. I looked at her and had forgotten a little that she was even there.

‘’What do you mean?’’ I spat out.

‘’Well, I bewitched him’’ she said. She sounded as if she just said that the sky is blue.

‘’You do not have your wand, how did you do that?’’ I asked.

‘’The wand is not the only way to preform magic smarty.. Ever heard of potions?’’ she stated with a sarcastic tone and even rolled her eyes. She was asking for it! She placed her hand on her hip and for a moment my thought went to how it would feel if my hand would lay there. I shook my head to get the thoughts away and saw that she was smiling.

‘’I made a potion, said a few words and now he is under my spell until I tell him otherwise’’ she said. I could feel my face starting to burn from the anger that I felt. Not only because of what she did but also because of my thoughts.

I walked towards her and grabbed her by her clothes.

‘’Undo the spell now’’ I said.

‘’Let go of me’’ She said and I shook my head.

‘’Undo.. The.. Spell..’’ I repeated and my eyes narrowed. My heart was racing again, and again not only from anger. God what did she do to me? I pulled her up a little to make her feel uncomfortable but somehow it didn't seem to work.

‘’Or what?’’ I heard her ask and she also narrowed her eyes.

‘’I’ll put you in the dungeons’’ I said and she started to laugh. I could hear it was a honest laugh and that annoyed me, why was she laughing?

‘’Go ahead, find out what your parents will say to you if you do that’’ she said and I knew she was right. I would already have quite some trouble for making her do maids work. Let alone for burning her stuff. I let go of her and gave her a push. She had clearly not expected this and fell on the ground but I turned my back towards her.

I saw from the corner of my eye how Sam rushed to her and helped her up. I heard Vira say

‘’Thank you for your service Sam’’.

‘’Wait.. What has happened?’’ Sam asked and I looked behind me.

‘’You betrayed me’’ I said.

‘’I did what? No that can’t be..’’ He said in disbelief. Was he true about this? Or was it fake? I couldn’t tell and I didn’t want to bother myself with it. I did not want to lose my only true friend. When Vira walked away I looked at her.

‘’I am not done with you yet’’ I said. Not sure why I even said this.

‘’Good for you because I am done with you for now.. I got what I wanted and spend my free day the way I wanted it.. And I was lucky that they could postpone the funeral until this day or else I could not even have said goodbye to my loved ones just because you have a bad opinion about my kind’’ She said and then she turned back around and walking away.

I was a little stunned by what she just said. She was right but she actually dared to say it right in my face.

‘’She is right you know’’ Sam said and looked at me. I looked at him and rolled my eyes.

‘’I know she is.. That is why I hate it..’’ I said and admitting that made Sam chuckle.

‘’She is hard not to like Valentino.. I know she is, I like her’’ he said.

‘’Good for you, want her as your bride?’’ I asked sarcastic.

‘’No, I would not dare to come between a perfect match like you two’’ Sam said and I rolled my eyes.

‘’Yeah well... Go home and eat.. You have the night shift right?’’ I asked and he nodded.

‘’Yes I do, and sorry for what happened.. I didn’t know’’ Sam said and I nodded.

‘’Yes I know.. Now go..’’ I said and he saluted. I rolled my eyes and walked away.

I went upstairs back to my room first, there I had my dinner being served and I ate in silence as I thought about everything that had happened today.

After dinner I decided to clear my mind with some reading and so I walked towards the library and sat down in one of the large chairs in front of the fireplace. The fire was burning and it warmed me. It was warm and cozy. The chairs where so big that even I could almost hide myself completely in them. I chose a book that I had read already several times, after a day like this I rather read something that I already knew than that I had to focus on something new. Call it lazy but I rather be lazy than that I do not actually pick up on a story that I could really like. As I was reading the story, I did notice that my eyes were getting tired but I didn’t listen to my own body in this case and before I knew it, I drifted of to sleep in front of the fireplace with the book in my lap.

Hours later I woke up with a shock from the dream that I got. I dreamed about Eveline and how I saw that she was walking away in a trance, how she didn’t listen to me calling for her. The moment I woke up was the moment she got killed and I was slightly sweating from the nightmare. I looked around me, a little confused but then remembered I had been reading in the library. I looked on my lap and saw one of the blankets covering me. Who did that? The fire in the fireplace had died out and I must admit that I was grateful of the blanket. I looked around but saw no one. I checked my phone and saw it was already 1:00 a.m.

I pushed the blanket of and got up. I reached down to grab the blanket and quickly folded it, while doing this I smelled a faint rosy smell and frowned a bit. The only person I knew that wore the smell of roses was the witch in the palace. Had she put a blanket around me? I shook my head and put the blanket back in the chest. I closed the lid slowly so it wouldn’t make too much of a noise and then grabbed my phone from the little table beside the chair and walked out of the library. I walked back to my bedroom and there I headed straight to bed, still tired from the sleep that had taken over me. The moment I had taken of my clothes and laid down in bed, I could feel a yawn coming. After letting it out, I turned to my favorite position to sleep and closed my eyes. As I laid there, the sleep took over quickly and leaded me back to the land of dreams.