Destined Love by Marline (i can read book club txt) 📕

/> “Why not?” I asked him curiously.
“Let’s not start this conversation again. I can guess how it’s going to end.” He said. This time it was my turn to smile.
“I think you should go to sleep now. You look tired.” Durwald got the blanket and put it over me. “Oh, and please call me Nathan.” He added. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep.

I woke up and noticed that I felt completely fine. I was relieved; I had gotten sick and tired of being sick. I sat up, noticed there was no one in the room and walked over to the door. I opened it and looked outside. I had no idea where to find anyone but I really did not feel like staying in the room any longer. I needed some fresh air. Aimlessly I walked through the beautifully decorated corridors. Unwillingly I wondered where Nathan’s room was. At the end of the corridor I turned right and found that ahead of me there was another long corridor. But at the end of this one I could see a door that led to the garden. I walked quickly because I was looking forwards to some fresh air and some nature. Although I had probably seen enough nature for a year on that island.
I got to the end of the corridor and walked through the door. Ahead of me was a beautiful garden. But strangely I saw nobody there. I realized I had not seen anybody at all today, no maids cleaning the rooms, no people in the garden. It had been too quiet. I started feeling uncomfortable. I walked through the garden but could not enjoy the walk anymore; I was worrying about where everybody was. I decided that I needed to find somebody before I started panicking so I went back inside the palace and started searching around. I knocked on every room I passed and then looked inside but there was nobody. Frantically I continued my search, my despair growing with every door I knocked on. I finally arrived at the front of the palace and walked through the main doors. There was no one there either. I did not understand this; if the family had left they would have left a note. And the staff would still be there. Something strange was going on. I actually started questioning my sanity. Which wasn’t such a good idea at a crucial time like this. I walked around the palace and hoped I could find some stables or a gardener or something along those lines. I was walking, or rather running, on a gravel path, there were flowerbeds next to me. The flowerbeds were stuffed with flowers in all kinds of different colors. Suddenly I saw one of the flowerbeds move. I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around, not sure if what I had seen had actually happened. The plants moved again. I stared at it, ready to run away if some kind of monster came out of it. I saw a forehead appear, then eyes, a nose and a mouth. It was an old man, the few hairs he had were already gray and his face was completely wrinkled. He looked around nervously and then motioned me to come. I didn’t know what to do, who this man was, if I could trust him or not.
“Princess. Come here!” He ordered me in a whisper. I decided to trust him, what could such an old man do to me? I walked over to him and when I was at the edge of the flowerbed he grabbed me and pulled me inside. He stifled my scream with his hand. He pushed me down so that I was sitting on the floor next to him. I realized I was out of sight for other people now.
“Princess, you’re in danger. The King, Queen, Prince and your parents all had to flee. The palace is being guarded now, all the staff had to leave. The men who took over the palace are ruthless and your parents did not have enough time to go back to your room to get you. On their way out of the palace they told me to take care of you.” I listened to all these things without saying a word.
“What am I supposed to do? How do I find them? How do I get out of the palace?” I finally asked.
“Don’t try getting out of the palace, especially not if you look like this. The guards do not let anybody out who does not have permission from James, the head of the men who took over the palace. I don’t know where your parents are, they might be outside the country or they might be in a prison somewhere. I think that your best chance of survival is if you work here as a maid, you might get some inside information.” The old man answered.
“Wouldn’t they recognize me?” This was never going to work out.
“If you cut your hair a bit shorter, wear something different, they might actually believe it.”
I had to cut my hair? That was my only pride! My blond locks flowed until my waist and I wasn’t going to give them up that easily.
“Fine, I’ll wear something different and pin my hair up.”
“Color you hair.” He ordered. I felt like I was having the peace talk all over again, with compromises and arguments.
“All right.” It wasn’t such a bad idea, if I colored my hair and pinned it up no one would notice. “But how do we get out of the palace? And how do I become a staff member here?” I was lost. I had no idea what to do.
“First you could ask James for permission to leave the palace but I’m pretty sure that he will never let a pretty girl like you go. I suppose you could go up to the guards and seduce them.” The old man said, out of the blue.
“Seduce the guards? What if that doesn’t work? I will be taken prisoner! And I have never been very good at seducing people.”
“Don’t worry, it’ll work, you’re pretty enough. And the guards stand there all day, they are tired and like a change in the evening.” This was completely against everything I had learned and I wasn’t sure if I was happy doing this.
“We first have to color my hair though.” I said, hoping that he would change his mind about the seducing thing and come up with a better idea.

I was standing in the stables, ready to dip my hair in a bucket of charcoal mixed with water. I had never done anything so disgusting in my life and I had hoped never to have to do anything like it. But the man had warned me that I would have to do this routine everyday if I wanted my hair to stay black and remain unrecognizable. I closed my eyes and leaned backwards until all of my hair was in the bucket. I had to sit there for a few minutes to let the charcoal sink in and then afterwards I had to keep a towel around my hair until it dried, which would take forever. I felt the cool water run over my forehead and I desperately felt like crying. I had no idea how to get out of here, a stranger was my only friend, or rather, he was my only acquaintance, and I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do to get out of here.
After sitting with my hair in the bucket for a few minutes, I stood up and took a towel from the table. I was used to everything being handed to me before I could even ask and now I had to take everything myself. I didn’t mind this though; it would toughen me and help me in my future life as a queen. If I ever became a queen. I wished I could just get out of the palace and go to Dardoland to live in peace and harmony. But for that I first needed to get out of the palace and find my family.

I was lying on the straw in the barn, planning out my technique how I would become a maid in the palace when I heard footsteps coming towards me. I could hear they were soldiers because they were wearing boots and were marching as if they owned the place. I sat up quickly, looking around for a place to hide when I remembered that I was supposed to be noticed so that they could use me as a maid or something of the sort. My heart was pounding in my chest when I saw the first soldier march into the barn. He was tall with black hair and a very pointy nose. He looked into every stable and examined the horses. Suddenly he kicked one of them hard, so that it whinnied and became nervous. I had to pinch myself to keep from standing up and shouting at him. How could he be so mean? The horse hadn’t even done anything! At the same time I realized that if he was that mean to the horses, he would probably act the same to me. I wanted desperately to whimper in distress at the thought of what he might do to me. With every step he took my heart started beating faster and I tried to make myself as small as possible. He was observing the second to last horse now and he opened its mouth harshly to look at its teeth. I prayed for a miracle to happen at that moment. The man stepped out of the stable and then walked to the last one. I knew he would see me even before he got to the horse. I was too afraid to look up at him and I just sat there, covering my head with my arms so that if he would kick or hit me at least my head would be spared.
“What on earth are you doing here?” The voice suddenly boomed. I made myself as small as possible but forced myself to look up at him. He was hovering over me; the way he stood he looked around 3 meters tall. His nose looked even pointier from up close and I could see that his mustache was perfectly combed, something I knew only mean and harsh people did.
“What are you, some little spy who can’t talk?” He kicked me with his boot and I lost my balance.
“Don’t be so mean to her, she might actually be useful.” I heard another voice. Could this possibly be my savior? I wondered. Or was it the other type of useful they were referring to?

I was standing in one of the rooms, making up the bed. I had done it; I was an actual maid in the palace. Never in my life had I thought it possible that I would become a maid and I nearly smiled at the irony. It had taken me a while to learn how to make up the beds this perfectly but now I was good at it. The blanket had to be spread out over the bed and then folded at the top. There were not supposed to be any folds in the blanket at all. I had never expected being a maid would be this hard, there was so much work to do and everything needed to be perfect. The door opened and I stopped what I was doing immediately, turned around towards the door and stood up straight with my hands behind my back. It was James who came in the room.
“Hello Patty.”