“But her hair?” the woman said confusing me. Okay so I knew I must have been a mess but was it really that bad? I raised a hand up and one feel of the knotted mess pretty much answered that question for me. Ranka gave a little shake of her head and the woman moved swiftly on to the next question.
“What is your name, girl?” She snapped out the question obviously thinking that Ranka’s warning only went as far as keeping my body safe and ready for a night with the King, but she obviously didn’t give a shit about my mind.
“She doesn’t remember who she is so the King has decided to name her when he sees fit. Until then he calls her his Little Lamb.” Oh great, thanks Ranka, just what I wanted, to take that animal nickname with me for the rest of this bonkers trip!
“Very well. I see she has injuries, are these just on her face or extended to the body as well, as the healing time will only add to the year.” I screwed up my face in confusion. What was this woman talking about? Ranka must have recognised what I was thinking because she said,
“Getting a concubine ready for the King usually takes a year in preparation.” I almost choked on my own tongue hearing this.
“A year!?” I shouted at which I received a dirty look from Miss Persian Piggy who stood next to me, snorting her disbelief, from what I could only assume was my behaviour, but screw that! A bloody year getting ready to see Draven, jeez what was I going to be doing, re-growing new skin after they scrubbed me raw!
“Allow time for her to heal but nothing else, Parmida,” Ranka said ignoring my outburst. The woman she called Parmida puffed up her red blotchy face as if she would soon run out of air and pass out.
“That is not possible! What of skin conditions or fungi, they take six months to heal!?” After hearing this it was my turn to look flabbergasted.
“Little Lamb, do you have any skin problems or fungi growing?” Ranka turned to me and asked. I choked on a snorted laugh and said,
“No! No I most certainly do not!” Then I folded my arms letting them both know how insulted I was by the idea.
“Well, that is something at least,” the woman scoffed.
“I mean what I say odalik, the King will not wait for this one.” Ranka’s last warning was enough to make the woman take this seriously and I could only hope that it meant I wouldn’t be ‘beautified’ for long.
“Good, I will escort you both down,” Ranka said.
“That won’t be necessary, I can take it…” Ranka’s hand came up telling Parmida with one motion to stop talking, clearly making Ranka the one in charge here.
“Ideem it necessary, as did the King when he declared me her protector and as you know, I do not ever fail in doing my King’s will.” I don’t know how the woman took Ranka’s words of warning but at a guess, I would say as seriously as a heart attack considering how much she had suddenly paled.
“Very well,” Parmida forced herself to say and quickly moved to the door. Ranka looked back to me for a moment and then around the room as if looking for something. Then she found the garment I had discarded as soon as I had entered the room and walked over to pick it back up.
“You’d better put this back on.” I frowned but refrained from telling her it was like being dressed for an Arctic expedition when in Florida, because for one Florida didn’t even exist yet and wouldn’t for quite some time and second, I very much doubted Ranka had ever seen snow in the desert! So in the end I did what I was told and pulled up the hood like a Jedi before following her out of the room.
We walked through long hallways with scalloped arches and down painted tiled steps until reaching the lower levels of the Palace. The woman named Parmida seemed to be leading us deep below the foundations of the palace until soon it was an endless row of pillar after pillar, reminding me of the Duomo cathedral in Milan. I couldn’t help but smile thinking back to being on its rooftop with Draven’s arms around me as we gazed at the beautiful city around us. Of course, just one look at the narrow stone walkways that were raised above the underground lake and the surrounding crystal blue water that looked as if it had been filtered it was so clean and I knew it was like nothing I had ever seen before.
“This place is incredible,” I muttered as I took a moment to turn and look back at its architectural splendour.
“Come along little lamb, much work to be done!” Parmida said clicking her fingers over her head and Ranka and I exchanged the same look with each other. I don’t know about her thoughts but mine were ‘which one of us is going to slap her first?’.
In the end neither of us did such a thing but instead we continued to follow her along the marble walkway and to the huge double doors at the end which looked big enough to fit Ragnar carrying Sigurd on his shoulders through without needing to duck. The thought actually made me chuckle and the sound echoed through the massive space making me cover my mouth quickly.
“What? I giggle when I’m nervous,” I told Ranka who shot me a disapproving look. Then I just shrugged my shoulders and continued on, wondering if we were going to get to the Emerald city before my Dorothy legs gave up on me. It was true that I wasn’t looking forward to this but more a case of being anxious in getting it over with, which was good because when we finally arrived at the massive doors I was more than ready to walk through them.
Two guards opened the doors and the sight of pure opulence and beauty was everywhere to be seen and not just in the women.
“Come, come now!” Parmida shouted, clapping her hands as she walked in first and some of the girls who were lounging around hurried away from her. I took this as a sign that this woman most likely had a heavy hand when it came to preparing her girls, which didn’t look good for me.
The next thing I knew servants wearing grey tunics hurried towards her and she quickly started barking orders at them. I decided to take this opportunity to check the place out, so I let my eyes wander around the room. In doing so I quickly established that there was a definite divide between the girls. On one side there were those who were definitely shy and timid and I wondered if these girls hadn’t been here as long as the others. Because on the other side, lounging on luxurious cushions and relaxing by the side of the huge pool in the centre of the room were those who looked as though this was home to them.
The room was massive, which wasn’t surprising given the height of the doors we had just walked through. It was split up on different levels, some with seating areas sunken into the ground but all of them surrounded the luxurious circular pool at the centre. Extravagant furnishings decorated the room along with painted panels on the walls depicting exotic views of distant lands. And positioned throughout all of this sensuous setting were half naked beauties from all around the world. I could see every ethnicity I could think of and I had to wonder where they had all come from.
“What do you mean he doesn’t wish to see me?” Suddenly a shrieking voice cut through the peaceful room and what quickly followed was the sound of a large gold dish hitting the stone floor after some angry brunette had slapped one of the servants across the face.
“You must be wrong, go and ask again!” she shouted down at the poor girl who was now picking up the scattered fruit.
“Yes, Stateira,” she said bowing her head over and over. I hated bullies with a vengeance and as a result was fighting with myself not to go over there and see how she liked being smacked to the floor.
“Idiot! I am surrounded by idiots!” she started ranting to one of the other girls next to her who looked as though she had a bad case of fangirl going on. She obviously had a thing for bitches, clearly.
“And what do we have here, another crow to squawk at the King, in hopes that he will notice her?” she said looking over at me laughing and I wanted to walk over there and start pecking her eyes out, showing just how crow like I could be!
“And what do we have over there, another power bitch wannabe Queen?” I said looking sideways to Ranka. The look of outrage on Stateira’s face made me smile and I felt Ranka’s hand hold me back as she
must have been worried I was about to do something stupid. Well there were no worries about that unless she…oops, it looked like I was about to talk too soon because here she came, storming over to mark her territory. I had to wonder if she was also going to cock her leg up and piss over the little posse that followed her.
“What did you say to me!?” she demanded coming to stand before me like some over feathered peacock. I mean really, I thought some of the girls could overdo the makeup in my time but this woman looked as though she had used pig’s blood to dye her lips red!
“I think you heard me the first time, precious.”
“Are you mocking me?!” she snapped, actually stamping her foot like a toddler would. In fact, I had seen Ella behave better than this spoiled brat.
“If the shoes fits,” I said causing her and her friends to look down at her sequined slippers.
“Of course my shoes fit! Are you simple?” I rolled my eyes and muttered,
“Jeez what is it with these people… Yes, I am mocking you!” I shouted this last part at her face, this time making it perfectly clear what I was doing.
“How dare you! Do you know who I am?!” I couldn’t help it and blurted the first words that came to mind.
“A whore in sparkly pants?” I said looking down at her blue glittering pants that reminded me of something out of an Aladdin Christmas pantomime. It was at this point that her face turned crimson and she stepped forward obviously about to lash out at me. Ranka decided that enough was enough and stepped in between us making her now think twice about her actions.
“You have no authority here, now get out of my way!” she snapped at Ranka.
“No, but the King does and I am the King’s right hand. So I suggest that you back away before I inform his Lordship that you just attacked his next chosen concubine, one I will add he chose personally.” Hearing this from Ranka obviously had its desired affect because she sucked in a sharp breath of disbelief. I gathered it was an unusual custom for the King himself to pick who became his next concubine, as he probably only went as far as picking one from the end of the beauty assembly line for his bed! The thought had me seething once more.
“The King wouldn’t replace me!” she shouted, but that high pitch in her voice didn’t sound as if even she truly believed in what she was saying.
“No? Then I suggest you don’t force his hand and displease him with any unsavoury acts against a fellow concubine whom he chose.” At this she huffed once and before spinning on her heel, she gave me a predictable warning,
“This isn’t over.”
“No? Wow, I’m gutted I truly am because I really thought we would become best of friends.” I said as she walked away.
“Okay so what crawled up her ass and made camp?” I asked Ranka and she choked on a breath at what I just said.
“That is Stateira.”
“So?” I asked looking back at her over my shoulder and curling up my lip in disgust.
“You don’t understand,” she said shaking her head, making her plaited Mohawk shake from side to side.
“Then explain it to me.”
“There is not just hierarchy in royalty or within the Gods of my world but there is also one set up down here.” I frowned and then looked around to see if I could see it for myself. It quickly became apparent that the divide I had seen when I first walked in was now screamingly obvious as to the cause. The highest and most luxurious section was where bitch face sat and was currently being fanned by one of her adoring fans. And on the other side were those who weren’t as expensively dressed, looking awkward, timid and most likely afraid of one of those bratty outbursts being directed at them. I had to wonder if these girls were just waiting on the side-lines like substitutes hoping to be picked for their chance to play in the game.
“And let me guess, she is the boss,” I said in an unsurprised tone.
“After Parmida, yes she is the boss.”
“And I know I am going to hate this answer but just to be clear, who exactly is the crazy fool that gave her that title?” I closed my eyes and braced myself,
“She is head concubine because she is a known favourite of the King’s.” Ranka said softly trying to minimise that particular blow for me. But I decided to torture myself with the truth once more and say the words I myself needed to hear being said aloud, even if it did come out as a whisper,
“So Draven picked her.” I saw Ranka nod her head and then add the next bombshell, which was something she thankfully thought I needed to know,
“It is said that she will soon become…” she paused a second as if second guessing whether or not she should tell me this, but I gave her pleading eyes and pushed for it.
“Become what…? What Ranka, tell me?” So she took a deep breath and uttered my worst nightmare…
“Queen.”
Chapter 40
Violated
“He’s lost his mind.” I muttered to no-one in particular, unable to comprehend how Draven could even stand to be around her, let alone consider making her his queen!
“She is also the only other girl who the King has picked personally to be his concubine.” Ah, so Ranka could see why Stateira was so pissed as she obviously thought I was here to replace her. Well, news flash bitch, I was intending to do more than just replace her!
“So that explains the claws then,” I said and when she gave me that look I was getting used to, I meowed and scratched at the air. As you can imagine this didn’t help to remove that look of confusion from her face…quite the opposite actually.
“You have to be careful, that viper is likely to strike without you even knowing it,” Ranka said watching Stateira like a hawk as she swaggered back to her corner.
“I am not worried about defending myself against petty spoilt brats,” I told her but obviously I wasn’t taking this seriously enough, for she gripped my forearm and spun me around to face her.
“I am not talking about her attacking you, I am talking about her stabbing you in the back, poisoning your food or slitting your throat whilst you sleep.” My eyes widened in surprise.
“She wants to kill me?!” I hissed stepping closer to her.
“Of course she does. In her eyes you stand to take her place as favourite and potentially as queen, for she is not blind,” Ranka said and I frowned, not understanding what she meant. I looked down at myself only to see someone who looked as though I had fought my way through a desert and the desert had mostly won.
“Open your eyes Chosen and tell me what you see,” Ranka said tipping her chin back to the room. I turned around but still couldn’t see what she spoke of.
“I don’t under…”
“Look at the girls,” she told me and I did as she suggested. They were all beautiful and most were exotic without even trying to be. With their long dark locks smoothed to a high shine or pinned red curls over flowing floaty veils or…wait, why was there no…
“Blondes…there are no blondes,” I said frowning at the room before facing Ranka once more in complete shock.
“No, there are none and those girls know it too. You are the first golden haired girl to be chosen and by the King himself, when in the past he has strictly forbidden girls to be chosen with this hair colour by Parmida… now can you see why you hold such a threat?” Ranka said and I looked back seeing that all eyes were on me which only managed to strengthen Ranka’s words of warning. I couldn’t answer her but I didn’t need to as my look said it all.
“Great, so I have been thrown to the wolves dressed in silk veils…perfect.” I think I could officially say my situation had just got worse. So just to recap, I was in a foreign country, over two thousand years in the past, without my friends, where Draven had no clue who I was and somehow I had to get him to break one of the biggest supernatural rules and sleep with a human in hopes that he will knock me up so that I could save the world back in my time.
Oh and let’s not forget now trying to survive getting lynched by a room full of jealous beauties. Beaut
ies who probably had vials of poison stashed away in their cleavages and knives sewn under their tasselled pillows! Great, well no pressure Keira, I thought mentally shaking my head.
It was at that point I would have liked to retire from the position of Electus, move to the Swiss Alps and become a goat herder…surely those guys had a peaceful life…right? Well it must be better than watching yourself being surrounded by a group of ancient beauticians who looked as though they could also beat up a rugby team because that was what was happening to me now.
“We have a lot of work to do but I want her stripped and bathed so I can see what damage I am working with!” Parmida said circling around me like a vulture that was interested in dressing my meat not eating it.
“I want her separated from the rest, Parmida,” Ranka warned, only Parmida just waved a hand around and said,
“Yes, yes.” But thankfully this wasn’t good enough for Ranka so she took her by the arm and forced her to listen to her final warning.
“Heed my words odalik, for in the eyes of the King she cannot be replaced but you can. Do you understand me now?” Parmida paled slightly and then nodded, telling me that she finally understood.
“Good, then do as I ask and keep her guarded day and night. I will be back every day to check on her progress as the King is anxious to see his prize, so I suggest not to keep him waiting too long before he can claim it,” Ranka said and I knew she was only playing her part but I had to say that I was getting tired of being treated like a new toy that needed polishing.
“You think in pleasing the King I will be rewarded?” Parmida asked quietly and I couldn’t help but snort, which only earned me a dirty look from my new headmistress.
“I do indeed,” Ranka said grinning and I had to say it was an unnerving sight. Ranka was killer first and foremost, that was clear for all to see. It wasn’t just the way she looked, like some warrior who could mount a horse in one swift movement or draw a bow quicker than taking a breath, but it was also in her eyes. It was that dangerous glint that told a person she didn’t even need to think about her next move but could kill them quicker than thinking about it.
Sacrifice of the Septimus: Part 2 (Afterlife saga Book 7) Page 4