CHAPTER 5
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MARIAH
I looked up into the eyes of my father as he came walking in through the front door, his face gleaming with excitement.I squealed with excitement as I stumbled down the short passage and into his arms, he caught me with his ease....he always did."Hello Papa" I said in my baby voice, I was only 5 years old at the time. still the only child and the apple of my fathers eye.
"Hello baby. Where your mama?" He asked placing me on his hip as he walked further into our small house and to the main room."Hey, hunny" my father greeted, his face still young with age as he smiled widely. I always loved his smile, because it showed how happy he was."Hello, I'm glad your back" my mother said walking to my father and giving him and bug hug and a kiss making me squeal in disgust.
My mother looked at me with a funny face and pulled my face to hers and kissed me.My father was still smiling as he watched our exchange, his eyes bright with fondness.I love you both so much, he had said after that. And my mother and I laughed as we gave him endless hugs and kisses.That was when my mother noticed the bag in my fathers other hand and looked up at him with wonder.
"What have you got there?" She teased as he walked me to the bed and sat me down, smiling all the way as he have my mother a look."So I stopped by the market before coming home and decided to buy us a treat since business has been so good" he said pulling out the strange looking fruits. One for each of us. My mother clapped her hand excitedly as she quickly took one and showed it to me.
"This, baby, is a peach. Here take bite and tell me if you like it" she said placing the fruit in my hands.I looked up at my father and mother with wonder before taking a big bite out of the soft delicacy.
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I woke up with my a pain in my arm, just the same as the day before.I didn't understand what was happening or where I was as I glanced around the room, but then it all came flooding back to me.The porridge, the sandwich, the pasta ... the peach and the king.I sat up and looked around the room, surprised to see that it was empty. Or so I thought until I saw a dark shadow in the corner of the room. I looked up to see the king, sitting in the corner of the room watching me with dark eyes. As my eyes met his he grimaced and stood up, walking towards me.
"Why didn't you tell me? What didn't you tell the maids?" He asked lowly sitting at the foot of the bed. I looked up at him in fear before stuttering out a reply."F-forgive me, your highness, but-but I did try to tell you" my voice was hoarse from the pain in my throat as I turned to reach for the glass of water placed on the table beside the bed.He nodded his head and stood up. His regretful appearance now gone as he seemed to come to terms that he didn't actually care for me.
"Make a list of things you are allergic to and give it to one of the maids. After that you will follow her down to the kitchen were you will be working from now on" he said and just as he spoke the door opened and a man walked in."Your majesty" the man said as he bowed, "I'm here to check on the girl". The king nodded his head before allowing the man to come toward me with medical tools and supplies all in a box.
"Good afternoon, young lady" the man said with a smile. " you were out quite a while, almost made me scared you wouldn't wake up" he joked making me laugh a little, but the king didn't seem to find the joke as amusing as I did, when he let out a low threatening growl. The doctor paled and proceeded to check my pulse and my throat before feeling my forehead for a fever and my hands for any signs of swelling.
Once he was done he smiled and wrote a few notes on the clipboard. " well. You seem to be doing just fine, little lady. But I do suggest drinking a lot of water and fruit juice. You lost a lot of liquids during the process of extracting the content of your stomach so your extremely dehydrated. " the doctor said kindly before exiting the room.The king followed shortly after but not before reminding me to give the maid the list and then follow her.
He left me piece of parchment and a little but of ink on a pen, I wasn't allergic to much, just all some fruit. My mother had told me it came from my father's side of the family, but the funny thing is that my father had told me the same thing about her.After my first reaction with the peach and my second one with a plum I never had one again, I kept far away from all exotic fruit sticking strictly to apples, bananas and oranges, until now . My parents kept me far from any fruit of the sort that they thought I could be allergic to and even the ones I wasn't.
After the first scare they became a lot more paranoid.
"My baby, my baby" my mothers wails broke though the endless black of my unconsciousness. My eyes cracked opened as o saw my father holding my mother in my arms with tears in his eyes.
"What's wrong with Mama, Papa?" I asked groggily as I sat up slowly. His eyes went wide as he saw me awake and pulled me into a tight hug, mama hanging not even a second later.
"Oh my baby." My father said sadly, "Papa is so sorry, it's his fault you got sick" he said kissing my forehead tenderly. That was when I noticed that I wasn’t in my room, or even my house. I recognized the room as the one in the village hospital and I began to wonder what had happened.
"Mama? Papa? Why are we at the hospital?" I asked as I saw the needle in my arm. My bottom lip quivered as I try to pull it out but my father stopped me telling me not to touch it. I remember crying for hours a night the needle until one if the nurse came and took it out for me.
I cried for another hour that as well. And that was how I found out about my allergy to peaches.
CHAPTER 6______MARIAHThe king gave me 3 days to recover before I was being moved to a lower floor and I was given a maid uniform. I didn’t understand why. He treated me so nicely that first day, he gave Sir John’s entire family immunity from death to get me, yet now that he has me, I am a maid. It just doesn’t make sense.For the last 2 days I have been waking up every morning and cleaning the same rooms on the same floor, continuously, just waiting to catch a glimpse of his highness.But today was a new day, and I was sick of waiting around for someone to tell me what was happening. I walked down the steps to the first floor and looked for anyone that could help me, but strangely there was no one around. I walked around, going up to the third floor where I heard the sound of giggling coming from one of the room doors.Happy to have found another living thing I did
Chapter 7_______MariahI took a deep breathe as the butler knocked on the large double oak doors. I held the cloth to my neck as the door opened and a maid stood to the side, her head bowed in respect with the King sitting by his desk, reading through some documents.“Forgive me, your highness. She wouldn’t take no for an answer” Butler Aldridge said fearfully as the King continued to write notes on his parchment. The butler was visibly shaking as his grip on my arm tightened painfully. Fear began to bubble in my stomach as I suddenly forgot what exactly I wanted from him, all the anger I felt dissolved into a pit of nothingness when it came to face his aura. The king looked up, unimpressed as his eyes fell onto me and then the butler and then to the red-stained cloth in my hand.“Leave us” he said to the maid and the butler, and they
Chapter 8_____ElijahI stormed out of the castle my control slipping as I rushed for the forest. I let out a growl, half me and half the beast within me. Fucking Mariah. She was messing with my mind, I had never felt such a need for another person as I have felt for her. It was supernatural. The feelings I had for her were unnatural. Her scent lingered around me and drove me mad as I tried to escape it. It was the smell of her innocence, a smell the seemed to multiply the second I touched her.The wetness that pooled between her legs told me how ready she was. The way she whimpered and moaned told me how badly she wanted me, she wanted us. The way she said our name made us mad with lust. The beast tried to take over, or at least he tried to take control of my conscious, but he had only ever gotten that right once.Anger began to bubble in
Chapter 9_______MariahThe king let out a low laugh as he looked toward the books I had spent most of my time reading, before he looked at me. The way his eyes burned into me, it made me want to sink into the chair completely. "And what am I exactly, Mariah?" He asked sarcastically, trying to fool me into believing that I was acting crazy, but I wouldn't fall.I stood up from my chair and took big, confident steps toward him, until we were toe to toe. "You are not human. You are a vampire, I know you are and I believe that most noblemen are after what I have seen these last few days..." I paused and looked up at him, "But you, my king" I said as I circled around him, "you're stronger than the rest, you're special, even... And I know why. It's because you aren't just a vampire. You are the first born son of your father and you are a Rossetti
Chapter 10________MariahI woke up on the cell floor with blankets draped around me as I saw the butler sitting in the corner of the room with his arms crossed over his chest. "Listen Mariah, because I know you're awake" he said as I turned around to face him. I wasn't feeling so good as I held my arms tightly to my chest and curled into a ball, even with all these thick blankets it was still cold. "I have not told the King of what had happened, because if you were any other ordinary maid, I wouldn't have to. I handled your situation alone". He said his voice cold with distaste as he spoke to me.There was a silence between us before I spoke "Do you hate me?" I asked him sadly, looking down at the floor, wanting to know the answer. He looked at me and sighed. “I do not hate you child, it is that I do not trust you.” He said while staring at the wall behind m
Chapter 11_______THIRD PERSONIt was late in the night when Mariah felt someone touching her face. She moved slightly causing them to stop for second before they continued to stroke her hair. She heard the person sigh before standing up, not before leaving a soft kiss in her forehead.Just by the feeling the kiss gave her alone she knew it was the King. She slowly fell back asleep but she was suddenly haunted by the memory of the dungeon and the dead bodies they carried out of the cells everyday. She jumped up in fear and looked around her room, but only found darkness in his place. She suddenly felt so alone as she glanced around her room again. No family, no friends, no one. The only person she even sort of had was the King and he had left her in that dungeon.She was filled with the need to get up and see the King. Even after he had hurt her, she still needed him, just to be near
Chapter 12_________THIRD PERSONWhen she woke up the next morning she was sad to see nothing but sheets beside her, and they were cold. Mariah tried not to be too disappointed as she stood up from the bed and looked around. She knew after one glance around the room that he wasn't in it.Had yesterday meant nothing to him?Mariah suddenly felt stupid for ever assuming they could ever be more. He was the King of her country. He ruled over millions of people and had the burden of looking after them. She could never be the one to truly stand at his side, she was nothing but a maid. She stood up and wiped a stray tear that had fallen down her cheek as she walked to her room to shower.After Mariah had cleaned herself of his touch, she got dressed in her uniform and walked to the kitchens for breakfast. As soon as she walked in she was handed and tray of food. "
CHAPTER 13 _____THIRD PERSON Once Mariah and Gideon got back to the castle, they immediately went to the kitchen with all the stuff Ms Thomas needed, but Mariah filled with dread when she saw the guards everywhere. She placed the stuff down and looked to Ms Thomas who was talking to Gideon frantically."What's going on?" Mariah asked as she stepped toward Ms Thomas. "My dear, the King has been on a rampage looking for you. The guards have been searching every inch of the castle and his already planning to search through all the nearby villages. Mariah felt her mouth go dry with fear as a guard grabbed her arm." You're Mariah Castello, right?" he asked and Mariah found herself nodding her head in fear.The guard didn't ask anymore question as he dragged Mariah up the steps toward the Kings office. Once they got to the door, the guard knocked twice and waited for the King's response but before the guard could even move his hand the door was already opened. The King looked at her, his