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In her youth, Penny would have assumed the opulence of the royal palace was a constant. Like nobles didn't track dirt or spill drinks; only lowlies like herself did. Her time as a royal maid had long since disproved such a notion, as her knees bloomed red and purple from hours of meticulous scrubbing.
The king never paid her much mind. He was always talking numbers, from population to crop yields to taxes. It didn't matter if anyone was listening; he'd list it all out anyway, matter-of-factly.
She got more notice from the queen. She was a rare case; a respected woman of divorce who had married a king twice over. Rarer yet was her honesty, her willingness to bite back regardless of status, and the fact she seemed to be perpetually in motion. Penny had learned to not let it distract her.
There was someone, though, who Penny found very distracting.
The princess.
Princess Maru was the most beautiful woman Penny had ever seen. Her braids were of wine and field poppies and mulberries. She had the softest-looking cheeks: brown, yet gold when the sun peered in through the castle windows. Her favorite color was purple, like that of her eyes that creased when she laughed. Penny wasn't supposed to look her in the eye, but how could she not?
~
After a long day of suffocating in an itchy, tight dress, Maru was beyond grateful to be back in her personal quarters. Layer after layer had to be painstakingly undone to change from her perfect-performance-self to her nightwear. Once she was finally in little more than a nightgown and bonnet, she slumped hard onto her bed with a groan.
She had long since tired of putting on a show every day. Her role as princess was so important, as her father would tell her day in and day out. Then, he praised her on and on, and yet the burden of knowing the person he was complimenting was so fake could not be shaken. A false persona. A diamond created from immense pressure. The sheer weight of familial expectation made her muscles ache, most of all her heart.
Her heart, which held no room for the nobleman she'd no doubt be wed to.
Her heart which fixated on the royal maid.
Penny was her only friend, honestly. Maru had met dozens of dukes and duchesses, barons and baronesses, whole castles worth of fine folk. But those, not unlike her father, only had kind words for her forged self. They were friends with her status and her status alone.
Maru knew she was a quaking volcano set to erupt. With every shy smile Penny blessed her with, her persona was peeling back like a molt. Loving a woman would already raise brows, but a maid? Her father may destroy the castle in his wrath. Maru was sick of caring about that.
Her pillow muffled her anguish, but could not quell it. There would be no sleeping tonight— not like this.
There was a knock at the door, faint yet undeniable.
Maru pulled herself up onto her elbows, her head feeling twice as heavy as it's true weight. "Come in."
From a crack in the door came curls of orange, like persimmons and butterfly wings. Penny peered in, forging eye contact, taut, like they were both bound together by a cord between them.
"I'm sorry, am I interrupting?" Yet she shut the door behind her.
"No, never," Maru said, and with newfound strength sat up in bed. "Come, sit. Something's on your mind."
Penny did just that, though she wiped off her backside first as to remove anything that would dirty her majesty's bed. Despite how much she wanted to admire her, she found her eyes glued to her own lap.
"What's the matter?" Maru took Penny's hand, which made her jolt, face warming. The wet feeling of accumulating sweat made her shift and fidget even more.
"I'm afraid I cannot say," Penny mumbled, the spark of confidence that brought her here dissipating.
"Say it, please." Maru put her other hand atop Penny's, leaning in.
"I-" Penny gulped. "I know I'm not meant to have the thoughts I'm having. You're so beautiful and smart and kind, and I find myself entranced by you." Some of those words were borrowed from a novel she read, but they all rang true regardless.
"Penny…"
"I know it cannot be," Penny blurted, voice quavery with emotion. "I just can barely stand it. You're so—"
"Penny," Maru interrupted with a touch to her lip. "May I kiss you?"
"Huh?!" Penny's jaw laxed, chest heaving as tears slid down her cheeks. There was a moment of silent staring before her mouth finally trembled into a smile. "I'd… I'd love that, actually."
Maru leaned in, and they both giggled when they bumped noses. Neither had kissed anyone before, after all. The second attempt was a success, hearts racing and hands grasping for purchase as they sat united. Their scents mixed: flowers and dirt, perfume and soap.
Neither wanted it to end; yet eventually their heads inched back, sharing breath as they hovered just apart.
"Stay the night with me," Maru whispered, making room.
"Are you certain?" Penny asked slowly, her heart and body having left her mind behind.
"More than ever," she insisted. "I'll lock the door. We'll figure out what we're doing tomorrow."
What we're doing. Those words weighed heavy. Yet, as Penny laid herself down on a bed soft enough to be made of spring clouds and dove feathers, she allowed her weary muscles to ease. After all, she had everything she could have ever wanted and more.