Beatrice was sitting on her bed with a fluffy white cat on her lap. Her face lit up as Kori walked into the room. She stroked the cat and beckoned Kori to come sit next to her. She never really had a friend so the company was nice even if she was paying for it. Kori sat down next to her, she felt a bit bad, she didn’t want to give this girl false hope of having a friend just to betray her. At least her last week would be enjoyable.

They sat there for a while. Kori just sat and watched as Beatrice worked through the piles of paperwork. She thought being a handmaiden would be more work than this, it probably was. But this girl was so desperate for company she’d rather have her stay right there. There was no way she could shoot her now and get away with it so she stayed. They chatted for a while, Kori learnt a lot about the princess, it wasn;t good to give her target a sense of humanity but what could she do but listen and in return Kori told the girl things about herself no one else had ever taken interest in.

“You play violin? That is so cool,” Bea exclaimed.

“Yeah, I learnt it to impress my parents”

“Impress?”

“Yeah my brother’s always been the star of the family”

“Omg tell me what it’s like to have a sibling!”

The chatter went on for a while, the attention from this pretty girl almost made Kori forget what she was here for. She waited for an excuse to leave and when Beatrice started thinking about how much she wanted water she knew this was her chance.

“Would you like some water, princess?” Kori asked, already getting up, she knew the answer.

“Yes, that would be perfect! I was just thinking about how thirsty I am.”

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She walked downstairs and into the kitchen. She pulled out a small packet of white powder. A little bit of cyanide in the pot simmering on the stove and she can get the job done without even looking at her in her sapphire eyes. Plus the chef’s would be the first suspect. For some reason this moment didn’t feel like success, yes everything was in the perfect place to complete her mission but the last hour really made her realise that she is going to kill a real person. A real girl with a life, thoughts, feelings, friends. Well she knew the friend's part wasn’t true but that really wasn’t the point.

She must have been stuck in thought for long because she was inly pulled out by the kitchen door being flung open, It was Beatrice.

“Hi! I just wanted to make sure you didn’t spend forever trying to find the cups ” she said as she walked up to a cabinet and got herself a glass.

“I could have found it myself,” She replied, stuffing the packet into her pocket.

“I didn’t doubt you for a second,” Bea said with a smile before gulping down the water she poured for herself.

She walked out to the dining room and Kori followed suit, unsure if she was disappointed or relieved. A guard approached them at the table with a pile of papers in his hand.

“Kori, this is Henry. What can we do for you?”

“You can tell the party planners what your preferences in food are,” he said, passing her a form to fill out.

“Party?” Kori asked, this man was thinking about so much at once she could not decipher what party he was referring to.

“My mom is holding this big party to find a suitor, it’s just a formality really, I don’t think I’ll marry anyone there,” Bea said, passing back the form, “Draw me a bath please.” She added and then walked off.

The topic of the ball upset her but Kori couldn’t figure out why. She was snapped out of her thoughts by Henry’s voice

“Don’t handmaidens do what the princess asks?” Kori so desperately wanted to lash out at him. To express her importance and be given the respect literally no one has ever given her. But of course she can’t. So she dusted off her dress, muttered a soft “Right, sorry” and walked off. She could sense that Henry thought something was wrong, was he onto her or did he just think she’s not a good servant? She hoped it was the latter.