"Your Highness!"

She had not expected to see him here of all places. What was a prince doing in the servants' quarters? Why had the maid not told her he was here? Maybe the maid didn't know. Either way, Flora was shocked to see Helia sitting at the large, wooden prep table as she came into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness!" Flora exclaimed, still in a bow, "I did not know you were down here and-"

"Stop." Helia held out a hand in front of him, his palm facing Flora. She quickly shut her mouth, the kitchen suddenly falling into tense silence. "Stop apologizing. Stop speaking. Just...stop."

Flora stood still. She slowly rose from her bent position and looked at Helia as he had his head in his hands, pale fingers running through his dark hair. He picked up the glass of whiskey and took a sip.

Should she say something? Should she leave? It was obvious that he wanted to be alone, but it would be rude for her to leave without announcing it.

"Just do what you need to do in here and then leave."

Helia beat her to break the silence and for that, she was grateful. Even if he was being rude.

"I was just looking for Saladin, Your Highness. A maid told me he w-"

"He's gone to bed. You just missed him." Helia grumbled before taking another sip of his drink.

"Oh..."

"Lucky you." Helia scoffed as he looked into his glass watching as the amber liquid swirled around the clear crystal glass with every turn of his wrist.

"I don't think I understand, Your Highness." Flora scrunched her face into a confused expression.

Helia looked up from his glass and towards Flora. Flora could see the slight dark circles that began to form under Helia's dark blue eyes and the pink flush that stained his cheeks, neck, and what she could see of his chest as he wore a looser shirt than the one he had worn to dinner.

"My father seemed to enjoy your company this evening." Helia quickly changed the subject, bringing the glass up to his lips and finishing his drink. He reached forward and grabbed the bottle of whiskey, almost empty, and dumped the rest of it into his glass.

Flora wanted to laugh, but she kept her composure, "No, Your Highness, I just think that he just had a little too much to drink. Better that I had to deal with his behavior at dinner than the princess."

"Like father like son I guess," Helia smirked as he held up his glass and turned it in his wrist as he looked at the pattern in the crystal.

Flora remained quiet, not wanting to neither confirm nor deny Helia's statement. She could tell that he was different from his father but the glass in his hands told a different story.

"Your silence is deafening," Helia smirked as he looked up at Flora.

"I have nothing to say, Your Highness. I don't know you or your father. Who am I to assume a person's character based on first impressions?" Flora replied as diplomatically as she could.

"Isn't there a saying that when a person shows you who they are the first time, believe them?" Helia reached into the bowl of fruit and picked off a grape.

"And which version of you would you have me believe, Your Highness?" Flora asked as she held her head up high.

Helia swallowed the grape and dark eyes met Flora's, "Pardon?"

Flora took a tentative step towards where Helia was sitting, doing her best to keep up her strong visage even though she did not know what to expect from the unpredictable prince.

"Should I believe that you are a dour drunk who cannot even look his bride-to-be in the eyes when she is seated right next to you at one of the most uncomfortable dinners of her life? Or should I believe that you are the secretly kindhearted man who would give the cloak off of his back to someone as low born as me?"

Helia scoffed and took a sip of his drink, "Don't mistake what I did as kindness. I would not have your body become an incentive for wild animals to come into the kingdom from the mountains."

Once again, Flora was silent. Not sure what to say as Helia continued to eat the grapes from the bowl and sip on the whiskey. She wanted to tell him that she didn't believe him, that if he had only been concerned about the animals and not her that he would have instructed a member of his guard to hand her an extra cloak. She saw a few hanging off of the backs of a few horses. Instead, he had given her the one off of his back, an action that he didn't need to do.

"What do they say about me and my father in Linphea?" Helia asked, once again changing the subject.

"I choose not to listen to rumors, Your Highness," Flora answered.

"Just because you don't listen to them doesn't mean that you don't hear them. What do they say?"

Flora took another step towards the prince, her eyes trained on his as she opened her mouth to speak.

"They say that your father is cruel and that you are not much different, Your Highness."

Helia popped another grape in his mouth, "Is that so?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Helia threw back the rest of his drink and stood up from the stool that he was sitting on at the prep table. He set the crystal glass on the table and took a step towards Flora. They were inches apart and Flora could smell the warm alcohol that wafted from his breath. Still, she kept her composure, not letting the prince's proximity cause her to falter.

"I think that maybe you should start believing the things that you hear," Helia whispered into her ear.

"Princess Krystal wonders if you would be available in the coming week to spend some time with her." Flora looked up at Helia, his veiled threat having no effect on her as she changed the subject as he had done before.

Helia took a step back, "Right," Helia kept his eyes focused on Flora and his jaw tight, "tell your princess that I will come to her when I see fit."

Flora wanted to give him a piece of her mind right there. How dare he treat Krystal with such contempt! She was to be his wife! Krystal wanted to get to know Helia and assess what kind of man he was, and he was treating her like an inconvenience that he would decide how to deal with.

"That will not do, Your Highness. Princess Krystal would like a time to meet with you. How are we to prepare when we don't know when-"

"I said that I would meet with her when I see fit!" Helia took a charging step towards Flora, once again closing the distance between the two, his face dangerously close to hers. His dark blue eyes burned into green, "Tell that to your princess and do not disagree with me again! I don't know how things are in Linphea, but you are not in Linphea anymore! You will learn to show respect for your superiors! Am I understood?!"

Helia did not wait for Flora's reply. He looked down from her eyes and down to her soft pink lips, observing how tantalizing they looked as they parted slightly. He could hear her breath and felt it as it hit his face. He stepped back and staggered out of the kitchen and back up the stairs, leaving Flora in the middle of the now silent kitchen.

Taking a deep breath, Flora willed herself not to think poorly of the prince. Stay positive, she told herself. Just follow your own advice. Flora picked up the glass from the table and placed it beside the washbasin. Next, she grabbed the bowl of fruit and placed it on the marble countertops.

"Stay Positive. Stay Positive. Stay Positive." Flora repeated to herself like a mantra. She would not let Helia nor Duncan nor the king get to her. She had to be strong for Krystal, for Linphea. Tomorrow would be another day and hopefully with the new day would bring new opportunities for both her and Krystal.

It had been nearly a month and the prince had been absent from every event and meeting that Krystal attended. Each day, Krystal and Flora would find themselves in the dining room alone as they ate the vegetables that the chefs prepared that night. Both Flora and Krystal were getting sick of carrots and potatoes.

Flora had pleaded with Saladin each night to talk to Helia. She knew that the old man made an effort judging by the wearied expression on his face. Still, Helia would not see Krystal. Flora wanted to scream.

The sun was setting on their thirtieth day in Hademort, and Flora was preparing Krystal for dinner in the hopes that they would run into Helia in the dining room if they ate at a slightly later time. If there is one thing that Flora had discovered, it was that the people of Hademort were a people who loved the night despite many having to be up early in the morning for training or serving the royal family.

"It's official," Krystal sighed as Flora brushed through her lavender hair, "Prince Helia hates me."

Flora stopped her brushing and stared at Krystal through the vanity mirror.

"Prince Helia does not hate you, Your Highness. Nobody can hate you." Flora smiled. "Try to keep a positive outlook. If His Highness hates you then I think that he must be the biggest misanthrope that I have ever met. I have tried my best to talk to him for you through Saladin but even Saladin seems tired of Prince Helia's apathy."

Flora resumed brushing Krystal's hair, placing small gem-covered pins in her hair. Her lavender hair looked like it had starlight running through the strands and Flora always loved it when she wore her hair like this.

"I really hope that I see him tonight." Krystal sighed.

"With all the work that I have put into your hair, he better be there." Flora giggled as she placed another pin in Krystal's hair. "I do have it on good authority that King Azrael has been heard talking of the 'Linphean Beauty' and that Prince Helia leaves when his father starts talking about you. He must feel something for you if he gets so offended when his father speaks of you in such a manner. His Highness likes you, princess. Prince Helia seems to be a bit..."

"Rude?" Krystal rolled her eyes.

"Misunderstood and unappreciated by his father. Maybe he just needs to warm up to the idea of being with a person who wants to get to know him."

"Get to know him?" Krystal cradled the side of her jaw on her hand, "How can anyone get to know him when nobody is given the opportunity."

"Maybe he is just scared, Your Highness."

"Scared? The people of Hademort don't seem like people who would scare easily." Krystal rolled her eyes.

"Fighting a battle and facing one's emotions are two very different things, Your Highness." Flora gave Krystal a tender smile through the mirror, showing the princess empathy for her situation with the prince.

"Why are men so...so...so..." Krystal fumed as Flora put the final pins in her hair.

"Challenging?" Flora tried to put it as nicely as possible.

"Yes!"

Flora and Krystal laughed, all of the tension and frustration releasing from their bodies.

"Well, Prince Helia will have to confront his feelings for you someday, Your Highness." Flora shrugged as their laughter subsided, "Maybe he will put all his unsaid affections and attraction for you into the wedding night."

"Flora!" Krystal gasped, "Who knew you could be so scandalous?"

Flora blushed at Krystal's shock, "You know that I must live vicariously through you, Your Highness."

Krystal sighed, "Flora, you know that at any point you can-"

"No, I cannot." Flora turned her head away from the princess, hoping to shut down any more conversation, "My life is dedicated to you and to Linphea."

"Is it because of Mi-"

"I believe that it is time for you to head down to dinner. Shall we, Your Highness?"

Krystal could tell that Flora did not want to speak on the subject anymore and decided it best not to cause her friend any pain. Flora reached out her arm for Krystal to latch her pale and slender arm around. Giving her a small smile, Flora led Krystal out of the room and down the long corridors of the palace to the dining room.

Helia stood in the stables as he had been putting his horse to bed. He stroked the stallion's black muzzle and sighed as he thought about the events of the past month. Trainings, meetings, and the constant berating towards him by his father. Helia had been exhausted and the last thing that he wanted to do was entertain some foreign princess and her handmaiden.

However, he could not get the beautiful handmaiden out of his head and the conversation that they had in the kitchen. Sure, it wasn't so much of a conversation as it was him drunkenly yelling at her, warning her to keep her nose out of his business. It didn't help that Saladin had been passing along messages from her about the princess wanting to spend time with him. Why would Krystal want to spend any time with someone like him? He was certain that Flora would have told Krystal about what an absolute drunken brute he had been, and Krystal would have no further interest in him.

But that must not have been the case.

Had Flora not told Krystal about what happened in the kitchen? Worse, did Flora not heed his instructions not to press the issue any further? It seemed that the latter had been the case. He had never met someone as...optimistic and determined as Flora. She had not seemed phased by his orders and had been the most disobedient servant he had ever met. She might have been worse than Saladin. Flora was the most frustrating woman that he had ever met, and he only had a few interactions with her.

Despite the limited interactions, he could not get Flora out of his head. It didn't help that his father talked about her at every meeting. Commenting on the "Linphean beauty" in the palace, knowing full well that when he described the said beauty that he was not talking about Krystal. His father would comment on the Linphean style dresses that she wore and follow it up with crude remarks on the way that the dresses made of the sheer material showed off her body. The only "good" thing about his father was that when it came to women, his father had no follow-through. Helia had never heard of a time that his father had even entertained the idea of being with a woman ever since Viviana had died. One of the reasons that Helia had not bought into the longstanding rumor that his father had killed his mother.

However, if there was a man that Helia had to worry about, it was Captain Duncan. If his father's comments were crude, Duncan's were repulsive. Duncan also had a reputation for sleeping around with the women of the palace, both low and noble-born. Helia knew that the minute that Duncan had asked Flora that riddle filled with innuendos that Duncan had put a target on her back; Flora would be his next conquest. Helia wouldn't let Duncan get to her. Well, he wouldn't if he cared about the beautiful, outspoken, and kind handmaiden. And he didn't care...

"I thought that I would find you out here, Your Highness."

Helia groaned, facing away from the source of the voice and dreading having to turn around. So he didn't.

"What do you want, Saladin?" Helia asked.

"Princess Krystal has gone to dinner and I was thinking that you would-"

"I will take my dinner in my room, thank you." Helia quickly dismissed the old man as he walked the horse into the stall.

"Your Highness, you haven't-"

Helia quickly turned around to glare at the old man, "I said that I will be taking my dinner in my room this evening."

Saladin sighed and bowed his head, "Very well, Your Highness." He rose up slowly, "But you will have nobody to blame but yourself."

"What?"

"You have the chance of happiness in that dining room and you choose to let it slip through your fingers by your poor attitude." Saladin clenched his fists at his sides. "Please just spend some time with-"

"Are you done?" Helia crossed his arms over his chest. "I said that I will take my dinner in my room. See to it that it is brought up to me after I am finished here."

"Fine. Is there anything else that you need, Your Highness?" Saladin sighed.

"No, that will be all."

"I don't know what else I have to do." Krystal did her best to hold back her tears as she sat down at the empty dining room table.

It had been over an hour since Krystal and Flora arrived at the dining room. The fire burned in the fireplace and the dinner had been served, but nobody had shown up. Flora left her spot by the fireplace and came to sit in the seat next to Krystal's, the seat that was usually reserved for Helia.

"Please, Your Highness." Flora wrapped an arm around the crying princess and pulled her into her chest, "Please don't cry. Especially over someone like him."

Flora reached up and wiped away a tear that fell onto Krystal's cheek. Flora wanted to ring that stubborn ass of a prince's neck. Never in her life had she felt such anger for anyone. How could someone be so insensitive? How could he not have any compassion for someone who had left everything they knew to live in a place she doesn't know with people who could care less about her? As Krystal silently cried in her arms, Flora couldn't stand by and let her friend be treated that way, princess or not.

"You know what?" Flora took a calming breath and put on a smile, "If Prince Helia will not come to you, then we will go to him."

"What do you mean?" Krystal asked.

"I will talk to Saladin and try to get the prince's schedule for the coming week. Where he is, we will be. If he is training, you will be in the arena watching him. When he has dinner, you will be there. If he is out riding his horse, then you will ride alongside him."

"What if he gets annoyed?"

"Your Highness," Flora scoffed, "you are going to be his wife, his queen, the mother of his children. He better get used to being with you and spending time with you. I just don't see how he is not jumping at the chance to be with you at this very moment. Any man would be lucky to spend just a second with you. So stop your crying, finish your dinner, and we will head back for bed."

Krystal gave Flora a bright smile as she wiped her eyes.

"I don't think that I can eat carrots and potatoes anymore." Krystal chuckled.

"Perhaps I can run into the market tomorrow morning and find you something a little more nutritious to eat, Your Highness." Flora replied, "I know that Saladin goes to the market on Saturdays and maybe I can urge him to push Prince Helia a little further."

"I will let you have full control of my purse," Krystal laughed, "just so that I don't have to eat bland potatoes and carrots."

"I will get you the best that I can find, Your Highness."

"Thank you, Flora." Krystal sighed as she returned to eating her dinner, "You really are a true friend."