Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 49

Can’t go back to sleep
Anaisa sat up in bed, frightened by the intensity of the storm outside. What a strange dream she’d had! And yet, the particulars of the memory were already slipping through her grasp…

“Annie!” A screech from the room next door made Anaisa fly out of bed and across the floor without even gathering her robe.

She flung open the door only to belatedly realize that it was Princess Sapphira, and not Katia, who’d been calling her.

“What?? What’s wrong?” She gasped. Was the Princess injured in some way?

“Annie. My lamp went out due to lack of oil. I assume this is your negligence. Get me more.” The Princess demanded.

“I… what?” Anaisa’s eyebrows rose with fury. “My negligence?”

The Princess had dismissed her other maids to varying temporary duties so long as Anaisa was shadowing her trying to learn about how to pretend to be Sapphira. It would be inconvenient to have others underfoot impeding her progress.

Unfortunately, that meant that the duties performed by several young women now, apparently, were to fall entirely on Anaisa’s shoulders.

“Jamie usually attends to these things, I think. Or someone else. Regardless, it’s now your responsibility to make sure the lamps are fueled before bedtime, and you failed. Go retrieve more from the basements.”

“The basements? What? How was I supposed to refill lamp oil before bedtime when you worked me half to death teaching me how to walk exactly like you??” Anaisa bristled. “I can’t be you and your servants, because you do nothing for yourself!”

The Princess sat up straighter in bed, indignant. “How dare you speak to me in such a way!” She cried.

“Then fire me!” Anaisa challenged, “Or behead me, and lose your double!”

Being woken up at such an hour combined with the outrageous demands of her mistress had let Anaisa’s temper loose. Hopefully she would survive the fallout from its rampage.

Sapphira squinted in the dim light, and a flash of lightning threw her face into sharp relief. A single candle burned on a table, flickering ominously as Anaisa awaited the princess’s response.

“Perhaps with your limited mind, you should focus only on your most important task, passing for me. I must admit that outburst was promising,” Sapphira unexpectedly brightened. “All right, in the morning I will bring back one of the maids to take care of the room while you continue to attend to me personally. That way we can both be satisfied.”

Anaisa was still far from satisfied, but she worked to hold her tongue. She didn’t want to be pampering a princess; she wanted to be out hunting for secrets about the nobility that she could use against Barnabas.

“If that’s all, I’m going back to bed,” She dipped a sarcastic curtsy in her nightdress and turned to go back to the little side chamber she was assigned to sleep in.

“I still need that oil! I said in the morning I would get another maid, but for tonight it is still your responsibility!” Sapphira declared.

“You’re joking, aren’t you?” Anaisa questioned the young woman’s sanity. “I don’t know the castle well enough in the day, let alone at night! It’s dark, and stormy, and I’m in my nightclothes! I’m not going wandering around by myself!”

“I have commanded you to do so. You may take a moment to put on a robe, but you must leave now. I need that lamp lit to be able to sleep!” The spoiled woman crossed her arms obstinately.

“And what will you do if I don’t?” Anaisa challenged, emboldened by her fear of being out alone in the dark.

“I realized today, I do believe I am a bit more slender than you are, Annie,” Sapphira tilted her head. “Perhaps it would be best if you did not eat for the next several days so that I can be assured you will fit into my ball gown.”

“You’re not serious.” Anaisa replied flatly. The women were nearly identical in size! There was no difference between them that the princess’s awful corset could not overcome!

“I am indeed. I become rather unpleasant to be around when I don’t get enough sleep!” The princess glared.

Anaisa blinked. This whole time, that was the princess being pleasant? Surely there was some mistake. There had to be. There was no way it could get much worse than–

“GO!” The screech startled Anaisa and she darted for the door. She took a moment to put on her robe and light her own candle so that she wouldn’t be completely blind in the darkened hallways of the palace.

“Why isn’t her candle good enough light for her to fall asleep to?” Anaisa mumbled to herself angrily. “What kind of spoiled brat ruins other people’s rest for her own comfort? It’s absurd.”

Her grumblings were cut off at the sound of footsteps, and Anaisa ducked away behind a corner until the patrolling guards were gone. She had a perfectly legitimate reason to be wandering the hallways in her nightdress, but she didn’t want to explain it to anyone!

The storm raged on outside, and Anaisa tried to find her way through the palace. The storage for all kinds of things, to her understanding, was next to the kitchen down at the base of the palace.

The thunder and lightning brought with them a chill draft, which penetrated the stone walls and threatened the flame of Anaisa’s candle. She held up one hand to keep it safe, but that impeded the light somewhat as well.

She passed alcove after alcove of stone as she went down more and more stairs. Many had candles in them that had been blown out by the wind, or never lit in the first place. Was she lost? The dark was so disorienting…

The staircase continued downward, and the steps seemed damp. Were there leaks here, in the palace?

Anaisa frowned. Surely she’d taken a wrong turn somewhere.

“I think… I think I might be very lost,” She admitted to herself. Lost, in the palace, at night, in a storm, in her nightdress. It was less than ideal.