I turned to the other side of the bed with my eyes closed on the soft comfortable mattress. It had been thirty minutes and I wasn’t anywhere close to being sleepy as my mind kept drifting towards Emma’s whereabouts. Luke had told Charlie would be able to find out by tomorrow but where was she?
Someone had got the news that Meredith wasn’t Luke’s actual fiancé but it was someone else. The only good thing was Marc was getting better and we didn’t need to stay here anymore for his treatment.
I was lost in thoughts until I felt my hair strands being played, making me aware of the person behind me. I was sharing the bed with Luke right now with my back facing him. I kept quiet, not reacting to his movements as his fingers touched my hair ends and he tugged it gently.
"You know I’m awake," I said opening my eyes and turning towards him while my hands supported the upper half of my body.
"I know," he said with a Cheshire like grin, "You didn’t tell me how your day went apart from being my lovely maid," he said tucking a lock of hair behind my ear.
The simple gesture made my heart rate increase and I was sure Luke noticed it as his lips curled up faintly while his dark green eyes stared into mine. I don’t know since when but I was starting to be more aware of Luke’s presence. I was glad he didn’t say anything until he spoke,
"Am I making you nervous my cute Lillian?" he asked me. I opened my mouth and closed it not knowing what to say. He simply smiled, the rarest boyish smile making him look as harmless as a feather.
"I met Jamien while I was cleaning," I said and saw him raise one of his brows, "Actually I was cleaning with two other maids with me but once the dog named Dozer entered they left me behind to take care of it. When Jamien asked him to go back to the room he sat on my lap."
"Did he now," he murmured, "Dozer is adorable isn’t he."
"And lazy," I added.
"Might be the wind Jamien is passing it as he’s lazy too," he said taking his phone from the nightstand and scrolling over something before he passed it to me, "Look."
Taking his phone, I looked at the picture in it. It was Luke holding a dog in his arms standing next to a younger version of Jamien. Jamien didn’t look one bit happy in the picture.
"Why does he hate you?" I asked handing back his phone. He kept silent for some time and spoke.
"I used to visit Syrian a lot more before than now and the last queen of Syrian was an acquaintance of Canrart. Jamien being young was left in my care sometimes, "he explained looking at the ceiling, "He was eleven then."
"Let me guess you stole his candies or broke his toys," I said making him chuckle.
"Of course not. He was such a bratty vampire kid that he needed a little boot," he said looking back at me, "Oh don’t worry Lillian I didn’t beat him, definitely not for child violence...as such at least."
"I took him to a jungle one fine morning as he kept pestering to take him there. I took a small nap under a tree fully aware that he wouldn’t listen to me when I said to stay put. Well, when I woke up he wasn’t there so I looked for him, have to say he did cover a lot of ground but heading in the opposite direction from the castle. He seemed fine therefore, I left him behind knowing he would make it back. Oh and I forgot to mention to him that there were few animals but no worries because he did meet some wild boars and crocodiles near the riverside while he was covered in mud."
"You left him on his own?!" I asked shocked, "What if something happened?"
"If you look on the brighter side he is courageous and less of a brat now," he said with a yawn, "The person who cares for you will make you strong in unknown ways. After that incident he didn’t like me though I got him Dozer who preferred me than Jamien but what can I say, even a dog knows a brat when he sees one."
"You’re unbelievable," I muttered under my breath.
"Why thank you," he grinned taking it as a compliment. We continued talking until we heard a shrill voice of a woman.
"Who was that?" I asked him wide-eyed as he got up from the bed and I stepped down too. He looked at the door continuously before turning back to talk to me.
"Get inside the covers now!" He whisper yelled. I got in pulling the cover up till my neck and saw him open the door.
"David," Luke greeted someone outside the door, "What are you doing here at this odd time instead of being pleased by your maid?" he asked smoothly.
"She pleased me enough for the night that she’s passed out to bring me some water to drink," I heard the person. He must be the man I saw in the hall with Luke and the others in the evening.
"Did you by any chance hear a scream?" Luke questioned.
"Don’t worry about that, it was Victor in his room. You know," the man named David replied, "Let me go away now so that you can carry on with whatever you were doing," I heard the sound of footsteps fade and saw Luke closing the door shut with his back facing me. He stood there for few passing seconds and then broke the silence,
"What did you bring along with you Lillian? What’s there in your room?"
"Just maid clothes, why?" I asked him curiously.
"Forget about what I said earlier about leaving tomorrow night," he said turning to face me, "We’ll be leaving right now. Come on."
"What happened?" I asked moving the covers aside and getting out of the bed.
"Victor dismissed his girl in the end moment as he had to visit the city few minutes before we got into this room and he hasn’t returned back yet," he explained going to his closet searching for something and then went to another closet pulling a black hoodie from it. The man named David was lying about the scream then, "Raise your hands," he instructed quickly and I did as he asked me. He pulled the hoodie over my head.
"The weather outside is cold and it’s going to start snowing soon," he went to the bathroom as he tried calling someone through his phone. Bending down he knocked the tiles repeatedly until one of them sounded hollow, lifting it from the floor, "Keeping weapons in the closet or in view is nowhere safe as people clean it up for you. So this is what you have to do," he said pulling guns from it.
"I can-" I was going to say Luke to give me one too but he surprised me by handing one of the guns to me, "Thank you."
"I know I can trust you with a gun," he said pushing two guns in his pant. He took another one and pulled the above part of the gun backward.
"What about Charlie and Marc?" I asked as he placed the tile back in its place, "Now that we are talking about missing people where is Meredith?" it had been some time since I last saw her.
"Charlie isn’t picking his call and Meredith is with him. We’ll have to get Marc and meet up with Charlie before we leave this place," he said going towards the bed, taking the pillow and covering it with the blanket, "I don’t think we have enough time so we’ll have to split to save time. You know where to find Marc right? I’ll go find Charlie and see if he found Emma in the meantime."
"Won’t I get noticed wearing this?" I questioned him. I was wearing a hoodie which a maid inside the palace wouldn’t be wearing and loitering at this time of the hour would raise suspicion.
"If anyone asks, tell Jamien sent you to fetch a book from the chemist and don’t worry Lillian, someone will accompany you soon. These are the keys to Marc’s room," he said handing it to me and opening the door, "Be careful," he murmured pulling me to his embrace before letting me go.
"You too," I said a little worried as we got out of the room.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦