A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Wow, I just realized that the first five chapters all take place in the same day. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

:Chapter 5: Hope:

One thing about Mother kept nagging me. What if she was right? What if Jack was only pretending to be my friend out of pity? Or even worse. . . to make fun? I mean, that does make more sense. I am a kitchen maid. . . though I don't get paid for my services like the others. I was only here because Mother tutors the royal children. Jack is a royal child. Why on earth would he want to befriend a. . . slave? What if, like she said, no one really loved me either? I shuddered, not bothering to wipe away the tears rolling down my filthy cheeks. What if I was more like my mother than I thought?There was a knock.

I flinched when I heard the sound, bringing my skirt over my feet to cover my wounds. I gasped in pain as the skirt made contact with my bloody feet.

"Hello?" a voice behind the door called

I recognized the voice immediately. It was Jack. I squeezed my eyes shut, willing him to go away. Not now. . . why now? Why now when I'm so confused about everything? I don't want him to pity me anymore.

There was another knock. "Hello? Is everything okay in there?"

I shook my head, as though he could see me. No. Everything is not okay.

Creak. . .

I quickly wiped the splatters of blood on the floor with my skirt. I wiped my tears with my dirt- stained hands and pulled the skirt over my feet.

There was the 'click' sound of the door closing, and I sensed him standing a few feet away.

I could feel his gaze upon me during the next few moments of silence.

He sighed. "Tough night," he said simply.

I nodded. Those two words just about summed the day up. The fight with Mother, Evan speaking to me, the news of King Charmont's death. . .

The king's death. Finally, I looked up at Jack's face, and I couldn't help but notice how much of the king's face I saw in his own. I was relieved to see that he looked upset, as opposed to his eerie blank look he sported earlier.

He gazed at me in an uncomfortableway, his eyes unblinking. I shifted uncomfortably, trying to break his stare. He was probably thinking about all the times he'd wasted on me. A lowly kitchen maid. Finally, he broke the silence. "I'm sorry."

Sorry? Sorry about what? Sorry for leading me on to believe that he was a true friend, not just a kind prince who felt it his duty to treat those beneath him as equals? Instead, I said, "Me too," and lowered my eyes to the floor.

He offered me a swarthy hand, and I pondered upon whether I should accept it or not. Of course I should, he's the prince isn't he? I could get hung if I showed any disrespect. As I reached for his hand I ccouldn't dismiss Mother's words that our friendship has just been an act of kindness on his part. At least Evan was honest enough not to play around with me. I drew my hand back.

"What happened?" he asked as he stared at the floor. "You're bleeding!"

"Huh? Oh. . ." Blood was splattered all aroundme. "I was uh. . . washing the dishes and I guess one slipped from my hand. . . "

"Are you alright?" he said in a voice that sounded almost as if he were in a panic. He followed me with his stare as I jumped to my feet. Bad move.

Pain shot up from my foot as I stood up. I quickly retreated back to the floor.

"No, really, I'm fine," I insisted as I used my hands to sweep the small shards of glass into a small pile, ignoring the pain. "It's nothing."

"Are you sure? I mean, there's blood dripping-"

"I'm fine," I repeated, still sweeping at the floor.

"Alright." Neither of us talked for the next few minutes. I continuedto sweep around the neat pile of the broken pieces.

I could feel Jack's stare penetrating right through me. Did he know I might suspect him? I mean, it made sense. He and Evan were rather close, but he treated me differently. He treated me like a stranger. He and Evan got into arguments and fights every now and then, but they always end up closer after they make up. When he's around me, he's polite, uses good manners. . . like a prince should treat his subjects. The more I thought about it, the truer Mother's words sounded.

Jack cleared his throat.

It is only when I stopped sweeping and looked up when I realized I must've been mumbling to myself. I could feel my cheeks reddening with embarrassment.

"What's wrong?" he asked, giving me a concerned look, though as I concentrated on his face for the next few moments I swear it changed to a look one would give an insane person. "Hope, what's wrong?" he repeated, this time his tone a bit more urgent.

I wanted to tell him. Just a day before I would've told him everything on my mind. . . well, almost everything. I never told him anything about what happens with Mother. But what Mother had said. . . about pretending to be my friend out of pity. . . seemed to change my perception on everything.

I felt warm tears well up in my eyes as I gazed intently back at him. The only friendship I had ever known had been a lie. I dropped my fist into the pile of glass and small shards were sent in every direction.

"Hope!"

Before I could stop myself, I whispered, "Why didn't you ever tell me!"

His sparkling green eyes widened in confusion. "Tell you what?"

"You should've dropped the act years ago when Evan did." I wiped my nose with my sleeve. I could still feel my feet throbbing.

"Act? What act?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Boy, was he a good actor.

Mother's words from this morning after Jack's sword practice seem to shriek in my ears. 'Well let me tell you this, you filthy little wench. Just because the kind prince pities you in no way means that he enjoys you're company. Now why don't you stay out of his sight from now on and do him a favor?'

How could I have been so clueless, thinking a prince enjoyed spending time with a kitchen maid. . . but even as I kept hearing her words, I couldn't forget the look in Jack's eyes up in his room before, as he was grieving for his father, whimpering like a child. . .

What was I thinking? It was all an act. If mother said so, it was probably true. There was a reason she's been tutoring the royal princes. How could I have been so foolish as to think that my uneducated views would ever compare to hers?

But there were all those times we played 'Ogres in the Forest' and made a human train to slide down the spiral banister when all the other maids had their backs turned. . .

"Hope. Please talk," he spoke frantically in a soft voice.

. . .but he's a prince. The future ruler of Kyrria! And I'm just a friendless, fatherless bastard with a mother who hates her.

He spoke some more, but all I caught were, "Are. . .me?"

I covered my ears, trying to drown out Mother's voice and my jumbled thoughts. Different memories flashed through my mind, memories of pretending to be a damsel in distress while playing our little games, of the look Evan gave me the first time he refused to speak to me, of the time Mother struck me earlier this evening after I had left Jack's room. She had her hand on my shoulder, I spun around, and then I felt the blow. I can still feel my cheek aching. The memory replayed over and over. Her hand on my shoulder, the blow. . . the hand on my shoulder, then the blow. . .

I flinched as I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" I shrieked as I slapped the hand away. "I HATE YOU! NO ONE LOVES YOU!"

I tightly squeezed my eyes shut, my hands still at my ears. That touch almost felt real. . . no, it felt VERY real. Suddenly, the voices start to slowly fade away and I opened my eyes, snapping back to reality. My heart felt like it weighed a hundred pounds, and I could feel the blood drain from my face. That's because it WAS real.

I peered up and saw a blurred figure standing beside me. I wiped my eyes with my sleeve for a better look.

Uh oh.

I saw Jack, though his look of concern was replaced with one of hurt. His eyes widened as he set his piercing green eyes on me. "What?" he replied calmly in a voice barely above a whisper, though he sounded extremely shocked.

I tried to speak, but no words come out.

He silently waited for me to answer.

I'm sorry! I want to cry out. I didn't realize it was you! I thought it was Mother. . . I bit my lower lip. If only he knew.

"Well then," he said, breathing shakily, still keeping his gaze. "I-I never knew you felt that way."

He paused again, as if waiting for an answer.

I didn't answer. I couldn't, though I was dying to. I opened my mouth to speak, but again, my voice was lost. Instead I gave out something between a choke and a sob.

"You know what? Evan was right. I shouldn't talk to you."

Ouch.

I saw him clench his fists as he prepared to speak again. "I'm going to do what I should've done ten years ago." With that he turned around so that his back was facing me. It felt as though my heart had been torn out of my chest.

And then he did what I feared the most. He walked off. No goodbye, no glance back. . . nothing. He just walked away.

"WAIT!" I finally cried out. I tried to stand up to run after him but my knees give away and I find myself back on the floor again, which was now scattered with little glass pieces. Only this time I didn't have a hand reach out to help me up.

And it was all my fault.

I rolled over onto my stomach, sobbing as I bury my face into the dirty floor.

What have I done!

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review!