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1044 Words
ARIA.
But he wasn't there. He wasn't the one to address and somehow, these made the women sad. It surprised me that they were so excited to see a man they had been sold to.
How could anyone worship a master who bought them against their own will? Definitely not me.
We were addressed by the King's man, who barked out orders, warning that anyone who tried to escape the Pack would be severely punished and maybe executed.
Well, I didn't care at this point. I just wanted to be alone. There was no way for me to live and getting used to this monstrosity of a palace was the best thing to do.
We were shown to our quarters after the announcements were made. One of the guards harshly instructed everyone to pair so they could get a room.
I didn't know who to pick so I just hung around, hoping someone would find me.
But no one did.
Just as I was about to join a lady standing alone on the other side, someone grabbed my arm and I turned immediately with the intent of striking them when I saw it was Daneesha with a smile on her face. Closing my eyes, I brought my hand to my chest.
"You scared the hell out of me, Daneesha," I replied while pulling away from her. I hated physical contact a lot and her hold on me reminded me of my stepfather and how he used to sneak up on me.
"I'm sorry," She said with a smile. "I was looking around for you. Didn't even realize that you already left my side."
I forced a smile and wrapped my arms around my body in a protective form. "It's fine."
"So do you want to get paired with me?"
I looked around. I didn't know anyone here and Daneesha was the only person who made an attempt at getting to know me. I nodded and she threw her arms around me, squealing and making me really uncomfortable.
I immediately pulled away, letting out an awkward laugh in the process. We went into our rooms.
It was smaller than my room back home but spacious enough for two of us to live in. There were two narrow beds on both ends of the room. I took the one by the window and Daneesha took the second.
"How long have you been here?" I blurted out. I was putting on the only dress we had been given, getting ready for work.
"A week?" She replied as she slipped into her clothes. "We were first kept in that large hall, eating only once a day and overworking ourselves to death. Some people have been here for years."
"Why? Why buy people when you can pay them to work for you?"
Daneesha sighed. "Alpha Lyall is a ruthless man. He's very powerful. Very very powerful and no one crosses his path. He does whatever he wants and he has the money to employ slaves. A lot of it. People who can't afford to train their children sell them off to him for a good price. He sells some off to his council elders and other Packs because he can and no one would question him."
"How did you get here?"
Daneesha smiled sadly and tied her apron. "My parents died a long time ago. Someone found me and offered to help a few months ago. Well, I didn't know he was planning to sell me off to Alpha King Lyall. I thought he was helping me, meanwhile, he wanted to use me for his own benefit."
That was really shitty. People were evil and every day, she was reminded of it.
"What about you?"
Thankfully, the door burst open before I could reply and a fat lady, looking displeased, stood by the door. "What are you both doing here? There's a lot of work to do with low manpower. Do you want to be severely punished for it?! Get to work, immediately!"
She left the door open and walked out of the room. I turned to Daneesha.
"She's the chief maid. Tiffany. I hate her. Everyone does. Do well to stay away from her."
And I did. I was assigned to clean the King's court along with other ladies who paid me no regard. Daneesha was posted to the kitchen so we were apart from each other.
All the same, I was good at working alone so I wasn't really bothered.
"Out of the way!" One of the maids pushed me to the side with force. I immediately stood to my feet.
"Why? I am cleaning the windows."
She glared at me. "I don't care. Get the f**k away from there."
Who did she think she was to talk to me in that manner? "I can't. Go clean somewhere else."
I went back to cleaning, not realizing that she had lifted the bucket until I felt my clothes and skin soak up with slimy water.
I staggered backwards and missed a footing before sliding to the ground and hitting the side of my head on a wooden table. Pain shot up my head and I groaned in pain, watching as the other ladies laughed at me.
"Serves her right. She came last night and thinks she can boss us around."
"What is going on here?!" A loud voice boomed around the King's court. Everyone went back to their duties, leaving me on the floor to fend for myself.
A man stood by the door. He was dressed like he fought with the army. His dull blue eyes scanned the room and when he saw me, he tilted his head to the side and walked towards me.
"Why are you on the floor and soaking wet?"
"I was..."
"This is not where you come to play games. Look around you, no one here cares what you do. If you make a mistake, you will be punished for it. This is the King's court and you behave yourself!" He snapped.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean—"
He cut me short with a raise of his hand. "I don't want to hear any of that. Pick up your bucket. You're going to be cleaning the roof of the Palace today."
- Writer
