A Servant Lost (Alys Book #1)

Chapter 21

When Alys awoke the next morning, Dastrehan was sitting up in bed bedside her reading letters. She pushed herself up to a sitting position as well and rubbed her eyes as the previous night's events came back to her.

"Good morning," Dastrehan smiled a greeting as he set the letters down on his lap, "How are you feeling?"

Alys looked around the room as her head cleared, noticing that a meal was set up on her table and the sun was coming through her open balcony doorway at an odd angle.

"What time is it?" She asked Dastrehan groggily. He laughed and answered that it was after the midday meal.

Alys gasped and pulled the sheets off of herself, "Why did you let me sleep in so long?"

Again his response was laughter, "Do you have something you need to be doing right now?"

Alys frowned, "Well, no. I just don't like to miss the day."

"Then relax," Dastrehan waved her worries off, "You obviously needed the sleep. You slept through the servants bringing the morning meal, taking away the dishes, and bringing the next meal."

Alys rolled her eyes in annoyance with her own carelessness. Sure, she needed it, but she did not want her body learning to sleep in like this.

Dastrehan left her bed chambers to go deal with some important business. He made a comment about Alys joining him for dinner and that he would send a maid with a new dress for her. Alys had exaggerated her annoyance by throwing a small pillow at the back of his head as he left, but she was relieved that things seemed to be returning to normal.

Not even two minutes after Dastrehan had left, Esme came bursting into Alys' room.

"Oh good, you are finally alone!" She exclaimed after a quick scan of the room. She closed the door behind herself and walked up to the table where Alys was eating her first meal of the day.

"Rose tells me that Dastrehan was in your room this morning?" Esme sounded bubbly and excited; a rarity these last few weeks.

Alys felt her face start to colour but she ignored it, "It is not what you think," she assured her cheerful friend, who had managed to knock her bun almost completely out of its pins already, "He was just staying to comfort me because we were fighting late into the night."

Esme tipped her head to the side and a few gold locks of hair escaped their pins and fell around her face, "So that means..?"

Alys swallowed the mouthful of food she had in her mouth and nodded, "It means I am staying."

Esme's eyes filled with tears of relief, and she bent down to hug her friend close, "Thank God! I have been praying that this would work out for you!"

Alys returned her friend's hug. When Esme finally pulled away, Alys told her to sit on the floor in front of her so that she could fix her unruly hair before one of the head servants caught a glimpse of her foolishness.

With the absence of the Marniac royalty, Alys was once again able to enjoy freedom without having to worry about who she would run into. Provided of course that her guards accompanied her as usual. Once Esme had left, Alys changed into a comfortable dull blue dress with a black belt and put her hair up in a simple bun as she usually did.

Her first destination was the garden; not a secluded and dull one, but one of the nicer ones where the visiting princesses had spent a majority of their time. It was very hot, so Alys stuck to the shaded areas under the big oak trees that were lining one side of the huge area. Summer was not ideal timing to be carrying a child in the late stages of pregnancy; this was clear to her. When she stopped for a break and sat down on a bench, her guards stayed far enough away that she did not feel overwhelmed by their presence, but she still felt protected.