Royal Blood Page 5

  Much to Elloriann’s relief, Carla smiled again. It was truly amazing to see her smile, like the sun finally peaking out after hiding behind clouds for a very long time.

  “Thank you,” Carla said, looking down at their joined hands. This time she wasn’t looking down because she felt like she needed to, but because she wanted to. She looked at Elloriann’s beautiful hands holding her own scarred, calloused ones, and she felt just a little bit of tension in her body easing away. “I can weave and sew. And I’m a good gardener.”

  “Great!” Elloriann beamed, giving Carla’s hands a gentle squeeze. “Our gardener would probably love the help! He’s been alone for a while and wouldn’t mind an assistant. He’s wonderful at his work, but he’s getting old, and his knees ache sometimes, it would be good for him to have someone younger helping out. Sewing could be arranged easily. I don’t really know how weaving works though, is it...would you need some sort of...” She made a vague gesture with one of her hands.

  “A loom,” Carla prompted.

  “Right! That. I don’t know what that is, but I’m sure we could get one. Maybe Licky could make one. That’s our mechanic. Well, we call her a mechanic, but she does all sorts of construction. She built our shower system.”

  “That’s...wonderful.” Carla had been amazed by the shower system. She’d never seen one like it before, but then she’d never been inside a castle before either.

  “I’m sorry, I talk too much. I do that sometimes when I get excited. Father’s always said it’s unseemly for a royal.”

  “I think it’s sweet,” Carla said. For a moment she was terrified that she’d overstepped a boundary, but that fear was quickly quenched as she saw Elloriann blushing.

  “Thank you. I’m glad you think so.”

  The hand Elloriann had used to gesticulate found Carla’s hand once more. Now they both looked down at their joined hands, and something settled inside their chests. Something neither of them understood just yet.

  It was a seed, planted carefully in both of their hearts. And if it was given the chance, it would grow, and bloom, and flourish.

  12

  Carla and Elloriann were on their way to the servant wing, to select a room where Carla would now live. They both secretly wished Carla could just go on sleeping on the floor in Elloriann’s bedroom, but neither would say so, of course. Surely, that would be inappropriate.

  Besides, Elloriann wanted Carla to have her own space, and Carla did rather look forward to having a room of her own after having lived in barracks for 5 years.

  After exploring several vacant rooms, Carla finally chose one with the most comfortable bed.

  The room was, of course, much smaller than Elloriann’s bedroom, but it was still quite large. Carla thought a slave owner could probably fit at least 5 people in a room this size, possibly more.

  Elloriann opened the wardrobe and started putting away the clothes she’d brought with her. They were her own clothes that she’d gifted to Carla as she didn’t have any clothes of her own. The clothes Carla had on her when she arrived were discarded now. She would have burned them on a ritual fire for all the contempt she had for those rags, but she settled for seeing them thrown away. They weren’t even good enough to use for cleaning as they were too saturated with dirt and blood to be of much use for anything anymore.

  “We’ll get you new clothes soon. And I’ll have the traders get some personal items for you – hairbrushes, towels. We make our own soap, I'll get you some later,” Elloriann said as she folded several pairs of pants into one of Carla’s drawers. “Once you start working and getting your salary, you'll be able to buy whatever else you need yourself.”

  This made Carla feel both excited and nervous. It'd been years since she had money or could buy anything for herself. She almost forgot what that felt like.

  In a way, she'd never been truly independent. She lived with her parents on their farm, and then she was in slavery. She'd never actually worked for herself, getting her own money that wasn't in any way shared. Elloriann had already told her that the castle would provide her with food and a room, which made her feel safe, but the idea of being completely self-sustained still made her feel a little uneasy. Not because it was undesirable, but simply because it was new, and a sudden change.

  “Do I need to go into town to buy things?” she asked.

  “If you want to. There's a market nearby, I can show you later. But you can also ask the traders to get things for you if you prefer.” She put the last of the clothing away and closed all the drawers. “You can give them your measurements, and they'll get you things that fit. They can get you some dresses or skirts if you want. The only gowns I have are for official ceremonies, I'm afraid I can't part with those.” She lifted one eyebrow. “Though I kind of wish I could, wearing them feels like being wrapped in a curtain.”

  “No, that’s all right,” Carla said. “I never really liked dresses. My fathers bought me some when I was younger, but I just never really liked the feeling of a dome of cloth hanging over my bare legs. It just feels strange.”

  Elloriann laughed at the description. She knew plenty of people who enjoyed dresses and wore them for special occasions, or simply when they were resting, which helped them relax. But many others didn't see a point to wearing a dress, when far more practical and comfortable garments existed.

  “I agree,” Ell said. “I had to wear gowns for balls and such, back when we still had them, before the storm. It’s one of those old traditions that I could never quite appreciate – royals and people with titles have to wear traditional clothing associated with their status. So my father and I wore embroidered linen gowns and capes that took up half the room. It’s all beautiful and luxurious and meant to demonstrate wealth and power, but all I ever felt was that my freedom of movement and action was restricted.” She smiled at a memory. “I once came to a ball in a plain suit, not even a single jewel on me. My father was furious, but I think that was the only ball I ever truly enjoyed. Everyone who danced with me that night looked much happier than usual as well. Those balls were tedious, I think people were glad to finally be entertained.” She sighed, lowering her eyes for a moment. “I do understand why my father was angry though. Those balls are often a way to build political connections, make impressions, and I too have a part to play in that. Going against expectations for a day was fun but ill-conceived, and it's fortunate there were no serious consequences for our public relations.”

  Carla smiled sadly at the thought of Elloriann's small rebellion. She wasn't familiar with the intricacies of royal interactions, but she could appreciate that people's lives often placed them in certain roles, and breaking out of them could be a lot harder than simply changing your clothing. Some roles were easier to play than others, but the barriers keeping you in them could be equally rigid.

  She looked over at Elloriann, still struggling to look at her directly, though a lot less so now than before. She was beginning to feel more and more comfortable around the princess, and a lot more comfortable in general. It still felt really strange to go from being a slave to having a royal put away clothes for her while sharing stories about her life, and sometimes Carla wondered if any moment now she would wake up, because everything that had happened to her in the past 2 days still felt like a dream, but she was finally getting used to her new reality. It would take a long time to shed the fear and habits ingrained into her by years in slavery, and, perhaps, some of them would never go away. But this new adjustment would surely be far more pleasant than the one she’d had to go through before.

  She came up to the window of her new room and looked outside. She had a partial view of the garden. She could see tomato plants and a nice cabbage patch, and farther away several apple trees stood in a neat row.

  “When can I start working?” she asked, turning back to Elloriann.

  “The castellan has approved my suggestion to hire you to help Rich, the gardener. He's been on his own for a long time, it will be good for him and be
neficial to everyone in the castle if more people work in the garden. You're welcome to start whenever you're ready. But I think you should rest for at least a few days before you start doing anything. It’s the end of the season, much of the garden work right now involves harvesting, I don’t think you should be carrying anything heavy before you’ve fully healed.”

  “I just...I want to earn my keep,” Carla said timidly. She knew rest would be good for her now. Sometimes she felt like she’d been tired for years. But she also didn’t want to just do nothing in a castle that’s been so welcoming to her.

  “You will, later. Don’t worry. You’ll work better if you’re healthy.” Elloriann stretched our her hand to Carla. “Come on, I’ll show you where the dining hall is.”

  Carla hesitated for a moment, then took the proffered hand, and together they walked out of the room to explore the rest of the servant wing.

  13

  Carla healed quickly. The abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables from the garden helped her body recover, as did her new accommodations.

  The soft bed felt wonderful. At the earl’s estate slaves slept on wooden beds with no mattresses or covers. In Mordielle, they slept on the floor of the barracks. Carla always wondered if slave owners realized that slaves would work better if they were kept in better conditions, but she thought, perhaps, buying new slaves was cheaper than taking good care of the ones you already had.

  The best part of having her own room, however, was the peace. It had been a long time since Carla had any time to herself. The barracks had held up to 3 dozen slaves at a time. Carla wondered if she’d be scared of sleeping alone now that she had her own room, but it turned out that she enjoyed it far more than she would have imagined.

  She still had nightmares sometimes, and when she did, she often thought of her parents and the peaceful times of her childhood. Sometimes she thought of her first night at the castle, when Elloriann held her hand and slept beside her on the floor. Carla conjured up those memories in her mind to calm herself down.

  Meeting all the other people that lived in Evlirone’s royal castle was a strange experience. Many of them had a hard time looking at her. In slavery, Carla’s facial defect hadn’t been much of a problem. Many slaves had been damaged by their time in ownership by others. For a slave to be mutilated in some way was expected, and most who met Carla assumed her face had been mangled by a previous owner. Besides, most slaves didn’t talk to one another, kept their heads down and did their work in silence.

  But now Carla was going to be living and working in a castle. One where servants were free and treated with respect. It was different. Everyone actually spoke to each other at dinner, spent time together playing games and sharing stories. And this meant that they all constantly looked at Carla’s face. Some of them only struggled with it for a short time, quickly adjusting. Others had a much harder time, often having to look away or make excuses to leave.

  It hurt Carla, of course, but she did not hold it against them. Her parents had explained to her early in life that some people would have difficulty looking at her. They’d told her that it was neither her fault nor theirs. People were simply scared of things they weren’t used to. They also told her that most people did not understand that Carla’s defect wasn’t something to fear. Some would think she had an illness and would not wish to be around her for fear of contagion, or they would simply assume that Carla has been maimed, and would be too scared to look at her, because people were afraid of bad things happening to them, so they were scared of seeing that it had happened to others. Their minds wound supply a myriad of terrible scenarios that could have led to Carla’s face looking the way it did, and it would scare them, making it difficult for them to look at her. And some people simply wouldn't be sure if looking at the unusual side of her face directly was rude and disrespectful, or if refusing to look at it would be ruder still, so they would choose to not be around her at all, so as to avoid doing the wrong thing.

  So Carla knew what to do. When she saw someone avert their gaze or hesitate to look at her, she would say that she was all right. She wasn’t sick and she hadn’t been hurt. She was just born looking not like other people looked, but that was all it was. No pain, no illness, no harm. And most of the time, it worked. She could see an understanding settle over people’s faces, and they would sigh in relief. It could still take them some time to adjust, but eventually, they would look at her much like they’d look at anyone else.

  Of course, there were people who still averted their eyes when she was around, simply because to them she was ugly, and they did not wish to look at her. There was little Carla could do about that, nor did she care to try.

  When the king heard of Elloriann's desire to hire Carla to work at the castle, he was not surprised. He’d expected Elloriann to wish to keep Carla close after saving her from Prince Rondall. He’d saved a life before himself and knew that it created a sense of protectiveness. He felt that his daughter should have the opportunity to make certain that Carla was safe and out of need.

  During Carla’s recovery, Elloriann would come and check on her. At first she came up with excuses as to why she just so happened to be nearby, but when she realized how happy Carla was to see her, she gave up on excuses, and would simply come to see Carla and ask her how she was doing.

  Whenever the king was too busy to dine with his daughter, which was almost always, Elloriann would come to eat in the servant wing. Carla was amazed to see that it did not create any tension in the servants. They did not bow to the princess, did not feel restricted or uncomfortable in her presence. Most of them called her by her given name and spoke to her like she was one of them, rather than the future ruler of the land.

  Carla was beginning to realize that when Elloriann had said that they were equals, she really did mean it.

  On the 7th day of Carla’s new life at the castle, Elloriann came to see her just before dinner.

  Carla was rubbing healing lotion into the bruise on her stomach, where the prince had kicked her.

  “Does it hurt?” Elloriann asked, cringing at the wide patch of green on Carla’s skin.

  “Not so much anymore,” Carla assured.

  She hesitated about disrobing to put lotion on her back in front of Elloriann. Ell had seen her naked before, back in Mordielle, but that had been by necessity. There was no such necessity now.

  Elloriann sensed her hesitation and immediately felt guilty for putting Carla in this position.

  “Would you like me to leave for a bit so you could tend to your back?”

  “I...”

  “Or would you prefer I stayed and helped?”

  Carla hesitated even more, though not for long.

  “Yes, actually. I’ve been struggling to reach...”

  Elloriann sat behind her on the bed and grabbed the bottle of lotion. Carla slowly pulled up her shirt, exposing her back. Elloriann carefully applied the lotion to the healing welts. They were a fading yellow now, almost gone.

  “You should have asked right away, you didn’t have to struggle on your own.”

  “I...yes, I suppose I should have. It just...” It just felt strange to ask the princess of the castle to come rub lotion onto her naked back.

  “It’s all right, it’s almost healed now anyway.”

  Elloriann took a moment to study Carla’s back again. There were old scars on it, and she wondered where those had come from, but she didn’t dare ask. It probably wasn’t something Carla would wish to talk about regardless.

  When Ell was done, Carla lowered her shirt and turned around.

  “Thank you,” she said, taking the lotion from Elloriann’s hand and putting it away into the bedside table drawer. “I think I’m well enough to work now.”

  “If you feel so. Don’t push yourself though.”

  “I want to. I miss tending to a garden.” She shrugged. “Probably won’t be as satisfying to harvest what I didn’t plant myself though.”

  “But you’ll make Rich happy.
”

  “Yes!” Carla chuckled.

  She’d met the royal gardener several days prior, in the dining hall. Elloriann had introduced them, telling Rich that Carla would be his new assistant. He was apprehensive at first, but when he found out how much experience in gardening Carla had, he became far more enthusiastic. Every day he met her in the dining hall, he’d ask after her well-being, gently implying that he couldn’t wait to have her start working in the garden.

  Elloriann now stood by the window of Carla’s bedroom, looking out over the fields below.

  “I love this time of year,” she said. “Lots of apples.”

  “You love apples, don’t you?” Carla said, remembering the bowl of them in Elloriann’s bedroom.

  “I do. They’re my second favorite fruit. The first being peaches, but we haven’t been able to grow them. I’m so glad most of our apple trees survived the storm. We even have a few that can be harvested very late in the season.”

  Carla smiled, the anticipation of working in a garden again spreading over her with a welcome warmth.

  “Well, then. I’ll take special care in tending to them.”

  14

  The farm that had belonged to Carla’s parents had been quite large. But it was tiny compared to the fields that belonged to the royal family.

  Much of the land wasn’t cultivated now. Before the storm, there were several people working on that land, making full use of it. But then harder times rolled around, and many of the servants had to be let go to work elsewhere. One of the gardeners was killed by the storm. In the end, Rich was left alone to tend to as much of the garden as he could.

  He had help in the beginning of the season, when the land needed to be plowed and plants started. When the season ended, almost everyone helped with harvesting. But the part in the middle – watering, weeding, mulching, feeding, all the everyday care – that all fell on Rich’s shoulders. So the amount planted had to be curbed accordingly.