Reclaiming The Palace

Reclaiming The Palace
Emilia’s POV

I made sure Sebastian was asleep before I left the room. My brows were furrowed, my hand on my chin as I strolled down the hallway carefully. My mind ticked endlessly like a clock. Whatever had happened to Sebastian while I was away must have been serious for him to trail off while we were being intimate.
He’d never done that before. He never did. I had always been able to anchor him back to me after episodes, and he was sane for a long time. But he didn't just lose himself while we were together. He did it twice…
I paused abruptly on the stairs, and I let my dress drop, thrusting my nostrils into the air, sniffling. There was an unusual yet familial smell lingering in the palace walls. I threw my eyes everywhere, doing a thorough visual sweep of the entire hallway.
That was when I saw it—them. The incense burners were hung on different corners of the hallway. I dragged my dress up, and I ran fast, cutting into the next hallway after, my eyes focused on the ceilings, and I found many incense burners—all burning actively, with that faint but strong and almost sweet odor of the drug that Aaron had given to the maid to poison Sebastian.
My fingers folded tight on my chest, almost digging into my palms as I fought off the rage surging through me, the heat pouring through my veins like lava. The bastards. Can't they just let him rest? Can't they let him live? How could they desire his throne so much that they would keep ruining him like this?
He didn't get so much worse because I left. He got so much worse because they were drugging him, making him go mad and lose his mind more.
I dropped my skirt, and I jumped, throwing myself up in the air to reach for one of the incense.
“Guards,” I yelled. Usually, they would come running at the sound of my voice, but now, I heard nothing. The whole hallway was silent, my voice echoing down the hallway, bouncing off the walls, and down my ears too.
“Guards,” I repeated, screaming at the top of my lungs. But the only reply I heard was my own. No one came running—no maids, no guards, nothing.
I dragged my dress up, and I continued down the hallway, then another, everything occupied by a silence that screamed back at me. I finally paused when I heard some footsteps behind me, loud, fast, and stomping hard on the stone floor, echoing loudly. I spun back then, and I sighed, my eyes falling on Headmaid Alice as she dragged her chubby self down the dimly lighted hallways to me. There were no windows in these areas of the hallways to let the sun in, and the torches weren't quite doing the job.
I cocked my brow at her, my eyes sweeping her dress. “Why are you not in your uniform, headmaid Alice?” I asked, shaking my head as if to shake the confusion from my voice.
But she didn't answer. She just threw her arms around me, squeezing me in her bigger body. I remained stunned for a while, but eventually, I threw my arms around her as much as I could, and I hugged her too, though not so tight as she hugged me, almost squeezing breath out of me.
“Let me go, Headmaid Alice. You don't want me to drop down unconscious again, do you?” I teased.
She snapped away from me instantly. She dropped back, and her older face, which I have always known to be rigid, dissolved instead in a bright, warm smile. “Thank God, you survived whatever happened to you, My Duchess. Thank God you are back,” she kept smiling.
I forced her a smile. I was more interested in something else than her prayers. “Why are you not dressed in your uniform, and where is everyone? The guards and the maids.”
That opened a tirade of explanations from Headmaid Alice, and she led the way down the hallway. “After you fell unconscious. Lord Aaron Lancaster and Lady Harrietta began poisoning Duke Sebastian’s food, making him go crazier and crazier each day, and with the loss of you, it only worsened for him. He was defenseless against their schemes. Since Duke Sebastian became so much worse that he could not attend any senate meetings without losing his mind and being ridiculed during the meeting, he was officially declared unfit to rule, and a regent was appointed in his stead. Lady Harrietta, being the only young royal blood available, was appointed as the regent, and then she and Lord Aaron Lancaster, who plotted the whole scheme together, began to rule. They claimed full control of the army and the royal guards, and because they had power over them, they withdrew most of the guards and maids from the palace, leaving only their staunch loyalists. And since Duke Sebastian wasn’t of sane mind, he could do nothing. He didn't even know what was happening, because he was always losing his mind. The poison Lord Lancaster and Lady Harrietta were feeding him and your illness made his madness worsen so badly that he was never sane since all this happened.” She paused, staring into my face to find out if I was following. “I was sent away too. I only sneaked into the palace through my nephew, who is on shift now at the gate. And I would need to leave soon before Lord Lancaster and Lady Harrietta find out I am here.
I took in everything she said, saying nothing while I processed every piece of information in my mind as we walked, my mind as busy as a market. I had known I wouldn't meet things as I left them, but I didn't expect them to become as bad as they are now.
“What are the powers of the Duchess, Headmaid Alice?” I turned to Headmaid Alice, asking her. “You think I can fight and win against Harrietta and Aaron using my powers as the Duchess.”
“Of course, My Duchess.” She said, almost screaming out her answer, her face riddled with excitement, her eyes brightening like lamps. “You are the one more fitted to be the regent, because you are officially the second ruler in the absence of the Duke. You just have to prepare to fight dirty, my Duchess, and not be afraid to lose anything. Now that that lady Gabbrielle has successfully escaped, you should have no inhibitions, unless you still have someone that can be used against you.”
“I have no one except Sebastian.” I replied.
“Then you are good to go, my Duchess,” she exclaimed, the brightness in her eyes growing. “So what should we do first, my Duchess?”
I smiled. “First, I want to officially declare you reinstated as the Headmaid, and then let’s reclaim the palace together. And I officially accept the reinstatement, my Duchess.” She bowed lightly, lifting her head and wearing back her smile. Then her eyes fell on my hands as I held up my dress, and they hardened in that same authoritative rigidity I had known her with.
I shook my head then. “Don't go there, Headmaid Alice, until we have control of the palace again and I can trust the maids. I am holding up my dress myself.”
“But, I can do that for you,” she said.
“No,” I shook my head. “Let’s focus on important issues and leave my dress alone.” I said, very firm with authority.
“Okay,” she muttered.
“So since they have control of the army at the moment, we have to begin with the maids. Let's find the maids in the palace that are still trustworthy and likely to convert to our side, then we resumed rehiring the ones that were laid off or sent away.” I said. “For the guards, it seemed like we would have to reclaim the regency to deal with that.”
“That's a brilliant first step, My Duchess,” she said. “I’ll round up the maids in the throne room, and then I’ll have a guard send for the Lords and demand the Senate gathering on your orders.”
She bowed, and then she turned into the next bend, taking it down to the stairs.
I was later to meet her in the throne room an hour later with all the maids gathered around, watching eagerly, their eyes jittering, following as I walked down to the raised dais and settled on Sebastian’s throne.
In his absence I was supposed to be the ruler, and that was what I was going to be. I didn't just return to be with Sebastian. I returned to make everything right once again. I returned to win this time, to defeat our enemies and make sure that sad ending the old bookowner predicted doesn't happen to us.
I sat up on the throne, looking over the army of maids scattered around the large hall. The afternoon sun flushing into the hall through the high windows, lighting up their faces and casting a blanket of harsh golden rays on their backs.
I let them feel the seriousness of the situation and witness the birth of a new regime through the heat in my eyes, and I declared, raising my hand high to Headmaid Alice, “Let's begin.”
And then we began, riding the Palace of Spies. We checked out the maids to know the ones, and based on Headmaid Alice's experience with them, we decided those to keep and those to send off, and then we reinstated the needed ones from the ones Harrietta and Aaron sent off.
The task took us the whole day. The silver strands of moonlight were already flushing into the room, swallowed by the red-yellowish glow of the torches lit around when we were concluding the last stage for the maids—handing the untrusted maids their severance for the months and sending them off.
Some cried, looking sad that they were being sent off, but I tried not to let their fake tears get to me. I tried not to fall for it. We were handling the last batch of maids when I raised my head to the sudden noise of marching boots, and they walked in—Aaron and Harrietta, with a retinue of guards behind them.