Chapter 8 #2
It was strange. In the back of her mind, Ashley knew that there were a thousand different words that she wanted to say. Just as she also knew there were a thousand different words that she definitely shouldn’t say.
“I’m sorry if I offended, um, them. I guess.
It’s just that I’m new here, and I’m still not quite clear on what happened.
There was a storm, then a wolf, then Jack showed up.
And now I’m here. There was a war, I think, and then our father died.
It’s hard to know what to say and what not to say when you’ve been dragged back to medieval times,” Ashley took a moment to inhale, which Val took as an opportunity to interrupt her.
“This is not the past, Ashley. It’s not a, what did you call it, Dungeons and Dragons plot?
Yes, well, it’s not that either. There are the ‘then’ times and the ‘now’ times.
You should focus on the now and stop bringing up the past.” Val hissed at her, his brows pulled together as he glared down at her.
“We now live in simpler times, as it should be. Get used to it.”
Which was about all the consideration she’d get from her brother.
While he might be all about the ‘now’, his ideas on the place of women in this world were archaic.
He really thought she’d agree to be traded off to some man she’d never met.
“Like you want me to get used to the idea of a forced marriage?”
“It’s not forced, sister. You should want to protect the kingdom. You should be glad to make such a powerful contribution to our people. Why don’t you understand this?” Val shook his head in disbelief.
“Probably because I’m not property to be bartered, brother?” Ashley said pointedly, but as usual, he waved off what she had to say.
“You will take the mate I have chosen for you. You will have children with him. You will not deny the mate’s right.” Val ordered, coming closer with his index finger pointed towards her face.
Ashley’s head moved back to avoid the finger and her eyebrows shot up in surprise at his adamance, but she didn’t back down. “What the fuck is the mate’s right?”
“Don’t worry about that right now. You’ll find out all you need to know soon enough.” Val turned and stalked away from her then, leaving her at the door to her bedchamber.
“Now what do I do?” Ashley said, even if there was nobody around to hear her. This was the first time she’d been left alone since she’d woken up that morning and found a servant there with a dress and shoes, ready to get Ashley out to breakfast.
Ashley tried her best not to make too much noise as she crept around the corners, searching every nook and cranny for any sign of Jack Tracey.
If there was anyone who was going to have answers in this place, it was undoubtedly him.
He seemed to know more than the average person did about what was happening.
Rather, he seemed the only person that wanted to give her the undiluted truth.
Val had trusted him at some point, and Ashley thought that recent events were what led to the mistrust that now stood between them. Jack wanted to be honest with Ashley. Val wanted a bargaining chip. Val must trust Jack to some degree, however, or Jack would be gone.
After an hour of creeping through the castle, and finding many locked doors, Ashley had to admit that she wasn’t going to find him on her own.
It was like Jack Tracey had vanished into nowhere, which didn’t make sense because, by all accounts, it was a well-fortified castle.
So well-fortified that Ashley was slowly concluding that they were trying to keep something out.
“Or rather, something in,” Ashley whispered, knowing that her brother was far too anxious about his plans for her to leave the castle unguarded. It was clear to her that he would make sure she couldn’t escape. Not when she offered him so many great advantages.
He’d told her that dragons could normally expect to have only one child. Having twins was a boon to the Kingdom, which meant that Ashley was far more precious than she had ever thought she could be. Which also meant that servants tended to recognize her far more easily.
Of course, the fact that she was the only person who looked exactly like Val here didn’t exactly help things.
Standing at another corner in the lower part of the castle, in a section Val hadn’t shown her, she saw something that gave her hope of finding Jack.
She saw a door that all the servants were filtering in and out of, one that remained unlocked, if only for ease.
And, seeing her chance and the slightest break in the constant activity in and out of the room, she slipped through that door and into the servant’s hallway, grabbing the first piece of clothing that she saw at that moment, a black and white maid’s gown, and disappeared into the first corner that she found to change into the dress.
Within seconds, she was suddenly invisible to all the servants that filtered through the hallways.
So long as they didn’t look too closely at her face, that is.
Ashley looked down at the dress she’d taken off, knowing that she could hardly walk around with it.
Still, she also needed to hide so that she could put it back on later.
She shoved it behind a large vase in the hallway, hoping that no one would think to dust that day.
And then, gifted with all the camouflage she needed, she straightened her spine and began to walk, her eyes seeking out familiar faces until she found one.
He was tall, laughing with another servant, his face as happy as it always was. Elliot would help her, she just knew it.
It took her a moment to recognize his voice, having only had short conversations with him when he visited her at the diner, but she would recognize that bloodred hair anywhere. It didn’t hurt that he had the most enchanting dimples that made him boyishly handsome.
The perfect look for a womanizer if what Val said to her was to be believed. Judging from the maids flocking around him, fluttering their eyelashes, Ashley thought Val might be right. She’d have to be careful around this one, then.
Elliot was a butler, of all things, and a higher-ranking one, which was why he stood so confidently, with an air of authority that only dimmed when he was around those he served. Right now, he seemed like nothing in life bothered him.
It was far too easy for Ashley to slip into the crowd, edging her way closer and closer to Elliot until she could finally hear what he was telling the maids.
“His master will be here any minute now. I bet he’s on high alert. We’ve been in danger with the Diamond Clan for a while now, and I can imagine that Val’s not too happy that he will have to appeal to their king,” Elliot said, causing the maids to gasp in shock.
“The king of the House of Diamonds, imagine,” one of the maids said with an almost dreamy tone to her voice. Whoever this king of Diamonds was, he must be very interesting, to say the least.
“He’s the kind of man that even the noble dragon women swoon over,” one maid replied, though she said it softly, as if afraid to be overheard. “I’ve heard them whispering about what they would do if they were alone with him.”
That set the other maids to giggling again.
Ashley knew that most women would never get the opportunity to do exactly what they wanted with a man they were attracted to, but she didn’t say anything.
“I heard that he was in the countryside nearby just the other day,” the maid carried on. Ashley wanted to hear more of what the maids were saying so she moved closer to the woman.
The maid was a plain woman, though the red in her cheeks almost made her pretty.
She was the sort of person who blended into every situation.
But still, something about the way that she was talking about this Diamond King made Ashley just the slightest bit nervous.
And she hated to admit it, but she was feeling slightly jealous of it.
She didn’t even know who this man was or why she should care about him.
The fact that the maid carried on, however, was a relief.
“You know they say that these higher dragons can just sense it,” the maid proclaimed, not even trying to hide her interest. Ashley could see envy in the woman’s face, knew that she wished that whatever it was that this man was coming for, it was her.
And then, like she knew that Ashley herself was listening at that very moment, she chose to disclose the one piece of information that made Ashley just about have a heart attack.
“Higher Dragons can tell exactly where the person with the other half of their wing mark is,” the maid revealed with a knowing look.
That meant that if she did have a mate out there, just for her, then she could be found. Even if she somehow managed to escape this castle and find her way back to her own world, she could be dragged back to this one. Suddenly, having a mate didn’t seem so romantic after all.
Ashley backed away from the maids, going around a corner to hide. She sank against the wall, breathing a sigh of relief. But it wasn’t a wall she sank against, it was a firm male chest that was far too warm. His arms came around her, holding her in place as she tried to turn away.
“Careful now, darling, I would hate for you to draw attention to yourself. We all know how cruel they can be to the new maids here,” the man spoke in her ear, keeping his voice as low as possible and sounding casual and almost polite in the process.
It took Ashley a moment to understand what he was saying.
What kind of man was her brother to allow cruelty, when he’d explicitly said the servants were respected and taken care of here?
Still, Ashley wasn’t exactly sure if she could trust the man who was standing behind her.
She pulled away from him and turned to face him, blinking as she came face to face with a man who was, to put things lightly, devastatingly handsome at best, and confusingly disarming at worst. She’d never seen a man who had looked half as good as he did, and even though he wore a butler’s uniform and was very obviously a part of the servant class, she couldn’t help but feel like she was drawn to him.
Something about him made her want to stand a little closer to him.
That was why, even though she knew she should be paying attention to Elliot, she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. A fact that, judging by the soft chuckle that escaped his lips, he knew the effect he had on her and thought it was just the slightest bit entertaining.
“I…” Ashley began far too quickly but realized that she didn’t exactly know what to say. She was too dazzled, momentarily stunned by the reality of the man and his perfect features.
“It’s alright, you can take your time,” the man rumbled with a flirtatious lilt to his voice.
He stood there patiently while Ashley looked at him, obviously at a loss for words and even common sense. Despite herself, and the common sense screaming at her to run away, she stepped daringly closer to him, unable to deny the somewhat magnetic sensation that she felt at that moment.
“You’re new here,” he said after a moment with a dazzlingly beautiful smile, and all Ashley could do was nod in response.
“I can show you around if you’d like,” he offered.
Though Ashley knew that there would likely be consequences to a butler being found with the princess of all things, she couldn’t help but agree to his offer. She decided that she would go wherever he did and obediently followed him as he turned on his heel.
Of course, he didn’t quite move with the same familiarity that she had seen in many of the other butler’s steps, but Ashley was certain that he had to be new as well and simply happy that he was able to help another newbie.
Or at least that’s what she told herself as she slowly followed behind him and disappeared down the hallways to go on her second tour of the Opal Castle. Now, if only he’d tell her his name.