Denmark X Reader - Tumblr Posts
Behind closed doors [Prince! Denmark x reader]
Wordcount: 7, 657 Synopsis: After the prince hurts his leg in a horse-riding accident, you’re tasked with serving him. You’re confused why such a prestigious job fell into your hands, a beginner, but you soon realize that being his servant is to also be a friend. Soon, your relationship transpires into something much deeper. When you run away, fearing the consequences, he stops at nothing to get you back. Content warning: Adult themes and Strong NSFW later in the story. Strictly R18+ Translations: skat = treasure/honey/sweetie min kære = my dear The reader is referred to as she/her.
Behind closed doors
[Prince! Denmark x reader]
Growing up, you’ve always been immune to the glory surrounding the royal family. A given, considering your family had always been part of it in some way—as the servants, of course. So, as stately, dignified, and powerful they were, you never made a fuss once you finally rose up to meet your fate. Being a part of the ranks as one of the maids. But there was one thing you never expected to do, ever.
“Wait, wait, wait a second. You’re telling me I have to do what?” You questioned, leaning into an older woman as your voice turned into a hushed whisper. She merely nodded, settling a calm hand on your shoulder. “But, I can’t! I’m young, inexperienced, and I still have a lot to live for! I’m not cut out for this.”
Seeing her lack of reaction only coaxed more panic to race through your eyes.
“That’s exactly why you’re cut out for this.”
She moved her other hand to your shoulder. Feeling her hold you so carefully was more therapeutic than anything. Paired with that gentle, albeit serious gaze, she shattered your resolve to refuse. “You’re more capable than you think, (F/N). This will only prove that. You have to trust yourself like I do you.”
“Maybe, but—” You wanted to believe her. But serving the prince himself? Directly? Shouldn’t that job be reserved for her, not you? Ida was the head maid and had decades of experience fluffing up pillows fit for a king. You were still a learner. “I still don’t understand why I was picked for this. Wouldn’t they want someone better?”
Ida merely laughed, “but you are the best.”
Leading you down the warm halls, which consisted of rich crimson walls and shimmering candelabrums, she continued with an arm around your shoulder. “Prince Mathias has been unwell ever since that horse-riding accident in the mountains.” You looked at her warily, unsure of what she was getting at. “Pretty self-explanatory.”
She stopped you in front of a pair of double doors. They spoke of grandeur, much like the rest of the castle. “He’s getting better, but physical health is nothing without mental health.” She smiled reassuringly, beckoning you forward with a pat on your lower back. “He needs a friend, you see.”
A door opened, revealing a middle-aged man with spectacles. He stepped out and nodded curtly. If you recalled correctly, he was the royal doctor.
“Ida. Here to see to Prince Mathias?” He began.
You tensed up. She patted your back again.
“No, but she is,” Ida replied, turning to you for one last look of encouragement. “He’s in good hands. Go on, skat. You’ll do wonderful.” With that said, she walked off with the man, leaving you by yourself in the empty doorway. How daunting. There, in the prince’s bedroom, was the famed royal himself, Mathias Densen.
Dressed in a loose white blouse and sleeping pants, he’d taken a seat on one of the spare chairs lying around. It was refreshing seeing him in such a casual fit, and daresay even calming. His left leg was wrapped up in bandages and seeing it was the invisible push you needed to walk inside. His condition was worse than you pictured.
“Your majesty,” You bowed, keeping your head down while you spoke. He collected his crutch and used it to stand up slowly. Then, he made his way over.
With your head hanging low, he could barely make out your face. But from the length of your dress, he immediately drew this conclusion—you were young. Most of the maids were middle-aged or elderly, and their skirts reached the floor.
Yours barely reached your knees.
“I’ll be your attending maid for the coming months. Anything you’ll need assistance with, will be my responsibility.” Mathias managed an eager smile. The atmosphere was thicker than he liked, but never mind that. He’d been pretty miserable holed up in his room lately, and seeing somebody new had his extroverted heart pounding in excitement.
You could hear the gentle thuds of his crutch as he got closer and closer. Your chest mimicked the thumps, having become both nervous and confused as to why he wasn’t saying anything. The tension in the air was finally lifted when you felt a few fingers on your chin, then lift your face. He touched you.
“Your majesty—?”
What he immediately saw was a pair of wide, innocent eyes, gawking at him like he’d just kicked a puppy. So, he released you with a gentle laugh.
“At ease, min kære. I’m not gonna eat you.” He leaned on one side, but still beamed down at you thanks to his towering height. “I know we’re supposed to keep things professional, but it gets a little... Disheartening, don’t you think?” There was a childish glint in the prince’s eyes while he spoke. As a result, his unassuming persona practically made him impossible to ignore.
“I guess so.” You responded, averting his gaze. Idle chatter was always frowned upon in the castle, especially between royals and their subjects. But like he inferred, you were young. Protocols and rules haven’t done a number on you yet.
“Ida did say you needed someone to talk to.”
Mathias nodded thoughtfully. “Well, tell her I said thanks. I thought I’d end up with an old guy or something. But looks like... You’re around my age.” You returned his gaze, taken aback by the remark, but even more so by the close proximity between your faces. The crown prince was a tenacious man.
“So, what’s your name?”
After serving him lunch, he insisted to go on a walk to get to know you better. The man was so keen, it was almost as if he never had those bandages around his leg. You relented, and so did his advisor, having grown too used to his whims. As dim-witted as this decision was, none of you were in the position to defy the will of the prince. And boy, was he a handful.
“They kept on telling me not to do it, going, oh, but Prince Mathias, you’ll hurt yourself if you ride out that recklessly in the snow! The weather is terrible and blah. But you know what I said?” The clopping of his crutch was constant background noise to this conversation, which slowly became one-sided. “I just went, if you really think I’m a prince, then you’ll let me do what I want! And, boom.”
There was not a single dash of regret in his words, and you had to say, you admired his stupidity.
“I... Wow. You must be a pain to look after.” You commented mindlessly in a laugh. He nodded fervently to agree, but you couldn’t share his enthusiasm. “... Fantastic.”
“Come on, it’ll be fun!” Mathias sighed, dragging out the ‘fun’.
“Yeah, maybe for you. But where’s the fun for me?”
“When you watch me do stuff, of course.”
You craned your head to the side, enthralled. His character was strangely refreshing, being the personification of a golden retriever. Confident, bubbly, and never unpleasant. It was only the first day, and you had a feeling Ida was right all along.
“Just how interesting could you be?”
He seemed to have taken that as a challenge.
A few days later, the prince and his advisor gathered for tea. You did the honors of preparing it, along with cutting them slices of a freshly baked apple cake. You expected to be trembling before the scrutiny of the advisor, Vic, Mathias called him, the mastermind behind major decisions in the kingdom.
But he had a way to calm your nerves.
While the older man droned on and on about the politics and economics of the state, he rubbed his chin and made an intensely focused face to mimic him. Then, he closed his eyes to make a posh, distinguished expression while lipsyncing, ‘the state of this kingdom cannot be overlooked, and it is of insurmountable importance that you, my dear prince, are involved.’
The accuracy and timing were so impeccable, you nearly spilled some tea biting back your snickers. He made the right hand gestures to match, too.
Seeing your cheeks flush from hysteria made him light up. It had been so long since someone looked at him this way, he couldn’t help gleaming at you for a moment of distraction. Eventually, the other person in the room noticed, smacking him on the back of the head with a folded newspaper. “Ah-”
“Stop ogling the maid and focus!” Vic scolded, much to his embarrassment.
You turned away and worked with the teapot.
While Mathias rubbed his nape sheepishly, he snuck an expectant glance at you. He wondered what was going through your mind, but he figured it was only good things seeing a smile tease at your lips. He smiled so wide, his cheeks began to hurt. Then, his chest warmed with exhilaration.
“Thanks for what you did back there, prince.” You whispered as he closed the door, leaving the advisor inside to monologue. He no longer needed a crutch, but he still got around with a slight limp. Taking your arm in his, he walked you down the quiet crimson halls. Everything felt so natural with him, you never found yourself questioning it. “I thought he’d be breathing down my neck, waiting for me to mess up.”
“Not when he’s too busy breathing down mine,” The blonde grinned, “I’m used to it, but you probably aren’t. I had to steal the show, didn’t I?”
The man was hardly serious, let alone fond of authority, ironically enough.
“And did you just call me prince? I don’t like that.”
“Then, what do you want me to call you?” You mused, never anticipating what he was about to do.
Stopping in front of the maids’ quarters, he took one of your hands into his. He touched you again, just like he did the first time he met you. Was this going to be a regular thing? It left you a little flustered, but not as much as the serious gaze he held on you. You’ve never seen such a sincere look on him, but strangely enough, it suit him.
“Mathias.” This was a side of him you didn’t know about, and you honestly weren’t sure what you were delving into. “But call me Mat when we’re alone.”
But it wouldn’t hurt to try, would it?
A month went by serving the prince, and you both grew inexplicably closer. Turns out, helping him with every little thing in the day meant spending an awful lot of time together—waking him up as his personal alarm clock, getting him dressed, serving him food, pouring his drinks, keeping his room from turning into a pigsty, ironing his clothes, the list just went on.
He even refused to go outside the castle without you, meaning you eventually had to tag along on business trips, hikes, and other aristocratic activities.
It eventually reached the point where he was never seen without you.
“He really likes that maid, doesn’t he?” Victor commented mindlessly, peering at you both. Out there in the palace gardens, you and Mathias were fooling around in the grass. He couldn’t stop gloating about how his leg was all healed up and gave you a piggyback-ride to prove it.
“Is he... Pretending to be a horse?” He narrowed his eyes in disapproval, and even more so when he heard neighing and purring. “... He is.”
“That boy has always been a handful.” Ida cackled warmly. “But I always liked handfuls.”
Mathias was chewing up grass, now. You gawked at him in sheer disbelief. “Mat, what’re you—spit it out, you idiot!” He refused, leaving you no choice but to get your hands dirty. Opening up his mouth, you did your damndest to remove all the strokes of green inside. “You’re disgusting! Did you forget we went to the stables today? We stepped in sh—”
“Shoot! I totally forgot!” He coughed, spluttering violently to get everything off his tongue. He resorted to blowing raspberries to get everything out. “Ppllt—why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“How was I supposed to know you were gonna eat grass?” You exclaimed, standing up slowly and leaving him on the ground. Your chest was rising and falling heavily while you walked off. “You’re stupid.”
Mathias jumped up eagerly.
“Stupid is as stupid does.”
You shook your head and stifled back another smile. This man was impossible. But he was beginning to grow on you, as evident in how your cheeks flushed red in joy. He caught on immediately, and it drew him in like moths to a flame. It was irresistible seeing you like this, so he never hesitated to stumble forward and slump onto you. “So, where to next, boss?”
“The bathroom. If you swallow, you’ll die in seven days to some mysterious disease.”
“... I think I just did.”
As you both left, your jubilant laughter echoed off the walls. It was music to her ears, but he couldn’t share the sentiment—just how close had the prince grown to you? This could be the scandal of the century!
“So long as they’re nothing more than friends. It’s bad enough he’s talking to the help.” Ida glared at him for a hot second, then raised a hand like she was about to slap him. Victor shrunk into his neck immediately. It was a menacing sight to behold, one would’ve thought it was her who ran the house.
“I’m the help, you scum.” She lowered her hand, but her glower on him never faltered. “Don’t forget we started in the same place. And mind you, the prince actually likes me.”
“Have it your way. But things won’t always stay like this.” The man grumbled under his breath. A threatening kind of shrewdness glinted in his beady gray eyes when he added this.
“The prince will need to marry soon. I’m sure the future queen won’t tolerate such careless mingling between the ranks. And certainly not such blatant challenges to authority.”
Eight months passed, and the question as to whether touching you would be a regular thing was answered. He made it a habit to hold your hand whenever he could. It took a while for you to get used to, but it helped to think he was a generally touchy person. So, you were lenient. But perhaps, you’ve been too lenient. A meaningful friendship was beginning to transpire into something else.
His mischievous stares in the halls no longer had that childish light in them. Instead, they grew longing. Longing couldn’t be without sadness, so it never drove you away. In fact, it brought you closer. You would soon learn that was a mistake on your part.
High up in the mountains at his private residence, the harbor could be seen connecting the kingdom to the fjord beyond. It boasted bright aquamarine waters and was frequented by magnificent ships that came and went. After noticing your attention to him wasn’t impartial anymore, he glanced up to what you’d been fixated on.
“You like the view?”
“Definitely. I wonder if the rest of the world looks like that. Outside of this fjord.” You mused, lingering on the beautiful scenery for a moment longer. You and Mathias were out on the balcony, resting against the wooden banister. “I’ll have to use my imagination.”
“Or I could just take you there. I got my own ship, you know. But it needs a whole crew to get it going.”
A few moments of silence passed, and his gaze on you grew too hot for you to stomach.
“But I don’t like that. I’d rather go with just you,” Reaching up to your bare back, uncovered thanks to the dress you wore, he grazed his fingertips over it carefully. He watched you intently for you to react, and react you did—just not in the way he wanted.
“Mat, stop that.” You urged, giving him a look.
“Why?” Mathias’s brushes on your skin turned into gentle rubs. He dug into the nodules of your spine, and the pressure made you shiver. Watching you tremble under his touch made his chest ache with desire, and it showed in his growing blush.
“Just stop it. You’re making me uncomfortable.” Shaking him off, you pulled away and moved to the other side of the balcony. You didn’t like the way he stared at you. It was almost as if he was seeing you in that kind of light, and it scared you more than anything. If only your heart wasn’t pounding so hard.
“Is it because you don’t like me?”
He frowned at the thought, but that didn’t stop him from getting behind you. Attaching two hands to your waist, he pressed his face to yours, trapping you by the balcony. “I thought you did.”
“Mat, I’m serious. Let me go—” You pushed as hard as you could against him but to no avail. “What is your problem? Just because you’re a prince it means I can’t say no to you?”
He winced at the suggestion and let you go.
“No, it’s just that I thought—I thought maybe you liked me. Just like how I like you.” For someone so bashful, there was such a cutting conviction in his words. You reflected his embarrassment with a hot blush of your own. “... Unless you don’t...?”
His voice trailed off so sadly, hearing it forced you to reveal the truth you’d been trying to hide.
“I do like you.” You exasperated.
“Then, why?” Mathias’s brows furrowed so deeply together, creases formed between them.
“Why what?”
“Why won’t you let me touch you?”
You stormed off to establish distance with him. Knowing him, he’d follow you until he’d be all in your face. And that was exactly what he did, marching after you until he could tower himself over you. Letting out a frustrated sigh, you whipped your head to the side to avoid his watery eyes.
“I’m not a princess. Okay? You can’t run off and do this kind of stuff with the maid. It’ll ruin you.” It took every fiber of your being to stop yourself from crying as you choked this out—“It’ll ruin me. I’m sure Vic is planning to kick me out right now.”
“That’s not true!” He blurted, reaching out to hold your wrists. “I’m the prince! Vic has nothing on my word. And plus, it’s not like he has to find out.” Mathias sounded so earnest, you wanted to believe him. Give in to him. But you knew better than to indulge in a meaningless fling that had grave consequences. So you tore yourself away from him.
“No, Mat. I can’t do this with you,” Backing up closer to the front door, you shook your head as he simply walked over again. “Mathias, please.”
“Why are you so afraid?” He held your shoulders and pressed his forehead against yours. Already, having his body and hands on you was like taking a bat for a swing at your resolve. But you persisted, clamping a hand over his mouth before he could kiss you.
He frowned deeply and licked your palm, successfully getting you to pull away. “Mat—”
“Just tell me what you’re so afraid of. I’ll make it go away, I promise. I’ll protect you. You know I will.” Every word he uttered made your lips brush together. His sincerity became too hard to resist, so you forced yourself to stumble out an answer.
“I...” You shook your head with your eyes closed. Already, you subconsciously accepted you couldn’t get away without his mouth on yours. “I think you’re just confused, okay? You haven’t really had a friend for a while. You probably think you like me when you just... Need somebody to talk to.”
Mathias gritted his teeth for a look of betrayal.
“You’re talking to me like I’m just some kinda kid!” He whisper-shouted, flaring his nostrils some. He spoke so frantically, so passionately, it was hard to believe this was the same goofy idiot all these months. “You think I can’t tell the difference? I’m a man, you know. Whenever I’m alone with you, I get...”
He flickered his eyes over you intensely. They were so love-laden, you couldn’t handle it.
So you stared away.
But he wasn’t having any of it. If you weren’t going to look at him, he’d find another way to get your attention. Sealing your mouth with his, he moved his head fervently for a hot, wet kiss.
Your lips met again and again, meshing together perfectly until you couldn’t breathe. He didn’t let you part for air. He was the one who decided the breaks, and even then, your tongues would be sliding together in a selfishly brief gap. It left you gasping, and the oxygen you desperately needed only came through the warmth of his mouth.
He was forcing you to breathe him in.
“... Mathias...” You panted. Before you got another word in, he kissed you again, eliciting soft sounds of sucking and pecking. While he inundated you in the heated exchange, drowning you with the taste of his spit, he snuck a hand up your skirt. “H-Hey!”
“Let’s make love,” Panting out the words into your ear, your chest ached when you realized you were in the endgame. Mathias was so set on doing you, he was already sporting an impressive tent in his pants. Taking out his throbbing cock, he guided your hand to it, then squeezed your fingers around it.
“You perverted dog...” Hearing your airy, frustrated voice sent a hard twitch down his arousal. You felt it. Every jerk, every soft vein. You were about to have your first time with the prince, and the thought was more erotic than it should’ve been.
As much as you wanted to push him away, a part of you also wanted to let everything be. He always had a way of getting your heart racing and aching for him. His long, lustful stares, dazed answers, and absent gaze, it all became clear he’d been thinking of something else entirely whenever he talked to you.
This man was a sex fiend, and you set him off by accepting his invitation to visit this place. High up in the mountains, where nobody could find you two.
The tipping point was when you glared at him. Seeing it made him snap, and had him rearing for a hot fuck session. Hooking his fingers around your underwear, he pulled it down to your knees.
If you were going to be stubborn, he’d strip your layers like your clothes.
Your dress was on the ground next to a pile of his clothes. He pulled you onto his lap to touch you all over, and fondle you like his personal plaything. You were shy, he could tell. You hid your chest by pressing it up to his, but the feeling of your breasts against him riled him up further.
He’d get you to open up tonight.
Giving your waist a hard squeeze, he made you jolt backward in shock. That gave him the perfect opportunity to lean down and smother his face into your breasts. There, he lapped his hot tongue over your nipple before sucking on it.
Hearing your breathy moan made his cock twitch again. You felt it right against the folds of your womanhood, so you couldn’t help looking down. And he was huge. He was at full mast, and pressing every inch of his dick to you so comfortably like it was meant to be there. He was lengthy and girthy to boot, so you couldn’t imagine it going inside you.
Blood rushed up to your face as you uttered this—“You’re not putting that inside me.” You pushed him off you with a soft ‘pop’. He peered up at you expectantly. “That’s... That’s not gonna fit.”
“It will, don’t worry...” Mathias raised his head and dragged his tongue up your neck. “I just have to stretch you. Just trust me, it won’t hurt too bad...”
“And... It smells...!” You whispered, removing your arms from his neck to get off him. But you never succeeded in either of those things, as he merely dove on top of you to hold you down in a missionary position. The stench of his sweat and musk only grew stronger. “I’ll murder you for this later, Mat—”
“Don’t say that... I’ll make you feel good...”
What happened later came in a hot haze. All you knew were his warm, calloused hands touching and grabbing at every inch of your body, the taste of his mouth, and how deep his thick cock was inside you. While he closed his eyes from how hot and tight you were, yours were wide open in pain.
It hurt so bad, you had to scratch his back up for stretching you beyond what you could handle.
“You liar... It hurts...!” You dug your fingernails into his skin as hard as you could. But that wasn’t enough to get back at him, so you ended up biting his neck. He responded in the worst way possible—Mathias rolled his eyes back and moaned, feeling himself get bigger and harder inside you.
“Ah... Keep biting me, kæreste... Go ahead and make me bleed...” He breathed into your neck.
Unfortunately for you, he loved it when you got feisty. Your anger turned him on more than you would’ve liked. Soon, he found himself thrusting harder into the spot between your legs.
Spreading them with two hands, he rolled his hips furiously into them. The bed squeaked faster. But you could barely hear them with his moans in your ear. He penetrated you, again and again, and all you could do was scratch up his broad, muscular back.
“Fuck you, Mat... Fuck you....” Sex with him was borderline painful, but it hurt so good. It was frustrating to know he had you wanting him so easily, so you began pulling on his hair.
“You... Son of a bitch...”
He was so turned on, it hurt. The only remedy was to go even harder, so he did—letting out a low groan into your neck, he curved his dick deeper inside you than ever before. You were his medicine, and he wanted to take advantage of that to get the comfort you always gave him.
“Ah—” You threw your head back as a sharp pain shot through your abdomen. Mathias was always doing what he wanted, with or without your say. He may have been royalty, but here in the bedroom, he was meant to be your equal.
But it never felt that way as he pinned you down with his weight and pounded you in, slapping his balls against you with every hard slam.
He even found it in himself to hold your neck with both hands. To choke you gently as he slowly reached his zenith, then came deep inside you.
“Mat—” Your plea for him to pull out was cut short by his continuous thrusts. As he stuffed you with his hot, frothy load, you could only pant for air. You couldn’t even close your legs to stop it from happening, as he’d made himself comfortable between them. “Ah—you can’t...”
He was being so reckless, so selfish, and what went through his lust-stricken mind was this—if he did this, he could get you to stay. He was twisted with perversion, evident in how he panted like a dog as he rode out his orgasm, uncaring of the consequences.
His semen splattered out and pooled on the mattress. You were too lightheaded to see the mess he was making. With your mouth wide open, he’d loom his head over yours and spit generously into it. He never let you off without swallowing every last drop of it.
“Ew...” Forcing it down your throat with a gag, he smiled floatily when he heard you gulp.
The night was young, and he’d only just started.
He fucked you into the mattress for hours. Drowning himself in the moans that poured out of your mouth like a faucet, he showed a floaty smile as he overwhelmed you with pleasure. He’d shatter your mind until he was the only thing you could ever think about ever again. Breathing slowly as he slid himself in and out of your tight, wet, tunnel, he screwed you silly until your legs were shaking.
Mathias was a huge guy, and a freakishly strong one at that, so he had no trouble holding you in all sorts of positions to make love to you—from the back, against the wall, in front of the mirror, even on the balcony. No matter how he decided to enter you, some things remained constant.
He held you up against the wall with one hand, while the other squeezed and fondled your breasts. Your skin was so soft and inviting under his calloused hand, he could never get enough of it. But the inside was a temptation he couldn’t resist.
“You’re sucking me in so well...” Mathias moaned, feeling your lips pepper him with kisses. Somewhere along the line, you gave in to him, driven by the carnal desire to make love with him. He couldn’t be happier. He wanted to make you feel good, and he’d start by thrusting upwards into you at a furious pace.
Catching you in a steamy gaze, he fanned his hot, labored breath over your mouth as he came inside your womb. You threw your head back in ecstasy as he kept rolling his hips, stimulating your clit from the inside, which was now sopping with cum.
He kept shooting jets of semen into your core, and by the time he stopped, you’d reached an intense orgasm. Pressing a hard kiss to your cheek, he carried you back to bed as the exhaustion began to catch up to him. When he collapsed, he never bothered to pull out—he fell asleep inside you.
He got what he wanted, having claimed you with his seed painted all over and inside your body. It was safe to say that you smelled more like him than he did himself.
Mathias couldn’t be more satisfied with these developments. He finally went all the way with you, and knew damn well what this meant. He had to protect you like your life was his own. Not that he needed that incentive in the first place.
Everything hit you the morning after.
You just made love with the prince, and if that wasn’t bad enough, it was all unprotected. Sitting up after the deepest sleep you’ve had in a while, you lingered your panicked gaze on him for a few moments before stumbling out of bed. Immediately, you felt something warm trail down your legs. He really pushed the envelope last night, and you were left to deal with the consequences.
After a quick bath, you got dressed in the fastest, most discrete way possible. The frantic shuffling and rustling of fabric filled the bedroom, followed by your footsteps against the wooden floorboards. With one last strained look at the lump under the covers, then the foot hanging off the frame, you left the cabin.
The first thing you did upon arriving back at the castle was finding Ida. She was the closest thing you had to a mother in this palace, and she did exactly what a mother would—she held you close and told you everything would be okay. Then, she brewed up a last-minute contraception for you to drink.
You were skeptical it would do anything, but it was worth a shot.
Once you downed the last of the hot liquid, bile rose in your throat for the beginnings of a long-needed cry. While you choked back sobs, she rubbed soothing circles in your back and watched you intently.
“You’ll be alright. Just do as I say, skat.” She spoke gently. Her voice was barely coherent under the sounds of your sniffling. “In two weeks, you’ll have to pack your things and go to the stables. Mathias has tea with the visiting princesses that afternoon, so—” Your brows came together for a face of pain. It was already hard to not cry, but hearing that was the tipping point. Your heart was completely shattered.
Launching yourself into her arms, she hugged you tight and closed her eyes.
“—my sweet angel. Come here.” Rocking you back and forth, she rubbed your hair comfortingly before continuing. “He loves you, I can tell. But this can’t go on. He’s the prince, and you’re the most valuable treasure this Earth has ever known. You have a life ahead of you, skat. Live it. He only has a tedious future ahead of him.”
While she spoke, you couldn’t bring yourself to tell her you wanted to be with him. Because no matter how tedious, boring, and serious his duties were, you just knew he had a way of making it exciting. And Mathias? He may as well be the person you held closest to your heart.
However, like Ida mentioned, it was a naïve fantasy ought to be stamped out. Surely, Mathias would come to his senses and agree.
“That afternoon at four, he’ll be too occupied to look for you. When that time comes, you go to the stables and ride out as fast as the wind can carry you.” The woman instructed, untying the purple ribbon that held up her graying brown hair. Tying that around your wrist, she pressed a chaste kiss to your forehead. “The horses will know you, so they won’t make a fuss. They’ll come back after dropping you off at my house.”
Quitting a job at the palace isn’t hard, skat. Her words replayed in your mind as you scurried to the horses outside. But getting away from the prince? Very. When he sets his eyes on something, he latches onto it and never lets go. Tightening the flaps of your cloak, you climbed onto the back of your absolute favorite—Destiny. A lively brown Jutland you’ve recently befriended.
She neighed and chuffed, then paced around to find the exit. With a mighty kick, she galloped off with you. Then, you rode off without looking back.
And he’s crazy about you. Can’t imagine why.
Mathias awakened an hour after you left the cabin. Immediately, he flipped the place upside down to look for you. Every minute that passed where he couldn’t find you, the tighter his chest became. Where had you gone? Had you returned to the palace already? A sick churning in his stomach began. If you did, why didn’t you tell him?
Fortunately, you were still around. Just not in the way you used to be. Ever since that night at his cabin, you’ve been ignoring him. And it made him miserable. You’ve gone from a friend to a stranger.
To the indifferent servant you were meant to be.
He tried everything he could to get you to talk to him, then open up to him again, but all you did was excuse yourself curtly before he could show you those watery eyes you couldn’t resist. Mathias even tried cornering you, but you weren’t above pushing him away, or kicking him where the sun didn’t shine.
Two weeks went by giving him the cold shoulder. But it never shook his resolve.
On the morning of his most dreaded day, he asked Ida where you were. You were too busy with your cleaning duties. He’d heard that one before.
It did beg the question, however, as to just how bad was the kitchen explosion that they needed the assistance of the prince’s maid? He didn’t have time to think about it. Today was the day he’d been dreading, and Victor couldn’t stop hounding him at lunch to bring his best manners.
But most importantly, to make a decision.
He already did, he just needed to scrape together the courage to announce it. Fortunately, the tedious intricacies of refined conversations about nothing in particular did its job as the pep talk he needed. He couldn’t marry any of these women, let alone like them at all. While he studied them, he found himself comparing each and every one of them to you.
They never came half as close to touching where you were.
After forcing a polite smile to see them off, he ambled into the kitchen for a well-deserved drink. While he sipped from his glass, he studied the speckless, polished tiles. Then, he wondered to himself where the explosion could’ve taken place, especially one that was so huge that it apparently engulfed the ceiling.
That was when his advisor sauntered in.
“Charming ladies, all of them. I’m sure the decision will be quite difficult. Any contenders?” Victor waggled his eyebrows for a suggestive grin. “Well, I personally really like the one from—”
“I guess I have a dark horse in the running.”
The other blinked. “Oh, you do?”
Mathias downed everything in his glass. Then, he caught the other in a serious stare. Whenever he wore such an unreadable face like this, something completely unexpected was bound to slip from the prince’s mouth. Victor just hoped he wouldn’t say Lady Ingrid.
“Was there a huge clean-up in the kitchen a few hours ago?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I heard a huge explosion happened here. Did it get cleaned up already?” The Dane mused, setting his cup down so he could fold his arms together.
Already, he had a sneaking suspicion he’d been played like a fiddle. This assumption was proven to be correct as the older man shot him a look of confusion. “Whatever do you mean, an explosion? There will never be explosions in the castle so long as I’m around.” Victor scoffed amusingly.
Mathias’s nostrils flared. Ida lied to him. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he scrambled off without another word. Hooking his hand on the door frame, he booked it out of the kitchen and sprinted down the crimson red halls. Victor chased after him for a few strained jogs—“and your dark horse, my prince? Who is it?” He called out breathlessly.
With a brief look over his shoulder, he shouted back.
“My maid!”
“Your what?”
Carrying with him nothing but a small velvet box, he flung himself onto the back of his horse. Smoke, a black stallion he had shipped all the way from the Middle East. The creature jumped up on its hind legs for a loud neigh—“C’mon, Smokey. Don’t let me down!” It trotted around the hay-strewn dirt before the prince whipped the reins. “Hya!”
Racing through the streets in nothing but a blur, he stopped everywhere to ask around for his missing person—a young girl on a palace horse.
His exhaustive efforts proved fruitless as hours went by. You were gone, and if he wasn’t fast enough, you could be gone forever. Just where could you be? There was only one place he hadn’t checked, but he highly doubted you were there. It couldn’t be that easy, could it? Either way, he wasn’t giving up.
Galloping into a familiar neighborhood, he was welcomed warmly by familiar faces to match. There on the side of the street, stood a middle-aged man with spectacles.
“Is that you, Mathias?” It was the royal doctor, and he’d just gone home after a long work day. The prince couldn’t explain it, but he couldn’t be happier seeing him out of all people. “My, if you ride out that recklessly, you’ll hurt yourself again!”
“Sorry, Noah. I’m in a hurry.” He panted, his horse trotting back a few steps.
“A hurry? Where are you going?”
“Wherever she is. I don’t know. I’m trying to find her.”
Noah raised his head thoughtfully. His eyes gleamed when it finally occurred to him.
“You’re looking for the maid.”
Mathias was more taken aback than anything. Since when did his doctor become that attuned to his emotional troubles? “How did you know?”
“Everything Ida knows, I know.” The other replied, tipping his hat. “Don’t worry. She’s not far. Although I have to say, she may not be happy to see you.”
He breathed out a nervous huff.
“We’ll see about that.”
Arriving into the front yard of a house, he hopped off his horse and rubbed its face. He approached the front door and knocked anxiously. He was light-headed from hunger, and the anxiety exacerbated that into nausea. But the only thing on his mind was seeing you again. Reaching for his back pocket, he pulled out the box again and waited.
The strong gallops outside immediately alerted you of your visitor. It was Mathias, no doubt.
What were you thinking, hiding at Ida’s like it wasn’t the first place he’d check? There was something in the air, for a while now, too, and it wasn’t common sense. It had been there ever since you’d grown close to the prince. It was like smoke that dulled your senses and blurred mirrors, burned from the impetuous fire of youth itself.
In your defense, it affected him more than it did you.
He knocked on the door a few times.
You didn’t answer.
He knocked again. While you responded with the silent treatment, he walked over to the window and knocked on that. “I know you’re in there, (F/N). Come out so we can talk.” Mathias called, falling quiet to listen out for an answer. “Noah said you’d be here.”
Bringing your knees into your chest, you sucked in a sharp breath before finally breaking your silence.
“Go away!”
As faint as your voice was, he heard you loud and clear. Didn’t mean he’d listen to you, though. With a deep frown, he made his way to the front door. While he studied the details of it, like how he could knock it off its hinges in one go, he said this—
“You should know by now how stubborn I am. I’m not doing that until I see you.”
Taking a few steps back, he barreled right into the door like an ox and knocked it down. “Gh—”
“Mat, what the hell! You’re paying for that!” You exclaimed, scrambling off the couch to examine the mess he’d made in the living room. When you pinned him as tenacious, you’d been too correct. He really had no idea to take no for an answer. He paid no mind to the earful you were giving him, and instead, bent down on one knee.
“You are honestly, the single-most stupidest man alive. I feel sorry for the future of this kingdom. You’ll run it down to the ground.” You rambled, giving your head a hard shake. While you spoke, you felt a familiar heat rush up to your face again.
How was it that every time you thought about him, he always managed to have this much emotional leverage over you? You hated that two weeks was all it took for you to miss him. And yet, you were talking about plans of getting away.
“But that’s fine because I’m getting out of here. I’ll move far far away where you won’t find me.”
Mathias held out the box and opened it, revealing a brilliant silver ring inside.
You’d been so distracted tearing him a new one, you never realized the scene that unfolded. When you finally processed what he was doing, the first few tears fell down to your chin. This man was impossible. “If you want an answer, it’s no. It’s always gonna be no. Okay? No.”
“Would you at least think about it?”
“I already did! No. What’s so hard to understand about a two-letter word?” No matter what you told him, his will was unshakeable. It showed in his serious, unreadable, expression, and if you’d known how dangerous a sign that was the first time you saw it, you would’ve learned to avoid him. Taking your hand, he slid on the ring without your permission.
Shocked by his audacity, you swatted at him, throwing the ring off as a result.
Letting out a gasp, you whipped your head to where you tossed it. But in your moment of distraction, he lifted you off your feet—“just come back to the castle with me, kæreste. I miss you.” Mathias pleaded, holding you high enough so that you needed to hold his face to stabilize yourself.
Hearing his sincerity, then feeling his hands on you was all it took to reduce your resolve to a crumpled heap on the floor.
“Why won’t you just think with your head for once?” Catching his fervent kisses, you’d lean down and let him occupy your mouth furiously—“Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
“You know I can’t.” He showed another floaty smile, but this one was more bittersweet than anything. “I’ll follow you forever if I have to.”
He swept you away, yet again.
You returned to the castle as his maid, continuing your precarious relationship with him. Victor was eventually fired and replaced by Noah’s brother. Ida couldn’t be happier with that decision. And the prince? He never brought up the ring again.
Instead, he’d watch you in the halls, behind the doors, holding it in his palm to wait for the right moment. It might’ve been a lot to ask for from a tenacious man like him, but for months, years, it was the one thing he was willing to be patient for.