An Embarrassing Situation

Chapter 5

The servants' quarter of the palace had always been a place of drama and gossip. Any indecency that could be committed had already happened and was distorted by rumours so outrageous that the next day the atrocity was dismissed as pure myth. The women that inhabited this area of the palace (and to a smaller extent, the men), bored by their daily duties, spent their free time gossiping about the activities of: other servants, distinguished individuals, foreign monarchs and (their personal favourite) the royal family of Alamut.

Throughout the generations, there wasn't a King or Queen of Alamut that hadn't caused some terrible scandal worthy of reaching the vast rumour mill of the maids. The usual stories included forbidden romances, thieving from foreign dignitaries, shameful affairs, blackmail and cheating. All of which were greatly exaggerated before reaching the ears of the victims.

Princess Tamina appeared to be the exception to the rule, since the death of the previous rulers there had been virtually nothing to talk about. In the opinion of the servants, Tamina was the most boring ruler to ever exist. Granted, she ran the city well; but she had never had a romantic partner, had hardly interacted with ambassadors and she barely had a social life in which to cheat or blackmail. Long story short: she was a disappointment. But that all changed the morning after the incident.

"-but it's true! Sabina overheard Prince Garsiv telling Prince Tus!"

"-Prince Dastan and Princess Tamina? Lucky bugger. How'd he manage to get her?"

"-I heard Garsiv walked in on Dastan and Tamina… you know… and apparently Garsiv challenged the Prince to a duel to the death for the Princess!"

"Don't be stupid Sofia, they're both still alive!"

"-this is so not fair! Prince Dastan is mine!"

Later that morning, a loyal guard informed Tamina of the rumour circulating the palace. Once he'd left, Tamina had groaned and begun weakly pounding her head against the table. She hadn't had any sleep last night due to worrying, and Dastan's cheerful demeanour at breakfast meant he had probably slept like a baby. The git. Now, he had created this calamity, he just couldn't settle for invading her city he just had to ruin her reputation as well! Bloody Persian.

"Hello Princess!" Speak of the devil and he shall appear, grinning his stupid face. "And how are you this wonderful morning?" Tamina raised her head off the table to glare at him. "That bad, huh?"

"Have you even heard the rumours?" She snapped.

"Yes I have, I liked the one where it turned out I was a werewolf and I was 'marking my territory'!"

"I'm glad one of us is enjoying this." His expression sobered.

"Does it really bother you that much?"

"Yes," she sighed, "I don't like people talking about me behind my back and making things up."

"Okay." He stood up and made to leave the room, a confused Tamina asked him where he was going. "To sort this mess out."

AN: Hola mis amigos. Chapter 6 is written and fairly decent, I've begun Chapter 7 but I haven't gotten too far yet… Anyways time for thanking!

General Thanks to: Jtoasn, Shani8, TheBeautifulMonster, BellaCullen1789, Dean's best girl.

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S.S.N.A.P.: Originally this story was going to be four chapters long, I've managed to stretch it a bit, but then again I didn't realise the Aftermath would take more than one chapter.