Empty blue eyes searched her face. “I can’t trade that woman and her child for
anything. When Cone saw I didn’t die, he started a hell fire for me. Ten years later,
the hell fire hadn’t burned completely, so he took Remeta from her mother-from me
-and damaged that little girl badly.”
Tears streamed down Danika’s eyes, and she didn’t try to hide them.
Scrutinizing eyes still held hers. “And today, I stared at that girl and saw traces of a
girl she would have been if disaster didn’t befall us all upon her birth. Bright,
beautiful, and so smart. It made me wonder how Danika, the only daughter of King
Cone, could reach into that girl’s tormented heart and soothe it.” Then he added, “Is it
possible that a devil can father an angel? Or did he father a devil who’s pretending to
be an angel?”
Vetta was having a beautiful day. Her visit to the fertility healer was tiring, but it
was also successful. The healer had given her a pill to swallow whenever she wanted
to have sexual pleasures with the king. She was so happy, but also impatient.
When she came back from her journey, Vetta called the maids, and they bathed
and changed her clothes for her. She had the pill in her corset; she couldn’t wait to
meet with the king! Vetta would seduce him in every way possible tonight, and she
would pleasure him so greatly that he would forget about his wretched slave, Danika.
With that sweet thought in mind, Vetta walked out of her bedroom, which was in
the Courtesan quarters. She was the only person living in that part of the palace
because she was the king’s only mistress, unlike other kings who had over thirty
mistresses. It also made her happy, and it made her feel special.
Vetta walked past the servant’s quarters to see the guards carrying things from
Danika’s bedroom. She paused in thought. Did that mean that the king was throwing
her out? Was the king sending her back to the cage where she belonged? The cage for
filthy slaves? Just the thought left Vetta giddy with excitement. Ahhh, so much to be
happy about this noonday.
The happiness quickly faded when she entered the royal chambers to see the
guards carrying Danika’s belongings to the sacred bedroom. Vetta always referred to
that bedroom as the sacred bedroom because no one was ever allowed in there. No
one at all.
She walked closer and called to one of the guards. She needed to know what was
happening.
“You! Come here!” Vetta ordered.
The guard ran towards her. “Yes, Mistress?”
“What’s going on here?”
“The king gave orders that the slave princess’s belongings should be moved to this
bedroom. She will live in this bedroom from now on.”
Vetta was sure she hadn’t heard this man right. “What did you just say!?” He
repeated himself, and a hot lash of anger, pain and jealousy whipped through Vetta it
almost drove her to her knees.
No! There is no way this is true!
She sent the guard away and started towards the king’s chambers. There is just no
way this is true!!
Danika’s heart squeezed tightly in her chest that, for a moment, it she could barely
breathe. She wasn’t supposed to feel pain at his statement, but pain consumed her. He
had no reason to trust her, and her father solidified his hate for her, and so she didn’t
blame him that he would think her capable of such an atrocity. It didn’t make it hurt
less.
She raised her eyes from the floor and met his. “I don’t live a life of pretense,
Master. I-I only live. I have no plan for the future. I find myself a slave because of the
monster my father was, and I’m trying to survive. But I live like Danika. Not like
King Cone’s daughter.”
At her softly spoken words, Lucien still watched her with that unreadable
expression on his face. The way his eyes searched hers was as if he was trying to read
her sincerity.
What was it about him and reading people’s eyes?
Finally, he averted his eyes. “Have you heard of the circumstances that pushed
Remeta to insanity?”
“No, Master.” She had heard it from Baski, but it especially pleased her that he
wanted to tell her about it.
“King Cone took her in as a slave. He made a nine-year-old a king’s slave. Then
the day came for her to do the job that was given to her, and she could not finish that
task. He ordered her to be whipped and raped by several men,” he growled, his eyes a
bank of rage at the memory.
She had heard this story before, but it didn’t stop the tears that filled her eyes as he
told her about it. God, it was a wonder Remeta was even a little sane in the head.
“Creator,” she whispered miserably, lowering her head in shame. Why did her father
have to be that kind of person? Why did a man like that have to father her? Her heart
filled with pain.
The king watched Danika. He saw the sincerity of her actions, and it baffled him
greatly, just like it had done earlier in the day.
She was Cone’s daughter. How was this even possible?
But he saw it with his own eyes: tears that couldn’t be faked. Her hand was resting
protectively on his damaged leg, even without her awareness.
Who is this woman? This woman that makes me sleep? Keeps the demons at bay?
Who is this woman who helped Remeta come out of her shell? Who makes Remeta
want to get better?
Who is this woman whose touch doesn’t make my skin crawl? Whose presence
gives me peace?