The problem came after Baski prepared Sally and Danika’s herbs and helped them
with their treatments, and they prepared to return to the palace.
Remeta, for the first time in months, allowed her mother to treat her cuts and
bruises as she saw her mother attend to Sally and Danika. But it was time to go, and
Remeta wanted to go with Danika. In fact, all she wanted was to be with Danika-to
be with the royalty that would keep her safe.
No one knew what else to do. Even Danika didn’t want to leave the girl in fear that
she’d fall back into the past-trapped in her head.
In the end, they all decided that Remeta would go back with them to the palace.
Baski was all for anything that would help her child get better, and she was
determined to tell the king everything and plead with him for any solution possible.
Only palace workers, slaves, and visitors with purpose were allowed in the palace.
Baski didn’t know how to go about begging for help from the king, but she was
determined to try.
As the four of them started back to the palace, Remeta stuck like glue between
Danika and Sally, holding Danika’s hand tight.
It amazed people to see them. Stunned. Speechless.
They didn’t recognize ‘the ghosted one’ anymore.
Remeta was clean-dressed up and beautiful. And she was keeping physical
contact with another person. She was smiling at her as if the sun rose and set around
that person. Danika was the person in question. The daughter of King Cone. The
former princess of the most powerful of the twelve kingdoms.
As these four people strode to the palace, people stopped what they were doing,
forming a crowd behind them to watch the former princess and the two lowborn she
held so protectively.
There were murmurs in the crowd.
“How did the slave princess get to Remeta?”
“How was she able to ‘heal’ that girl?”
“How does she allow those girls to stand so close to her?”
“Does it mean she won’t push us away for being unprivileged people when we get
close?”
“Why isn’t she behaving like her father?”
“Is it all pretense?”
“What’s going on?”
All these questions and more reverberated through the crowd. All these and so
much more.
They arrived at the palace, and it was time for Danika to join the king in court.
They walked to her bedroom, and Danika convinced Remeta to stay with Sally and
Baski. At first, she refused.
“I’m going to the guards to give out orders to them to keep away from you
whenever they see you,” Danika had said to her. That, more than any other tactic, had
worked.
“Alright, my queen. Thank you, my queen. Remeta will be happy if you do this for
her,” she’d whispered in that tiny voice.
Danika stared worriedly at Baski and Sally. She didn’t know how to go about the
fact that Remeta was determined to keep addressing her as ‘my queen.’ No matter
how she tried to dissuade the girl, she was determined to use the honorific. Danika
hoped they would punish neither of them for it.
Sally addressing her as a princess was actually better at this point.
Finally, Danika changed her clothes and said goodbye to them and walked to the
royal court.
She arrived at the door, and the guards opened it for her. There were two kings and
the ministers of Salem. They were deep in discussion, and none of them paid her any
attention. She sighed in relief.
Danka entered with her head bowed and walked straight to the throne. She lowered
herself to her usual position. The king didn’t spare her a glance, and focused on the
conversation.
Being so close to him again, his garment brushing her body, the scent of him
warped her mind. She breathed deeply, the scent which took her back to the night
before. The way she’d held on to him. The things she’d demanded from him. Red
flushed her cheeks, and she swallowed tightly when her body went hot all over. She
did her best to keep her mind from venturing that way again.
The kings went from one topic to another. They went over every petition, from
taxes to crops. They postponed hunting game to the following day. King Philip
dismissed his messenger and left because he had an emergency in his kingdom. The
other kings continued the meeting.
Danika’s eyes gazed at the slaves that attended court. Each one of them seemed to
have fun sitting at the foot of their masters, and making them feel good.’ Two of them
were caressing their master’s body. The masters seemed to enjoy themselves. One of
them unbuckled his leather pants, and the slave took at as her cue. She got in between
his legs. Taking her master’s phallus in her hand, she caressed it playfully. Danika’s
cheeks heated; she felt embarrassed for the girl. The girl seemed to be really enjoying
herself.
Having been a slave for a while, Danika already knew how it was supposed to be
in the slave world. Amongst themselves, the highest class of slaves were the king’s
slaves. The master’s slaves were the slaves for the privileged men and ministers. Then
the slaves that work in the royal palace. Then the slaves that work at the homes of
privileged people.
The lowest of slaves were those that only worked in the mines. Every slave worked
in the mines, but there were those who did nothing more than that. They were those
slaves that lived and breathed mining.
Even in the slave world, there was competition. Every slave’s dream was to
become a king’s slave or master’s slave because of the attention they would get-
because of the relative luxury and it made them feel special that they’re wanted by
people of the upper class.
As Danika watched two slaves fight for who would suck their master’s thick organ,
she concluded she could never understand them, or this world she found herself in.
King Lucien occasionally shot glances at Danika, and she wondered what those
glances were about. His eyes scrutinized her face, and she got lost in the look, the
world around her disappearing. Then his brow would knit together in a frown, like he
was doing something he was not supposed to. He’d look away. If she didn’t know
better, Danka would think that he couldn’t keep his eyes off her-that he couldn’t
keep from staring at her. But she knew better.
The last time he scowled and averted his eyes, Danika took a deep breath
regretfully. Shaking the thought from her mind. She reminded herself that she knew
better.
This was King Lucien, who hated her with every breath in his body.