CHAPTER 446: TIES HOME

Between rehearsals and studies in the library as well as the map room, Arabella’s feet were killing her.

Although, she remained thankful that the day went along without too many hitches or any encounters with the prince.

Aside from a short-lived eye contact established with her grandfather as he walked towards the gardens, nothing else came from their side.

By the time she’d woken up that very morning, Silas had already been gone with the human search party on the hunt for the smallest, meekest trace of Allegra.

Regretfully, no one reached any significant development on the matter. Not Liriel, not Morgana and certainly not Silas.

"My Lady," Cassandra stood before Arabella and curtsied.

The young woman took a long look at the maid. At her face, expression and body language. None of those appeared any different from the previous night at all.

The smile Cassandra tried so hard to keep on left brush strokes in the wrong places across her features.

"Yes, Cassandra. What is it?"

Nevertheless, Arabella opted to keep her questions to herself for that time being.

"Well, it is...," the maid stuttered a few times.

"Did the prince send a word out to me again?" one of her eyebrows rose up her forehead.

Cassandra’s mouth opened then closed immediately after that. That happened on repeat a few more times before she finally gathered the courage to speak.

"The prince of Lustris has been asking for permission to send a gown to your chambers,"

She had mumbled at such a low volume. Almost as if afraid the words would shatter Arabella.

"Is that all?" Arabella held her stance without flinching once.

"Yes, my Lady," there was a bright and quick flash that zoomed across Cassandra’s eyes.

After a hum of acknowledgement, the two of them stood in silence as Arabella eyed her more intently.

The maid flung her eyes anywhere that ensured no eye contact would be made with her Lady.

With the seconds that seemed to stretch into infinity, Cassandra found the courage to clear her throat and ask, "Should I go give the prince your approval or disapproval then?"

"No," Arabella responded calmly.

The answer got the expected reaction out of Cassandra. The face of someone caught red handed doing something they shouldn’t.

The issue was that Cassandra had no reason to be reacting that way.

"I want you to tell me exactly what the prince said to drive you into such a state of...," Arabella looked Cassandra up and down, "Terror,"

At first, the maid clamped up, biting at her own lips and sweeping the floor beneath them with her tear-filled eyes.

She shook her head a few times but said nothing.

"Please," Arabella took a careful step her way, "Whatever it is, you may trust me with it," maintaining her voice in the soft range in the hopes it wouldn’t spook Cassandra more than she already was.

The maid hung her head lower with every second, crumpling onto herself as she held her own hands together.

Seeing that things weren’t looking up on that front, Arabella pushed a sigh, allowing her shoulders to relax, "It’s alright, Cassandra," she smiled warmly, "You do not have to say a thing right this moment, but know that I will be all ears if you change your mind," after a short pause, the young woman added, "For now, you may go tell Carlton to relay my message that the gown can indeed be sent to my chambers, but that only our staff members are allowed to handle it. His servants are, under no circumstances, to step foot inside our room,"

"He found out that I still have family living back in Lustris," Cassandra had muttered, her eyes still unable to rise.

Arabella was, as promised, all ears. She limited all unnecessary movements and reduced herself to only breathing in order to absorb every word out of Cassandra’s mouth.

When the maid kept quiet for a second too long, Arabella gave her a gentle, verbal nudge, "Go on, please. You may speak freely with me,"

That seemed to melt whatever mass had clogged Cassandra’s throat.

"He found the relatives of mine that remained in Lustris and he...," she trailed off as the first tears escaped her eyes.

"He’s threatened to harm them," Arabella finished the sentence for her.

Cassandra nodded and stared at the floor as though it’d give all the answers to her problems.

"I did not review your personal chart, but when you came to Umbraria, were you a tribute or did you find a way to cross safely?"

"I was not a tribute," the maid shook her head, "I fled home after my sister was taken as a servant to the castle as payment for my father’s debts to the king,"

There was a longer pause between her words, but that time around Arabella did not try to speed things up, giving her all the time she needed instead.

Eventually, Cassandra gathered a long breath before continuing, "I managed to cross with a group of nice people that agreed to take me with them. I was very lucky because on the other side, there was another group of nightwalker who were expecting our arrival to help facilitate things and provide additional security,"

"What about your parents? Were they too impaired to come with you?"

At that question, Cassandra’s face hardened unexpectedly, "They refused to come!" she hissed, "In fact, after learning of my plan to escape they promised that if I stepped foot outside the line they’d inform the authorities,"

Slowly, but instinctively, Arabella’s hand rose to cover her mouth, "What would possess them to do such a thing? Were they worried you wouldn’t make it here alive?"

In response, Cassandra shed more tears and shook her head, "They were proud followers of the king. They were proud that my sister entered his servants’ ranks and they couldn’t wait for me to join her so... They stayed behind and for the past few years I had been wondering whether they were still alive or not... The prince just confirmed it for me,"