Chapter 48

The King arched an eyebrow at her. His mate's bravery was rubbing off on her maid. He should be angered but he wasn't, not because of the baseless threat she had made while she had driven a dagger through his heart in the dining hall, he knew that his blood was still present in her veins, any attempt to hurt her, either by herself or anyone else would be futile but he enjoyed how things were going.

He found them, sought of, interesting.

"Oh! And the dinner?! The one before she was taken to see her family!"

Gwen bit her tongue before her tongue had the chance to sabotage her further by adding, 'In the dungeon that you threw them into, your Majesty.'

He leaned further into his seat, repressing a smile, feeling his ego triple.

Pride.

"That was me."

She clapped. Her eyes misted with tears from how glad she was that had not been answered in the negative.

"You have the potential, your Majesty. We just need to sharpen it!"

His frown deepened.

Too far.

Her gaze was fixed on the floor again.

"My apologies."

The King sat back in his seat, smiling to himself.

Kind.

Him. Kind.

Well, he could do that. In fact, now that he was thinking about it, kind was something he could be very good at.

He could even step it up.

He could be... more kind!

She really should have just kept her mouth shut.

Because now, she was on her knees begging her mistress to accept another of the King's invites.

"Did he do something to you again?" Zezi asked, looking up and down at her quizzically. She didn't have her long sleeves anymore, nor her overflowing gown.

But what if he had not hurt her but her family?

Zezi's heart raced.

Had she put Gwen in trouble instead of offering her protection?

Oh no.

Had the King caught up on her threat being useless and punished Gwen?

"No, my Lady."

Relief.

"Then get up. I hate seeing you on your knees." She looked away, going through her wardrobe. "I need to change this wardrobe; it has no fight-appropriate dresses. Do you think the training room will be open? I can't just sit in my room all day doing nothing." She pushed away the like of gowns hung in the wardrobe. "Like I'm so bored. Gwen?" She asked when she received no answer, then she moved away from the wardrobe, peeking out to see her.

"Gwen?"

She rolled her eyes, taking in an annoyed breath.

"What are you still doing on your knees? I said I don't like it."

Gwen looked up, her face begging, her voice doing the same.

"Please, Milady, it's just another dinner, but to the King, it means a lot. Give him a chance. A chance for the King is a chance for us, for the whole Kingdom. Please, Milady, give us a chance."

A whole Kingdom.

Well, speaking of pressure.

"I'm not in the mood for this." She said with a dismissive sigh, looking through her wardrobe once again. "Do you think the swords in the training room are available to everyone? Also, why are there so little technological equipments here? I want a gun. I'm lagging behind in trai---" she paused, observing Gwen again. This time she was angry. "Gwen! Raise your head and stand up."

She paused, taking in her position and how adamant she was, as she walked closer to her, with her eyes studying Gwen carefully

"Did he threaten your family?"

"No!" She defended him way too quickly.

After long moments of staring down at her, she said, "I'll go."

That should be enough to make her happy.

First job, done well.

Or was the job done at all?

Gwen could still remember that this had been how her Mistress had accepted his Majesty's invite the last time and driven a dagger into his chest. The only way she had been able to get away with it was because she was his mate. In fact, the only reason it had happened in the first place was because of who she was to his Majesty.

Their King had let it happen.

That didn't matter though. Gwen wanted to ensure that the action wouldn't be repeating itself.

"The King didn't threaten my family, Milady. You have to know that he has been nothing but kind to me."

"You've said that before and I said I'll go."

Moments of silence.

Short moments that were starting to seem too long.

Zezi caught her reluctance quickly and smiled in understanding.

"Don't worry, I have no daggers with me." She ended with a chuckle and a shrug. Then she turned away towards the wardrobe. "Now come help me pick a dress and maybe style my hair when it's time for this dinner."

Gwen smiled slowly, standing up and following after her Mistress.

The King had asked her yesterday to do this, and she had decided to stay on her knees begging after she had set her Mistress breakfast, just in case she would need the whole day to convince her. She felt absolutely in luck that she didn't need the whole day.

Oh, how lucky.

But she couldn't be sure. Not until the dinner was over and her Mistress made none of her murderous actions again would she be certain.

Zezi's hands slipped through the dresses. She couldn't care less about this dinner; in fact, she didn't care about it at all, but there was something that she was highly interested in, and that was the letter that had been tucked into her dress the day before yesterday.

The wolfsbane had been a subtle threat that she couldn't say a word about the letter or she'd be killed, while the words in the letter were an invitation.

It was a threat and a promise of friendship in one, depending on which side she wanted to pick.

She needed to meet that person again.

If she didn't step out of this room, the person might not have a chance to reach out to her again. She was very curious about all this and knowing that an enemy of the King was in the place trying to get an ally was a wholesome thing.

All she needed was an excuse to get out of her room and not have those guards standing in her way, and the King happened to be the perfect one she had been looking for.

If she was lucky, she would meet that mystery sender again...

...and oh, how much she hoped that she would be lucky.