Sydneyrella
Sydney scrambled to her feet and tried to walk away. She was not a lady, as her stepmother reminded her every day. The prince must not talk to her. He was far above her station, and she must get away before he tried to do her any kindness. Sydney walked away from the manor as quickly as her tiny feet would carry her.
"I am so sorry," came the prince's voice, "Please do not run away. Your mistress is a most cruel young lady and her words must have hurt you." Slowly, Sydney spun around to face the future monarch and saw concern in his blue eyes. What a kind man the prince was to worry over a servant. "You have been crying."
Sydney looked at the ground. "I have been a servant here for nine years and the young lady and her sister have always been cruel. I have become used to it, Your Majesty. I thank you for your concern. I believe it is a most kingly quality."
The prince did not seem to hear her. He rummaged through the pocket of his breeches. A moment later, Prince Sky produced a navy blue handkerchief. He offered it to her and Sydney stared at it. "You can not give this to me. I am only a servant, Your Highness."
"You are still a human being," Prince Sky replied as he pressed the handkerchief into her hand. Syd wiped her eyes and he smiled. "Another kingly quality is to protect one's citizens to the best of one's ability. You are upset. If you like, I will speak to the lady of the manor about finding you a new station."
Sydney's blue eyes widened, and she smiled at Sky. "If I may, Prince Sky, are you think kind to all servants that you encounter? You must have more important things to do than see to it that everyone is treated properly. And though it is the kindest thing anyone was ever offered to do for me, I am afraid I must decline your generosity."
"Why?" demanded the prince with indignity.
"I am not a typical servant," Syd said softly. "I am not paid by Lady Victoria to do her bidding."
"That is called slavery, dear girl, and my grandfather King Albert outlawed it fifty years ago. I shall send the palace-"
"Excuse me for interrupting, Your Highness, but you are lacking some vital information. I am not a typical servant. I am not paid because I must earn my keep. My father did not leave as much money to my stepmother as she would have liked, and she says because of this I will not live like a lady in her home."
"Your stepmother? Lady Victoria is your stepmother?" Sydney nodded. "Then you are Sydney Grayson, Sir Carter's daughter. Your stepmother told society she had to send you away as a girl after your father's death. She said you were insane with grief. I shall speak to my father about her lies at once. You are nobly born, Lady Sydney, and you should not be made to be a servant. She is illegally forcing you to-"
"Your Majesty, please." Sydney could hardly believe herself – contradicting the prince! - but she found she could tell him things she had never told anyone before. "I am honored that you have taken such an interest in my life, but I am sixteen. In two years I will be free to leave the manor. I have a bit of money safe from Vypra's reach and my mother has family in Marin. They will take me in."
"You would wait two years?" Sky asked incredulously. "I will not stand for this. You shall come home with me. My mother would be honored to have you as a lady-in-waiting. She was quite fond of Lady Dana. Please, lady, let me help you."
Sydney was beginning to wish she had just left. He wanted to help her and she was grateful that someone cared, but Syd had long ago resigned herself to her fate. "I must go, and perhaps you should as well, Your Highness. The ladies Elizabeth and Mora shall be missing you soon. Please, forget my troubles."
Sydney curtsied to the future monarch, her curls sweeping the ground, and then hurried back into the manor and up to her pitiful excuse for a bedroom. She watched the figure of the prince move closer to the house as he went to rejoin the party. When he was gone she lay down on her bed to rest until Lady Victoria summoned her.
As Syd lay there with her eyes closed, she thought about Prince Sky and the kindness she had been shown by him. He would be a wonderful monarch one day, of that Syd was certain. He disliked Elizabeth and Mora, choosing instead to look after servants. He had been so concerned and then outraged at Vypra's lies. One day, when she had married a respectable man from Marin, she would return and show Sky how well her life had turned out to be after all. She dozed off.
Many hours later, Sydney awoke and crossed to the window once more. The guests were leaving, Prince Sky included. Elizabeth and Mora escorted His Majesty to his carriage, and though she could not hear stepsisters' words, Syd was sure that the prince was not impressed. She allowed herself a small, secretive smile.
"Sydney, clean the manor," snapped Lady Victoria's cold voice from the other side of the thin wooden door. "And take care not to be too noisy as you do your chores. My daughters and I need our beauty sleep." Sydney heard her stepmother laugh an evil, high pitched laugh. "I saw that the prince was so amused by Elizabeth's jokes that he had to excuse himself to laugh. My daughter shall be queen of Silverhill and you shall be nothing but an urchin."
Syd closed her eyes tightly to keep from exploding in anger. She clenched her hands into fists and waited until she heard her stepmother's footsteps retreat.
When Victoria was gone, Syd crept out into the hall and down the flights of stairs to the grand dining room. With a sigh, Syd began to pile up the dirty dishes and carried them into the kitchens. As she scrubbed at the fine china and silverware with cold soapy water, the young maiden was joined by Alice. "Hello, love," Alice said, "It is inhuman to make you clean the entire manor twice in the same day. I will help in any way I am able."
"Oh, thank you, Alice," Sydney cried gratefully.
The two women cleaned together in silence. Then Alice had a question that Sydney was not prepared for. "Was the prince with you tonight, milady?"
"What do you mean?" Syd asked carefully. She was not sure what Alice's reaction to the truth would be. Syd watched her friend with anxious eyes.
"I heard he left the party for quite some time…after Elizabeth had another taunt to make. I ask again, Syd, was the prince with you?"
"Yes," Sydney admitted, lowering her gaze. "He was a true gentleman, Alice. Prince Sky had heard how cruelly Elizabeth spoke to me and he tried to comfort me. He even gave me his handkerchief." Syd produced the blue handkerchief from her apron pocket to show the cook, who gasped.
"That is the crest of the royal family," Alice said happily. "Oh, love, the prince is a good man, like his father Wesley. What kind of royal goes after someone he assumes to be a servant? I-"
"Alice, I told him the truth about Lady Victoria. I had to, for he was offering to find me a new station where I would be treated better. When he learned this, Prince Sky was absolutely livid. It was so kind, and noble…" Sydney sighed softly.
"If your father had not passed away so suddenly, love, you would have the same opportunities to marry the prince as Vypra's undeserving brats. But love, you would never know the proper etiquettes and codes that the upper class lives by. The-"
"I don't necessarily want to marry the prince, Alice…but I wish I could at least be his friend."
The older woman gave Sydney a brief hug. "I would help you meet him again if I could, lady. There has to be some way…"
Sydney went back to washing dishes. "I am a servant, Alice, no matter what my birth status was. You are right; I do not have the knowledge of what it takes to be a lady. It shall never be, the prince and I. But you are so kind, to want to find a way to be my matchmaker of sorts. If my world were different, if I had a loving mother and father in Vypra's place…"
Alice could hear the tears in Sydney's voice. "Go up to bed, love. I shall finish the work. You need rest."
Sydney looked up at Alice's round face and nodded. "I must thank you for your kindness once again, Alice. I shall see you in the morning."
The young maiden went up to her bedroom again. She changed into her thin cotton nightgown and crawled between her ragged sheets. When Syd closed her eyes, all she could see in her mind's eye was Prince Sky's kind face.