Chapter 101: Black Soul, Cold Heart
Arawn marched towards the balcony where he and Evanna just had dinner. He studied the balcony and waited with his hands held behind his back as the servants started clearing up. Haryk was ordering some of the maids not to miss certain spots while wiping the table clean before bowing to the prince.
"*Your highness, is there anything else you need?*" He asked. Arawn glanced at him and waved a hand. "*Have a good evening, sire.*" And the servant left.
Haryk knew the prince very well and could tell from his silent, cold demeanour that he was angry and did not want to be disturbed anymore. Unlike a lot of the servants, Haryk did not fear the prince, he had served him since he was a young boy and knew his soul was not black nor his heart ice cold like he made it out to be. The prince merely had a reputation to uphold and a kingdom to help run.
The servant closed the double doors behind him. He glanced at the lady who had dinner with the prince before she slammed the bed-chamber door behind her. One side of Haryk’s lips pulled up into a subtle slanted smile before he composed himself and told the lady’s handmaiden, Rina, to see to her.
Out of all the years, the prince never dined with his mistresses, they barely stayed the night before they had to leave, and he would be up working again. They all knew the drill. He was only physically available, and to want anymore was foolish.
But his last mistress became attached, and Haryk had more than once needed to kick her out of the prince’s chambers after he left her in the bed to do his royal duties. It was evident from the way she spoke so nastily to lady Evanna that she also, along with Haryk, suspected the prince was becoming smitten with the human. He never thought after the years of slaughtering humans and from the death of the queen that the prince would ever fall for someone as lowly as a human.
Yet, the prince was now fuming in his chambers after what seemed to be an uneventful evening with lady Evanna. Haryk would admit she was a rare beauty, a sight even the elves could not look away from, but she was still human.. The servant shook his head.
It was not his place to think of such things. All he needed to focus on was making sure the servants did their jobs correctly lest they be punished. They were in his duty of care. Luckily, he had only lost one man this month; he went ’missing’ after losing his hand serving dinner.
Haryk left the prince’s quarters with his mind back on the tasks at hand. His footsteps hurried as he began ordering servants to finish their duties for the night. The palace did not clean itself, and with the attempted assassination on the crown prince, he imagined the king and prince would be stressed trying to figure out who wanted them dead. Meaning the servants needed to be on high alert and walking on eggshells near them.