A new morning dawns, and throughout the castle are servants, maids, and all other manner of staff beginning their duties for the day. Many of them are still anxious about running into the princess after her bombastic entrance yesterday, but there’s one within their ranks who is instead setting out with greater vigour than she has in quite some time.

 

Elise strides confidently through the castle halls. Princess Tori having returned means that she’s once again able to carry out what is undoubtedly her favourite of all the tasks she has been assigned, one that she has been unable to fulfil for the last two years, waking the princess from her slumber. In truth, her anticipation may even be a bit too much, as she woke up several hours earlier than needed, unable to sleep any longer despite how exhausted she had been after the events of last night.

 

If the lack of sleep is getting to her, however, she doesn’t show it in the slightest. No one who lays eyes on her would even begin to suspect she had been up to anything in the last twenty-four hours, not that she would have noticed them looking anyway. There’s only one thing on Elise’s mind as she heads towards the princess’ bedchamber, how much she’s missed being able to do this each morning.

 

It really was one of the highlights of her day. No matter how hard the queen would work her, no matter what some of the other staff would say when they thought she couldn’t hear them, she could always take comfort in the fact that in the morning she’d get to be the one who helps the person she cares about most start her day. It was also the only real alone time together they would get most days, Elise had other tasks to attend to, and Tori was often being dragged away for tutoring on how to behave as a future ruler or other official business she was required to attend, meaning that despite being the princess’ personal maid, she rarely got a chance to actually act in that role for the majority of the day.

 

None of that matters now though. Princess Tori is back, and it’s finally starting to sink in that everything is going to be different in just a week's time. All they need to do is make it that long without anything going wrong, and Tori will finally be queen, she’ll be able to solve all the problems they’ve both been worried about for so long. They won’t be completely out of the woods of course, but the council is the only major obstacle they have to face, and once that’s out of the way there won’t be anything that could jeopardise their dream, their happiness, their future where the two of them can live together as equals, free to enjoy each other’s company without fear of being found out. Only one more week, and Elise can’t wait.

 

She finds herself unable to hide her smile as she approaches Tori’s door, the giddy feeling slowly overtaking her now that she’s at her destination. She knocks twice on the door, just as she always used to, and then gently opens it up to go inside.

 

“Rise and shine, my princess~” She says cheerfully, closing the door behind her. “I hope you slept well, it’s time to-”

 

She stops, looking around the room in confusion.

 

The princess isn’t here.

 

Why… Why would she not be here? Did something happen? Elise looks around the room, hoping to find some kind of clue as to her lover’s whereabouts, and finds something that sends a cold shiver down her spine. There’s a small splatter of blood on the corner of the desk. It must have been spilled at some point during the night, as the stain is already dry.

 

Elise’s mind races, her heartbeat speeding up to match, as she considers what this could possibly mean. Is this Tori’s blood? How did it get there? Did she get into a fight? Had someone attacked her in her sleep? Where is the princess now? Does this mean that they were already too late? Has the council put a stop to their plan before they had a chance to do anything? Is it too late to save her? Would she even be able to save her? Does… Does this mean Tori’s-

 

The bedroom door suddenly opens, causing Elise to scream and almost fall over. The intruder momentarily reaches for their sword in reaction to the noise before seeing Elise and relaxing.

 

“Woah! What happened?” Tori asks with a smile as she enters her bedchambers.

 

“P-Princess! You’re okay!”

 

“‘Course, why wouldn’t I be?”

 

“I d-don’t know… I came in a-and you weren’t here so…”

 

“Oh, sorry ‘bout that.” The princess says sheepishly. “Ran into town to check in with the mercs for a bit.”

 

“But… But the b-blood…”

 

“Blood? What do you…” Tori walks over and looks at the desk. “Oh! That, uhhh… That was just me…” She lets out a small chuckle. “Was doing some training before bed last night and opened up a wound on my hand I got from a bar fight with this rock guy the other week. Didn’t realise some of it got on the desk, sorry.”

 

“O-Oh… Then… you are okay? Nothing has happened?”

 

“Nothing at all! Wouldn’t be much point in me comin’ back if I can’t even survive one day, right?” Tori says with a grin.

 

“Yes… You’re correct. I… I’m glad you are alright, my princess.”

 

“Elise, what about you?” Tori puts her hand on Elise’s shoulder. “Seems like something’s got you worked up.”

 

“I’m not sure, it’s just… I had been looking forward to waking you as I used to, so when you were not here, and then the blood, I thought… I thought the council must have… must have… must have...” Elise’s breaths have become rapid and she’s wrapped her arms around herself, even after seeing that Tori’s safe she’s struggling not to panic.

 

“Hey, it’s okay.” Tori pulls Elise in, holding her tight. “Guess I should’ve told you I get up earlier these days.”

 

“I-I-I can g-get up earlier…”

 

“I’d enjoy that, but don’t push yourself. We’ll have tons of mornings together once I’m queen.”

 

“Mm-hmm...”

 

“And don’t worry about the council, doubt there’s anything they could do to put me away, and I’ll keep you safe if they go after you.”

 

“T-Thank you…”

 

The two of them continue hugging in silence for a few moments, but Elise is still unable to remain calm.

 

“Tori… I-I think s-something’s wrong…” Elise says shakily. “I can’t c-calm down and my h-heart is beating so fast…”

 

“Your heart…” Tori takes a moment to think. “Maybe you just need to-”

 

*Knock Knock*

 

“I-Is everything okay, p-princess?” A voice calls from outside. “I-I heard a scream, I’m c-coming in!”

 

Before Elise has even a moment to think about what will happen if someone sees her and the princess like this, she finds herself swept off her feet, and barely has time to realise she’s now in Tori’s arms when the knight reluctantly enters the room.

 

“Nothing to worry about, friend!” Tori says cheerfully. “This one tripped and almost had a nasty fall, but I caught her just in time.”

 

“I-I see… A-Are you okay, miss?” The knight asks Elise, failing to hide how intimidated he is in the presence of the princess.

 

“I-I-I-I…” is all Elise can stammer out, between her panic and suddenly finding herself in her lover’s arms, her brain is fried.

 

“Pretty sure she’s sick.” Tori interjects. “Seems to have some kind of fever. She’s in no state to work so I was gonna bring her back to the servant’s quarters so she can rest.”

 

“Y-Yes… she does s-seem to be quite flushed…” The knight takes note of her bright red cheeks. “D-Do you need my assistance g-getting her there?”

 

“Nah, don’t worry ‘bout it. You knights are meant to be training soon, right? Lemme take care of this.”

 

“R-Right!” The knight salutes. “I-I’ll leave you t-to it then!”

 

“Hey.” Tori stops him before he can run off. “You did good to check in on us. Someone who looks out for others is exactly the sort of knight I wanna see.”

 

The knight smiles, and relaxes just a bit. “Thank you, your highness! I’ll be off to my training then!”

 

Tori breaths a small sigh of relief once the knight leaves.

 

“Good thing I came up with something quick, eh Elise?”

 

Tori looks down to the woman in her arms, who is still overwhelmed and struggling to reply.

 

“Sick or not, you really aren’t gonna get any work done in your state, so I’m still taking you back to your bed. Hopefully some rest will help you calm down.”

 

“Y-Yeah…”

 

With that, Tori sets out towards the servant’s quarters, carrying Elise the whole way. Under ordinary circumstances the maid would be concerned about being seen in such a state, but she’s in no condition to think straight. Her mind is still racing, and the only thing she can seem to focus on at all is the constant, rapid beating in her chest.

 

Ba-bump.