Prince Player(3)

I quickly head into my bedroom, pack a bag, and leave for the castle. I need to get to the center of power, and quick, before this shit gets beyond me.





2





Hazel





My knees hurt, my arms are sore, but for the first time in my life, I actually like my job.

It’s weird. I went to college and got a degree in marketing, and yet here I am working as a maid, and I love it.

Probably because I’m cleaning one of the most beautiful places in the whole freaking world. The Castle of Polovia is where the royals live, or at least some of them do. They also house a ton of guests all the time. People are pretty much constantly coming and going from the castle, and it’s our job to make sure everything is sparkling and perfect.

I push my cart down the plush carpet. I’m like a maid in a hotel, except this is the most priceless and gorgeous hotel imaginable. I’m pretty much invisible here, especially since I barely speak the local dialect. I know some German, but Polovian is a little different, so I find it hard to follow sometimes.

I only got this job because a local girl took pity on me. I was robbed up in Austria, and ran out of money after I got off the train in Polovia, and I was pretty screwed. But I luckily met Britta, and she managed to get me a job at the castle. Her family has been working here for ages apparently. It’s basically the luckiest thing I’ve ever had happen.

Soon, I’ll be able to afford a flight back home. I could probably reach out to my parents and ask for help, but I want to do this on my own. Besides, I’m not exactly on the best terms with them. My father didn’t approve of my trip overseas, and my mother basically does whatever he tells her to do. I don’t want to go running back to them with my tail between my legs and have to deal with their judgmental comments. I won’t give in to that shit anymore.

So here I am, a maid in a beautiful castle. I push my cart and pause outside of an open room. Inside, two girls I work with, Marta and Brunhild, are talking to each other in Polovian.

I can only catch some of it, but there’s one phrase they mention a few times.

“Who’s the prince?” I ask them.

The two women stop and stare at me. Brunhild is a tall, stout woman with dark blonde hair. She steps toward me with a frown on her face.

“The Prince of Polovia, of course,” she says in accented English. “You know of this, yes?”

“I didn’t know there was a prince,” I admit to them.

The two women give each other a look.

“How did you not know this? He is very famous here,” Marta says. She’s stocky and short, maybe in her forties.

“I’m sorry,” I say, not knowing what else to say.

“He is very, how do you say, handsome,” Brunhild says.

Marta giggles like a schoolgirl. “Very handsome,” she says. “Every woman wants him, you know.”

I stare at these women, pretty surprised. Normally they’re very sullen and serious about their work. I can’t believe they’re acting like giggly school girls right now.

“He must be something,” I manage to say.

“Yes, very something,” Brunhild says. “You be careful of him.”

“Careful?” I ask her.

Marta gives me a wicked smile. “You’re young. Pretty. Be careful.”

I don’t know what they mean but they don’t bother explaining. They turn away and go back to chatting in Polovian, ignoring me completely.

I sigh and turn away. I’m used to being treated like an outsider at this point. Everyone here thinks they’re better than me just because I’m from America, but that’s okay. I’m not here to make a new best friend.

But their words keep lingering with me as I go about cleaning. I work my way through the guest wing and into the royal section. These rooms are enormous and ornate and always empty. I don’t know where the King and Queen stay, but it isn’t in the royal wing.

I’m not sure why I should be careful around the Prince. If he’s a royal, I can only imagine that he’s stuffy and very serious. Every other royal I’ve see around here has been very cordial and professional, and maybe even a little cold. They take the royal family very seriously in this country, and they still have a large amount of political power.

I assume this Prince is the same. He’s probably an old, stodgy man just waiting for his short tenure as the king. Maybe he has a temper or something, and likes to take it out on the young maids. Maybe they want me to steer clear of him because he might fly off the handle at any moment and chew me out for some minor infraction.

But they did call him handsome, although their definition of handsome is very different from my own. The celebrities in Polovia are all good looking in their own way, but they’re not at all my type. Stout, hairy men seem to be the norm here, which really doesn’t do anything for me. Maybe this prince is a stout, hairy, stodgy, boring old man, and those women just think he’s handsome.