Page 68 of Maid for the Alien Prince

Now that my exercises were complete, I pushed myself up onto my feet and shuffled forward, taking my first tentative steps. It was always the first few that were the most difficult.

I worked up a little more steam and managed to take more confident strides forward. By the time I had crossed the suite, I was operating normally.

I paused at the door once more to look back at Rayaw, still soundly asleep, blissfully unaware of the waking world. I had thought he’d been unaware of my affliction, but clearly my hip must have been playing up recently.

Riding the Fayam had a bigger effect on my health than I expected. The pain was so common to me now that I barely even noticed it.

When I told him the truth, admitting my physical weakness, knowing that it could very well be the reason Rayaw—as an Ulsen—might not want to be with me any longer, I hesitated, but I knew that honesty was the best policy, especially since our relationship had developed as far as it had.

To my surprise, he had taken it in stride. It wasn’t any more of a concern to him than if I had declared I had the flu as a child.

All that worrying… for nothing.

I couldn’t help but peer back at him and smile at how gently he handled me after that. No doubt his desire revved high—especially with Steyatt driving him crazy—and still, he managed to control himself.

I began to wonder if his mating week was affecting me the same way. I had quickly developed a deep, unshakeable desire for him too.

Could things really turn out well for us? Could my life really become everything I had ever dreamed of?

With his big, powerful muscular frame, he fit my physical ideal to a T, and when he showed me how soft and gentle he could be—even during the week of Steyatt—I couldn’t help but weep for joy as he claimed me over and over again.

I sent him my love, certain there was some kind of spiritual plane that existed between two souls.

I shut the door behind myself quietly and proceeded down the hallway. At this time in the morning, there were no palace staff. I caught a glimpse of just how quiet and serene the palace could be when it was empty.

The guardsmen would still be operating on a security protocol, but even their numbers would likely be reduced at this time of night.

I tried to gauge what time it was but could only guess it was somewhere in the wee hours. I decided that after I had drunk some water, I would immediately return to the bedroom and ‘accidentally’ wake Rayaw for another round of soft lovemaking.

I grinned at the proposition, making me hasten my gait down the stairs. I held tight onto the banister as I descended, taking each step carefully in turn—not that I needed to, but because now was not the time to have an accident—especially since there was no one around who might be able to help me and I could end up laying there for hours.

Once I reached the bottom, I peered around and noticed the ground floor too was silent. Clearly the kitchen staff had not yet begun to prepare for the day ahead.

When I reached the kitchens, I found a gleaming palace of polished metal and heavy marble countertops. Chef was obsessed with having a clean kitchen, and drilled his staff each and every day to scrub, scrub, scrub until the surfaces were clean enough to eat off—not that we ever had cause to do that!

I crossed to the huge fridges that took up an entire wall. I knew they kept chilled water somewhere, and I had to open three doors before I found it.

I picked up one of the smaller containers, found a ceramic cup—as I couldn’t find the glasses—and poured myself some.

I took a deep gulp and it immediately soothed my dry-as-sand throat. I let out a gasp of relief and followed it with another two big gulps.

I refilled the cup, put the water container back in the fridge, and crossed the kitchen back in the direction I had come from.

Tink.

It was a soft, subtle sound, like crystal vases being tapped together. Not hard or harsh, but enough to capture my attention.

Perhaps the kitchen staff had gotten up after all, or maybe someone else on the palace staff had awoken as thirsty as I had.

I was now fully awake, the cold water having progressed me onto stage two of the wake-up cycle. I decided I would go see what the staff were up to so early. I turned away from the doorway and headed towards the east-wing drawing room.

The palace had seemed like a maze when I first arrived, but already it was beginning to make sense to me. It was perfectly symmetrical, so you only ever really needed to memorize one quarter of the total pattern and then project out toward the rest of the palace’s wings.

I entered the drawing room and immediately realized I had made a mistake.

The lights were off, the room shrouded in shadow. Even the moonlight that streamed through the large bay windows didn’t illuminate much.

Strange, I thought. I could have sworn the sound had come from this room.

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