My sleep is deep and well needed, though unfortunately not quite as long as I would have liked. As usual, my maids burst through my doors at ass crack dawn to inform me that it is time to awaken and, while it is true that I could always send them away, I do have responsibilities as king, no matter how unpleasant and drab I may find most of them. 

So with an eye roll that could only be described as over exasperated even by my standards, I slip from my bed and follow my maids into my bathing room. Yes, my bed, my servants, and my bath. Being King does have it's perks, I have no idea why I never tried to take the throne earlier. 

Well I do, actually. That would have been treason which is an offense punishable by death, but then again most things in my kingdom are. 

A bright light burns through the room just then, distracting me from my jumbled thoughts and forcing me to glance up. The room practically glows with light as rays bounce across the shimmery white floor, illuminating the intricate patterns that have been painstakingly carved into the marble. The swirling patterns and bright light do absolutely nothing to ease the headache from last night, which, unfortunately had yet to completely disappear. 

I turn my head with a huff and send a glare at the maid who dared to open the windows and let in the horrendous rays of sun. She startles at the look and nearly faints from fear if I am interpreting the way her body sways and her hand grasps the window correctly. 

"Shut them and don't open them again." I say as gently as possible. No need to spoil my morning further, I'm already rather tired and have a slightly throbbing head, I don't need to deal with a fainted maid on top of it.  

Thankfully my maids are much more adept at following orders than my council and the drapes are drawn over the windows nearly immediately after I have spoken. A relieved sigh wants to leave me as soon as the glare vanishes and my eyes stop burning, but I suppose that might be a bit undignified and crass, so I trap it in my throat before it can escape. 

My headache however still throbs imposingly in my brain, foretelling a future of annoyance and pain if I don't fix it soon. "Get me a tonic for headaches." I order, turning to the nearest maid only to look away right afterwards, eyes once again burning. The women has the ugliest face I have ever seen in my life, but thankfully seems to be just as loyal as my other maids and she scampers off as soon as I give my order. 

Seriously though, I barely spent more than a few seconds looking at her and I already know that she is going to haunt my dreams at night. Her eyes stare beadily out of her scull like two pools of sewer water that have been sitting in the sun for a few hours and despite how disgusting that may be, they pale in comparison to the rest of her face. 

Her nose sits crooked and off center, leaning horribly to the right of her misshapen scull and her lips resemble two puckered sausages that have been mauled, repeatedly, by a pack of wild dogs. This is to say nothing for the skin itself which is intensely discolored, with random shades of muddy browns and dirty yellows sitting in patches across her cheeks. She looks as if she had been dropped many times as a baby, so much so that her face eventually melded with the ground it landed on.

Honestly, it is a bit terrifying that I don't remember having ever seen her before, but as scary as it is, it is far more annoying. There is no way I could have forgotten having seen her before, not with a face like that, so that only leaves one explanation. She has to be new, which means that my mother must be meddling in my life again. 

My head throbs once more with a fresh wave of pain and I rub at my temples to ease the pain. Confusingly, I both want and don't want that dog-faced maid to hurry up with my tonic. Thinking about it only makes the pain worse so instead of trying to work through my jumbled thoughts, I do what I do with all unpleasant things and ignore it. I need to be getting ready anyway. 

I snap my fingers at the room and before I even blink, I am surrounded by maids, there deft hands reaching to undue the buttons on my clothing. My shirt slides off first and I catch someone folding it neatly out of the corner of my eye before they place it into a basket. My pants come next, followed by my undergarments, both of which garner the same treatment as my shirt. 

I am then guided slowly into the water and I sink happily into it's warm embrace. The hot water almost immediately relieves tension in my muscles I hadn't even realized I was holding, I don't think even heaven could be better than this.  

"Get me the Cedar Wood tincture." I say to the room in general and smile slightly as the maids practically start a stampede in their rush to obey my command. 

After a second a young, petite, girl kneels beside me, the small glass bottle of oil grasped tightly in her hand. She hesitates for a moment, as if unsure if she should hand it to me or simply pour some into the water. I make a gesture for her to do the later and she tips the bottle over and allows a small stream of liquid to fall into the pool. 

A woody smell wafts through the room and I breath deeply of it's scent. The aroma calms me further and my headache disappears, the throbbing in my head vanishing like it was never there to begin with. At last I allow myself to sigh, feeling completely at ease with my current situation. 

That is until I hear a tentative voice say softly, "Your majesty, do you need me to... Attend to your needs." 

Quick as a whip I turn to see the same girl who poured the tincture into the water wringing her hands nervously, face red as a tomato and turned pointedly away from me. 

"No of course not." I tell her and she seems to visibly relax at my words. "What ever gave you the impression that I would?" I ask my shock overriding my sense of identity. Do Kings ask their maids questions or do they just order them to tell them what they need to know? 

"I am so sorry you majesty. I apologize deeply for offending you, my lord. Please forgive me." She squeaks out, sinking into a bow which looks strangely degrading with her still being on her knees. I will admit it is nice to see people pay respect where respect is do, but this seems a bit extravagant even for my standards. 

"You are forgiven." I tell her softly before I can properly think through the consequences of talking so soothingly with one of my maids. Though its hard to care about proper etiquette when I get such an honest and instantaneous response from her.  

The young girl's posture loosens considerably at my words and she seems to relax quite a bit, though she doesn't bother sitting up. 

"Sit up." I say still using the same soft voice as before and when she does I continue. "Tell me, what would give you the impression that I would need you to take care of me in that way?" I ask, though now that I give it some thought I'm sure that kings don't ask things of their maids. 

"It was not anything his royalness did nor said." She replies in a slightly shaky voice, which doesn't sit to well with me. Why isn't she just telling me what it was? 

"Tell me." I say my voice still soft, but also more forceful. Perhaps I made her too comfortable and now she is going to behave in the same way my council does. I can't have that. 

"I..." She opens her mouth before turning her face to the floor. "Forgive me my lord, but I do not wish to speak ill of the dead." 

"What do you mean? What dead?" I ask in confusion before something occurs to me. "You served the crown prince before me." I realize aloud and she nods her head slowly as if relieved I didn't pry further. 

A sick feeling rises in my stomach as I consider this and my throat burns slightly with bile as I look around the room at the rest of the women. They all have similar expressions to the one I had been talking to. 

"It is our job to aid the crown in whatever way you deem fit your highness. We are yours to do with as you please." One of the older maids speaks up politely, though calling her older doesn't feel quite right. She is indeed older than the girl kneeling beside me, but she is still barely more than a girl herself. In fact they are all barely out adolescence. For probably the first time in my life I feel disappointed in my older brother. 

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, I don't get the chance to dwell on it further as right at that moment the dog-faced maid chooses to step into the room, turning my brain instantly to mush. All thoughts of my brother and his stomach curling proclivities fly out of my brain as I get another look at her horribly disfigured face and before I know it, I have forgotten all about it.