Prince Cade pressed his fingers to his temples as the woman left the room. He turned to his advisor, waving his hand at the door. “Ava, why do they even bother?” The woman had shown up to the interviews to become his new personal servant but had spent half of the meeting criticizing the recent decrees his mother had passed. Her voice had been very high pitched and every word had grated against his brain. By the time the guards had managed to wrestle her out of the room he already had a pounding headache.
“I don’t know sir. We made sure it was clear that any disparaging comments made towards members of the family would result in an immediate dismissal.”
“Great,” he drawled. “So now that that waste of time is done, who’s next?”
“We’ve got seven more interviews left to conduct. Reggie has just left to fetch a…” Ava glanced down at her wooden tablet “Ms. Scarlett Amaris. 24 years old with no previous experience.” She flipped the page over and sighed. “No real information given either.”
“So this might be another one just here to have a word with me. Understood.” He stretched his back and groaned as his bones cracked with the movement. His shoulders were stiff and he reached up to rub at the soreness emanating from them. His feet itched inside his boots and he resisted the pulsing desire to get up and move around the room. Instead, he dragged his boots across the ground, allowing the soles of the shoes to scrape the stone floor. He stood up when the door swung open and the guard returned with a woman trailing after him.
She paused at the bottom of the steps to his throne. When he stepped down to greet her, he was surprised to find that she was only a bit shorter than him. Many of the previous women who had shown up today were overshadowed by his 5’10” frame. He couldn’t make out her face with the way her chin was tucked to her chest, but her shoulders were pulled back and her back was straight. She was being respectful of his position but not subservient to him. Red hair cascaded down past her face in waves, shrouding her features as stood before her.
“Ms. Scarlett Amaris, was it?” He held his hand out towards her, palm facing upward.
“It is, Your Royal Highness.” When she lifted her head, he was taken aback at the shockingly blue eyes that peered up at him. She placed her hand in his before diverting her eyes back to the ground, allowing her head to stay upright. His fingers closed around her thin hand before raising it to his lips.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I hear you are interested in becoming my personal servant?” He moved back to sit on his throne. The woman shifted her position slightly, the clicking of her heels echoing in the otherwise silent room.
“Yes, Your Royal Highness.”
“May I ask how you heard of this position?”
“Through a family friend, Your Royal Highness. I need to find a new place to live. She brought up the position when I was asking around about jobs.”
“Okay, thank you. So, you’ve been living with your uncle?”
“Yes, Your Royal Highness. For two years. He took me in after my parents left town. Allowed me to stay with him for as long as his sons were at war. With your recent victory, his sons have returned. There wasn't enough space in the house, so I’ve found myself without shelter.”
Cade hummed as he waved Ava towards and reached out for the tablet. She passed it over and he scanned the scant information on the sheet. “Are you a fugitive, Ms. Amaris?”
“No, Your Royal Highness.” Her eyes shot up to him at his words and he watched as they grew wide before quickly darting back to the ground.
“So is there a reason you’ve neglected to provide information about yourself? You filled out your name, date of birth, and experience but that’s it. You provided no information as to your family or your limits. You added no details as to why you want this job. Why is that? Do you have something to hide?”
“No, Your Royal Highness. I…” the woman paused, her shoulder’s tightening “I could not read most of the form. I was only taught the basics by my parents. I wouldn’t have known the section about experience if it hadn’t been for overhearing some of the other girls.”
“That would explain your handwriting,” he muttered. “How did you learn to write then? If your parents didn’t teach you to read, I doubt they would have taught you to write.”
“My uncle taught me, Your Royal Highness. Only the basics and only for when I needed to sign for a delivery or letter.”
“Okay.” Cade tapped his finger against the tablet as he thought. “You have no experience as a personal servant?”
“No, Your Royal Highness.”
“But you are aware of some of the…duties required of a personal servant, yes?” It was often well-known what role a royal’s personal servant fulfilled, but there had been times before when sheltered individuals were unaware.
“Yes, Your Royal Highness.” A blush bloomed on Scarlett’s cheeks and began to creep down her neck as she nodded slightly. “My friend explained it to me when she told me about the position. She also told me that serving you would be…” her voice lingered in the air as she struggled to find the word “different than serving another royal.”
“So you’ve been made aware of my peculiarity then. I must ask: Do you hold any interest in someone like me?” Prince Cade was considered a slight rarity amongst the nobility. Assigned female at birth he’d never felt uncomfortable with his gender or body, only with the terms used to describe him. Several of the women he had interviewed previously had seemed especially keen on getting to service someone like him.
“No sir. I have no interest in anyone with a…” she hesitated before she continued her thought “feminine body or presentation. My interest lies solely with men.” Cade grunted as he took in her words. Her eyes were still firmly planted on the ground and she held herself as stiff as a board.
“Would it be an issue for you to provide me with the necessary services?”
“I do not believe so sir.”
“You do not believe so? Could you expand on that a bit more?”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“I have never acted like that with anyone sir. However, I learn quickly and am good at following directions. If I am trained in the proper way to serve you, I am sure that I will be able to do so adequately.” Her knuckles were white as she gripped her hands in front of her.
“I still have some more interviews to conduct today. Should you be chosen, a guard will need a way to contact you. Where are you currently staying?”
“I’m currently staying with my uncle, Your Royal Highness. He lives at a farm on the outskirts of Marang. It has a windmill outside of it, the only one in the area.”
“Okay. I believe I have all the information I need.” Ava nodded when he glanced over at her. “Thank you for your interest in the position, Ms. Amaris.”
“Thank you, Your Royal Highness.” The woman bowed before leaving through the main door. The door fell shut behind her and quickly after the side door closed as the guard went to gather another woman.
“She’d be a difficult one,” he muttered. Ava nodded in agreement. “She would need a lot of training, in a lot of areas. Service training, protocol training, reading, writing, the gods know what else.”
“Yes, sir, she would. It would take a lot of time to train her properly and Her Majesty-”
“Is ‘requesting’ that I have a servant by the next ball. I am aware. How long would it take to have her trained well enough to attend, do you think?”
“In terms of basic service: two or three weeks, perhaps. She would not be expected to know how to read and write at that time, which would allow the training focus to be put solely on her service. It would be cutting it close, but it could be done. Any additional training could be done after the ball if she performs well.”
“I think-” his words were cut off as Reggie returned with another woman in tow. “We’ll speak more later. It’s time for another round.”
---
Cade felt pain emanating through his body by the time he made his way to dinner. His throat ached after an entire day of interviewing possible servants and his back twinged when he turned. There was an incessant pounding behind his eyes and he flinched as the door to the dining room slammed shut behind him. His mother was already seated at the head of the table, her ever present personal guard Jay standing just off of her left shoulder. Ava had arrived before him and was showing his mother the tablet of notes she had taken on the candidates. He slid into the seat across from Ava, reaching out and draining the glass of water that was waiting for him. The cold liquid sluiced down his throat and eased some of the soreness.
“Good evening, mother,” he croaked out. A couple drops of water dripped down his mouth and he patted the droplets away. “How has your day been?”
“It’s been fine dear. I had a few meetings with some of the neighboring nobility, mainly just talks about the upcoming ball.”
“Why the talks? Isn’t it still two weeks away?”
“Yes. The ladies just wanted to get together to talk. You know how they can be. How were your meetings today?” Cade leaned back against his seat as a servant placed a plate loaded with food in front of him.
“Long and at times exasperating. But overall, I think it was productive. There were a lot of candidates and some of them even seemed proper.”
“Oh?” His mother perked up as she stared at him. “Does that mean you’ve found a personal servant?”
“I have a few options I’ve been thinking about. I was going to debrief with Ava tomorrow so that we could figure out the best choices.”
“You should really choose someone today, my dear. You need a servant.”
“I know that mother, but I need time to think through my options. And trying to do that when my head feels like it’s going to burst open just doesn’t feel like the right time.”
“Yes, but you really must choose someone.”
“And I know that. But if I am being made to choose someone-”
“You are. You’ve heard what the nobility, and city dwellers, have been saying since…she left.”
“I know.” Cade’s shoulders heaved as he sighed. “Trust me, mother, I know. Like I said, if I have to choose someone then I want it to be someone who won’t cause…troubles.” Cade felt heat rush up his neck, but he kept his face blank. Jay let out a light snort at his words but did not comment. Ava and his mother traded glances before looking down at their plates again. The only noise that could be heard for the next few minutes was the scraping of silverware against the plates.
“Did you hear about Princess Aruiana?” Ava’s voice broke through the silence and all eyes swiveled to look at her.
“I’ve not heard from her mother in a while. Has something happened?” Cade’s mother leaned forward on the table.
“According to her last letter, her older sister has refused to take the throne. She’s apparently fallen in love with some traveling musician that she met. She’s already left the castle to stay with them. Aruiana is going to have to take the throne.” Cade’s eyes grew as Ava recounted the story. Princess Auriana had been one of his closest playmates when they were younger, but her family had had to move when her parents had taken the throne after the untimely death of her uncle.
“Poor girl,” he muttered. “No one prepared her for that.”
“Cade,” his mother sighed. He hunched his shoulders up to his ears. He had thought his words had been quiet enough that she hadn’t heard. Apparently, he’d been wrong. He stared down at the remaining pieces of venison on his plate. “She’ll be fine. She’s a grown woman and she’s got her mother to help her.”
Cade didn’t respond. He just finished his dinner and excused himself from the table. Lumbering to his room to sleep the night away.
He woke later that night when a knock sounded on his door. He groaned as he peeled himself off of the bed and stumbled towards the door. A yawn cracked his jaw as he pulled the door open and stared at Ava.
“Yes?” His body slumped against the door frame.
“We need to discuss the candidates for your personal servant.” Cade scrubbed a hand over his face and just stared at her.
“I thought we agreed to do that tomorrow?”
“Your mother is insisting upon the choice being made tonight. She wants to be able to…assess your servant’s readiness for the ball.”
“If she insists.” His head ached as he rolled his eyes but moved to the side to allow Ava entrance. “How many candidates were actually here for the position?”
“Twenty-seven.”
“Okay,” he cracked his neck and sat down on a chair. “Let’s get started or we’ll be here all night.”
“First, I think we should establish some of the key features you’re looking for in a servant. Physical attributes, behavior, anything like that.”
“I want someone who will be subservient and dutiful, but only to me. No other nobles should be able to order around my servant.” Ava shuffled some of the papers around as Cade continued thinking.
“I can’t guarantee that, Cade. It was a short interview. But I did take some notes on behaviors so hopefully that will help. Any preferences for things like height or appearance?”
“I know, but I trust you to try your best. I want someone feminine. If they’re going to be serving me I’d like them, us, to appear a certain way.” More papers were moved around.
“Do you want a previously trained servant?”
“It’d be preferred if possible, but training a servant isn’t out of the question. It would just be more difficult to have to add training into my schedule.”
“Okay, that’s a good start. There were a few candidates that meet those requirements. Do you have any others?”
“I…I” he licked his lips “I want someone who isn’t interested in my…peculiarity.” Ava stopped her movement and just glanced up at him, her eyebrows furrowed.
“You want a servant who isn’t attracted to you? I thought-”
“I know that most nobility tends to pick people who are compatible with them. They want the…specific brand of closeness that comes with that. But if they’re attracted to me then it runs the risk of becoming an issue. Either on their end or my own. I do not want that to happen.” Cade’s brown eyes bored into Ava’s green ones. The woman nodded slightly before consulting the papers in her lap again.
“Ms. Scarlett Amaris might be a good choice then. She openly admitted to not being interested in someone like you. She has no training but that can be rectified with some extra work from you.”
“Might be worth a trial run at least. Can you send someone to summon her here tomorrow morning? Say after the morning meal?”
“Of course. Is there anything else you need?”
“No, that should be all. Thank you for your work today.” Ava grabbed the papers in her lap and began to leave before being stopped by a hand on her shoulder. “Ava, please don’t tell anyone what I said about wanting someone…” he trailed off, but Ava nodded her head.
“Of course. Anything you say is confidential between us. Get some sleep. You’ve got an interesting day ahead of you.”