Jasmine.
Blue, green and white--I laid the color on the portrait before I moved onto the shadows, the greyish shadows traveled down the woman's neck and blended into the collars. The smoothness of the colors was perfect as I'd wanted.
I grabbed another brush dipping it into the color and finished the last few strokes on the portrait when Martha's voice came in my ear stopping the movements of my paintbrush soaked in the color Burnt Umber.
The happiness ringed inside me.
"Jasmine, sweetie..." I turned to look at the door and saw her holding a bag full of art supplies and another bag full of groceries, watching her arrival I excitedly ran toward her and engulfed her in a hug.
"You came, thank you so much!" I rested my head on her shoulder, letting myself feel her warmth--I had seen her after a whole week, ever since she'd been working in the castle she couldn't afford to stay with me like when I was a kid; The castle only allowed the workers and others to meet their close ones once or twice a week. It was even less for Martha since she was a cook in the main kitchen, and her responsibility was more than other workers.
"How couldn't I? Whilst my precious little child is here!" She caressed my cheek and kissed me on the forehead.
Martha was the only person I have in my life, I'd only known her as a family from the time I started understanding. She'd raised me as if I am her own daughter and never in once she'd made me feel that I was an orphan, I didn't even know who my parents were. The word family for me means Martha.
"Come inside, it must've been a tiring experience in that boat. You need rest," I pulled her with me and made her sit on the bed, she only let out a small chuckle at my action.
"Check I've got the colors you needed from the fair, See if everything is there," She handed me the bag, and smiling I took a look at the glass bottles full of the liquids.
"This is perfect," I exclaimed and put the back to the side before I turned to face her, "Now tell me how your week went?"
"As always, it went fine," She began her eyes shined in detectable happiness as she uttered the next words, "I have good news," She grabbed my hand in her excitedly.
"What?" My curiosity peeked through.
"You know working in the castle brings a lot of facilities along with it, don't you?"
"Yeah, but why are you asking me that?" I questioned, confused.
"Because I've arranged a Job for you in the Castle!" She chirmed.
My eyes went wide in and my brows rose in surprise, the news itself left me both shocked and on the top, "Wait? Really?" I stood up.
Only a selected amount of humans were allowed to work in a castle, whilst others enlisted themselves for monthly blood collections that were for the vampires. Each worker got to stay in the castle since they have specific requirements all day long and sometimes even at night when there were specific festivals.
It was nearly impossible to find a place there since there were always eligible people wanting the opportunity.
"Yes!" Her tone held the same excitement as mines.
"Oh my God, Martha," I squealed and made her stand up then I spun us. She gasped at my sudden action before she burst out laughing.
My happiness was not exactly due to the work, it was because I could see Martha Whenever I wanted. Being alone in this house could get boring when I didn't have the painting ideas in my head, Having Martha near me would definitely be the giving me the feeling of Joy in my boredom. I was used to her presence a lot.
"Silly, girl," She ruffled my hair, "Why'd you do that?"
"I still can't believe it! I can meet you whenever I want," I spoke," How did you manage to get me this work?"
"Well, you haven't heard the main good news yet," She added.
Another good news? This got to be something more intense than previous.
"Tell me what it is," I spoke, my childlike excitement hadn't lessened a bit.
"You're going to be working as The Kings' personal servant,"
All the colors on my left at this announcement, the excitement vanished like a puff of smoke and the widening of my eyes did appear again but this time in shock. The feeling of cold water being poured on me appeared heftier than the wind.
"WHAT?" The shriek left my mouth before I even knew it.
Martha's expression changed watching the vivid concern in my eyes, "What happened, Jasmine?"
"I can't take this job, Martha," I shook my head repeatedly, "Please just put me in some other works such as cooking, cleaning, or anything but I can't work as their personal servant," I said.
"But why? You will get paid good plus you're not going to need to work all day long. It's only about half of the day and the rest of the day you can do whatever you want," Confusion took over her expression, well of course my reaction was unexpected for her.
"I've heard that they are very strict and dangerous, they drink from whoever they want moreover they are not fond of humans. I can't risk my life, they might even kill me for one single mistake," I spluttered.
Martha looked at me with brows rose in surprise, it lasted a few seconds before she burst into a fit of laughter. The skin beside her eyes creased and she put a hand on her stomach as she sat on the bed, her laugh never stopping.
I stared at her, my brows automatically furrowed, "Why are you laughing?"
"From whom you've heard this nonsense?" She asked, wiping her tears that managed to appear due to her laughter.
"It's not nonsense," I retorted. The Kings were Dangerous, everything about them was risky.
"Yes, it is"Martha spoke, "They are not dangerous unless you do anything wrong, yes they might be strict but it doesn't make them cruel in all the matters. And Sweetie, if they despised humans then none of us would've been alive and I'm sure you aren't unaware about their powers,"
"But, people say--"
Martha cut me off, "People will say, it's their choice but most of the time what they say is only rumors. The Kings are Vampires for sure but it doesn't make them cruel towards humans, they are not as what people describe them. They might be cold but they are not cruel,"
The lungs in my air that'd been snatched the moment of her announcement seemed to get back inchmeal, I released a sigh debating whether or not I should take this job. Certainly, I was clumsy enough to mess up but from what Martha had said I could consider giving it a chance. At least it won't cost me my life!
"Okay, I'll do it," I sighed.
"You've made a good decision, Sweetheart," Her face lit up and she hugged me.
"I hope so," I mumbled and pulled away to look at her, "By the way, are the kings Brothers?"
"Yeah," She answered," They are nonidentical triplets, King Lucien is the eldest--One minute elder than King Micheal whose the second eldest, and King Archer is the youngest."
"Oh,"
"Don't worry about anything, you'll do good," She patted my back,"Now go and sleep, we need to leave early in the morning,"
"Okay, Martha,"
This was going to be a long night for me as well as the upcoming day, I could only hope for my luck to be good at this case. So far the Vampire Kings were still a mystery for me and working for them was going to be a heck of a ride.
