Page 46 of The Princess's Pet

“I think he’s more upset with himself. He almost lost control,” Ana whispered back. “He might have a hard time seeing the Princess’s marks on you, but he’ll just have to get over it,” she added.

I smiled warmly at Ana, she was becoming fast one of my favourite people.

“It looks like we’ve got a lot of floral decorations and lights to hang,” Leilani began. She split us up into teams of two, with a ladder to each set. I stuck to Ana like glue, not particularly liking the looks any of the others gave me. Dylan wouldn’t look at me and Harris was obviously confused having missed the show and the other Borealis student servants just didn’t seem to like me much, if the side-eye directed my way was anything to go by. Evie's outright glare was expected.

“I’ll hold the ladder if you think you could reach better,” I told Ana as we decided the best way to hang the thousands of fairy lights we had. We had already hung a couple of dozen baskets of wild, colourful spring flowers around the room and now we were on to the next task, while others focused on decorating windows and entrances and along the edges of the room. Ana was slightly taller than me, not by much at all, and even on the top rung of the ladder, which was more than a little nerve-wracking, I couldn’t reach the ceiling.

“Okay, but seriously Percy, hold the ladder steady, I’m not ready to die yet,” she agreed.

“I will hold onto it with my life,” I told her just as seriously.

“You better, if I fall to my death, I’m coming back to haunt you,” she promised as she ascended the ladder with a heavy bundle of lights over her shoulder.

I was watching Ana climb the tall ladders and it did seem a bit too dangerous, scaffolding would have been better. The Academy didn’t seem to care that much when it came to the safety of its students, or maybe it just didn’t care about the safety of its servant students.

Paying so much attention to holding the ladder, I didn’t see or anticipate before Evie shoulder-checked me as she walked past. The ladder wobbled precariously, the lights falling heavily and loudly to the floor as Ana clung to the ladders and shrieked in fear.

“Oops,” Evie said turning to laugh.

Ana quickly descended the rungs of the ladder and when I was sure she wasn’t hurt, I turned and marched to Evie pushing the girl hard from behind. She stumbled forward catching her balance and spun on me. “You could have caused her to fall!” I yelled completely unimpressed and livid.

Her face twisted in anger and she surged forward knocking me to the ground landing on top of me. “Just because you’re the Princess’s whore doesn’t mean you get to shove me,” she said her hand coming down to slap me hard.

I heard Ana and Leilani shouting for us to stop and I braced for Evie’s fist that was raised high, covering my face, and shutting my eyes tight. But all at once, the weight of Evie was off me and there was a deadly silence in the hall.

I moved my arm from over my face and opened my eyes to see the Princess standing over me dangling Evie in the air by her neck. Tears ran down Evie’s face, ruining black make-up and her hands clawed at the Princess’s.

I scrambled to my feet. Glowing silver turned to look at me and the Princess growled loudly before turning back to Evie and without warning, snapped Evie’s neck and dropped her to the ground.

“No don’t.” I turned to see Harris, arms wrapped around Justin who sobbed loudly and turned into his embrace. As my eyes took in the others in the room all their heads were bowed in submission.

A warm hand gripped my jaw and I flinched, my head was turned, and I was looking at the Princess. She dipped her head and licked the corner of my mouth. It was only then I realised I had a busted lip from Evie’s slap. Molten silver met me, and I was in a state of shock.

Never had I witnessed someone die or be killed. Technically the tussle with Evie was my first fight. The first time I had ever done something like that. I looked beyond the Princess to the lifeless body on the floor and I felt my stomach twisting painfully. Pushing myself away from the Princess, who let me go, I turned and lost my stomach contents which thankfully was only coffee from the morning. I felt lightheaded and panicked.

A hand landed on my back rubbing roughly but soothingly and another held my hair back. I wiped my mouth on the back of my shirt arm and stood up shakily.

Again, the Princess took hold of my jaw, turning my head from side to side as if inspecting me and I couldn’t look at her. Sudden fear twisted my stomach again but there was nothing left to throw up. She released me, her arm sliding around my waist to steady me, and I was momentarily revolted by the touch. She seemed like a different person, not my Princess.

“Any, who harms my property will be dealt death swiftly. Am I clear?” the Princess spoke in a voice that was foreign to me, powerful, and commanding.

The statement was met with a chorus of, “Yes, My Royal Highness.” And all Borealis servants, even Justin who seemed very distraught, fell to their knees.

The Princess began to pull me along with her and the panic and fear within me decided to protest and I tried to twist myself away from this terrifying stranger. She stopped to look at me curiously before some sort of recognition crossed her face and in one fluid motion, she picked me up over her shoulder. The sudden change in position was disorientating and I gripped the back of her blazer for balance.

She threw me down into the back of a vehicle and I tried to push myself away from her as she entered and closed the door. She grabbed my ankle and pulled me roughly towards her until we were sitting thigh to thigh, her arm around my shoulder holding me to her. I felt her nose against my head and fear trembled down my spine.

“Why are you trying to get away from me?” she asked sounding confused. I looked up at her glowing eyes, but I couldn’t answer her, I was still panicked. I had seen her kill another person, so easily, casually, and I wanted to escape.

“You’re scared,” she answered for me. “You do not have to fear me, pet. I would never cause you real harm,” she said pulling me in tighter.

When we arrived back at the Royal residence halls, she pulled me from the vehicle and carried me back to her rooms.

As the heavy door closed behind us she went directly to the bathroom with me and placed me on my feet in front of the sink.

“Clean yourself up,” she commanded standing behind me. Her arms wound around me, her fingers working at the buttonson my shirt. I shakily raised my hands to take over. “Let me, pet,” she said pushing my hands away.

I let her unbutton and remove my soiled shirt. She reached past me handing me the mouth wash. I took the bottle from her swirling the awful taste from my mouth, washing my hands after. Her hand around my waist led me from the bathroom and to the bedroom.

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