THE ROOM THEY'D GIVEN ME WAS BEAUTIFUL, as was everything else in the palace. It seemed wherever I went, whoever I met; it seemed like everything had been made up to portray the royal family's own definition of perfection — gold-lacquered and pearl-laced and silver-encrusted.

I was no exception.

After meeting the princes, Ismal had pulled me away from the rest of the group, his eyes glowing like the fake jewel necklaces I'd seen in the market. Behind him, two girls stared at me and gritted their teeth together.

They hadn't been called up by any of the princes.

"I knew you were a good choice," Ismal had babbled, gesturing for me to follow after him. "I knew he'd like you. He's going to give me a promotion because of you, I can feel it! I—"

Whatever else he'd said, I'd drowned out, but the message was quite clear: I was his Ace, his trump card, and Prince Cairo was the gambler. I was what was going to make him win.

At least, that's what he thought.

Ismal led me west, pulling me up two, three flights of stairs, all of them nailed into a crawling snail around the walls. He took his steps two at a time, and in my incredibly long, incredibly impractical dress, I struggled to keep up.

"This is the West wing," he said, taking a turn into a corner on the left. "All the Princes live in separate wings; Prince Raza lives in the North, Prince Finn lives in the East, and Prince Cairo stays in the West."

He turned to me, eyes glimmering once again. "Prince Cairo likes you, which is why you're staying near him. You need to be accessible to him at all times and as easily as possible."

The implication was clear, and I felt my ears flush red.

But instead of declining, rejecting, saying no in the way I craved to do, I asked instead, "Who else is staying in the West wing?"

"For now, only you," he said. "You are, after all, the only person I've chosen for His Highness. But in the event that he finds a liking to one of the other girls, they might move into this wing, as well. You might even get kicked out."

Do not disappoint His Highness. Your stay here is at risk.

The meaning and the quick glance he gave me held the threat his words tried to disguise, and I nodded quickly.

But as soon as he turned away, a small smile pulled at my mouth.

I might not even be here...?

Interesting.

Ismal continued to walk at the pace of a chicken, quick and all the while, clucking about the palace, before he finally stopped in front of a wide door at the end of the hallway.

"This is your room. Don't mistake it with the other doors; they're reserved for any guests, expected or unexpected. Do you remember the way to the second floor?"

I hadn't even known this was the second floor, but in the fear that Ismal's rage was all encompassing, I nodded.

"Good. You can go in now, but don't lock the door. The staff has been trained to always knock, but you cannot lock the door in the event that someone important has come to visit you. Understand?"

"Yes."

"A quick learner; you better display the same appropriate behavior in front of the prince. Soon, a servant will come to tend to you and help you get used to life within the King's home. Of course, if you were to be Queen, you'd get an army of them, but as of now, you only get one. Don't get too comfortable with it yet."

"I won't," I said.

My mother had worked as a servant for a brief time in her life, for this rich family living in the center of Babylon, and her stories were never friendly.

I wondered if the one who would serve me would be as miserable as she'd been.

I don't want to be like that.

"Do I have to have a servant?"

Ismal stopped, his lips twisted down now. "I said don't get comfortable with it, but don't be disrespectful, either. The Prince has provided you with one; refusing him would mean insolence."

He said this all as if I was supposed to know this already, and I found myself nodding dubiously.

"Oh. Okay."

"Get used to the room," he said, opening the door. "You'll be living here for a pretty long time."

And then he pushed me in and closed the door behind me.

I wasn't quite sure how long ago that was, perhaps a couple of minutes or perhaps a couple of hours, but it was a long enough waiting that I'd finished exploring and was currently sitting on a bed big enough to fit four people, in a room that could fit perhaps my bathroom and dining room, and still have space to host its humongous closet.

The room was beautiful, yes, with paintings of angels on the ceilings and walls painted the color of blood and bedsheets so soft if I fell I felt like I'd never come back up, but just like everything else in Archaem, it felt lonely.

I felt lonely. And it was even lonelier to think that all the other girls had probably already made friends with each other, and to even have a chance of a conversation, I'd have to go down three flights and cross the whole castle, possible getting lost along the way.

Ismal had phrased my living situation as a sort of privilege, but in this case, it felt more like a punishment than it did anything else.

I sat there swinging my legs and staring at a gigantic lotus painting for what felt like it could've been forever, wasting thirty years of my life in this way, before I finally heard the door click.

Momentarily forgetting Ismal's message, I tensed.

What if it's the Prince? What if he intends to continue our conversation... Or perhaps even something more, even if we just met? I don't want to even see him.

I locked my shoulders together, waiting to see the tall, dark haired figure of Prince Cairo come through, but instead of dark, dark eyes and a crooked nose, I found myself staring at a pair of big, big brown eyes.

Huh?

Opening the door was a small, scrawny little girl, with her hair cut incredibly short and her dress falling incredibly long in comparison to the rest of her.

As if she could feel my gaze, the little girl looked back up at me, smiling. She had a rather large gap in between her two front teeth, and as she started to talk, it made a whistling sound. "I'm sorry, Miss, did I disturb you?"

Her voice was soft, lilting, almost as if she was more used to singing than she was speaking, and I couldn't help but think that she would make a very good lullaby.

"No," I said, "who are you?"

She smiled wider now. "Sharhyar had given me the name of Maria, Miss, thank you for asking."

"And what are you doing here?"

"I will be your house girl throughout your stay in the palace, Miss," she said, owlish brown eyes blinking up at me. "Ismal has personally sent me here."

The implication behind her words were clear.

She's been sent here to watch over me.

Maria's knees were unevenly tanned, proof that she was not the type of house girl to stay inside the palace day in and day out, but when I looked back up to her face, her lips were still pulled into that wide, close mouthed smile.

Though her expression hadn't changed one bit, I couldn't help but feel as if it looked a little more sinister than it did before.

"It's okay," I said, my eyes searching for a hole in the ceiling, a broken latch on the door, an odd squeeze of a way that I might have to escape. "I don't really need a house girl. I'm pretty used to getting by on my own, if you must know; you can go for now."

As I scanned the walls, Maria took a step closer to me. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't do that, Miss. I've been left with specific instructions on how to take care of you, and it'd be my head if I didn't make sure your stay here will be the very best."

I've been left with instructions on how to take care of you.

"Oh," I said.

"Yes," she said, smiling as she took a few more steps to the bed, and by instinct, I found myself leaning backwards faster than I could stop it. "And don't worry, Miss; this room has been thoroughly checked before you came in. Not even a mouse could skitter through, much less anything or anyone that could potentially put you in danger. The only reason why I'm here is for your own personal benefit and extra precautions."

So she'd seen me looking for a way out.

I wasn't sure if she thought I was actually afraid of being in danger here, or if she could tell that I was trying to escape, but her eyes were clever and so I decided it was wiser to keep my mouth shut.

"Thank you. That's very considerate of the palace."

"You'll find out that the palace is naturally very considerate to its guests, Miss. Really, if I may say, your position in the hierarchy right now is very lucky. Congratulations."

"I'm very lucky, am I?" I asked. I could feel the smile that had previously been on Prince Finn's face pull at my mouth.

"Yes, of course. You have the chance of becoming concubine, after all."

Speaking of chances...

"Say, Maria, what exactly does it take to become a Prince's concubine?"

"Pardon me?" the girl blinked slowly, hands wrung in front of her. Though she only reached my shoulders, her hands were surprisingly large in comparison to the rest of her.

"What does it take to become a Prince's concubine?" I said. "I know I have a chance of becoming a concubine, but nobody here has ever really told me how exactly to get that. After all, I'll be against so many people here."

For a moment, Maria opened her mouth, before she slowly closed it again. "I don't think I'm supposed to tell you this, Miss; I apologize."

"Why not?

Maria's eyes flitted left and right, almost as if she was waiting for Ismal or Abdul to come out and save her, but in the next moment, she'd managed to force on herself yet another smile. "You see, Miss, the Princes have specifically requested that their likes and dislikes be kept private, as they want to find a concubine that they have an actual, tangible attraction to, and not because of preconceived knowledge."

Somehow, for some odd reason, perhaps owing largely to Maria's large, stiff smile, I didn't quite believe her.

"But don't you worry," she said hurriedly, right as I opened my mouth to speak. "Don't worry, Miss; Ismal will arrange everything for you. I'm quite certain you've left a lasting impression on him."

A lasting impression, indeed.

"But what if I don't want him to arrange it? I'm quite capable of arranging things myself."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Miss. He's given me a specific schedule for you to follow, as well as a few rules to help make your stay more comfortable."

My heart tightened. "Schedule? Rules? I thought he'd already given us all of the rules when we entered the palace."

"As I said, Miss, he's taken special attention to you; he's given you a few more as he insists it'll elevate your chances."

My heart constricted a little bit more. "Elevate my chances?"

"Yes. And, as I said again, he's taking very cautious steps to watch over you."

Maria lifted her head, smiling very widely. "Don't you worry, Miss; he'll take really good care of you."

KAY © 2019.