A sacred night for the slave

"Can't I just stay with Tamara?" Astrid asks in the morning as they eat breakfast.

"You want to stay in my sister's service instead of living on the favorite's floor?" Loras asks while pushing a weird-looking pastry, covered with something red into Astrid's mouth.

"No way. It looks disgusting!" She protests, but he doesn't move.

"Try."

She relunctly opens her mouth and her eyes lighten up.

"Amazing!" She tries to say with her mouth full. He chuckles. He was born a prince and he grew up to be a king. Not even his sister was so care-free around him. The protocol was always followed and no one left their guard down. But this one... This little slave from the barbaric tribes of the north. She looks him straight in the eyes. Like no one did before.

"And yes," She continues, not aware that he has been staring at her. "I like spending time with Tamara. It's not like she gives me a lot to do. Enough not to get bored. I hate sitting around all day."

"Then you can go to the garden. Take walks."

"How much can one person walk without a purpose?" She asks, rolling her eyes.

It's not like she would have to live on the favorite's floor. After all, she can just go to Tamara when she wakes up and spend the day with her anyway. But living there means living right next to Lanna and she doesn't feel like facing her friend yet.

Fortunately for her. the king doesn't insist and just tells her to do as she pleases.

In the soft morning light, with his hair down and his nightgown half open down to his abs he looks... heart melting.

Astrid can't resist the temptation and as a thanks for letting her continue to live with Tamara, she places a soft kiss on his cheek. The gesture comes so naturally, it surprises both of them.

The king smiles and brushes his fingers over her lips. His hands are worn and calloused, like he is used to holding swords, not delicate bodies, but the shiver that they send on Astrid's back is truly pleasant.

"Soft. Like I imagine them." His voice comes out hoarse, lower than usual like he fights the temptation inside him.

He clears his voice, and when he draws his hand back, Astrid can't help but sigh.

"Can I see you again? Tonight?" She asks, filed by the dareness of the moment.

He is half turned with his back to her, but she can sense his smirk.

"I will send the eunuch in the evening. Prepare." He answers and with that, he goes to get dressed for the day.

Today, she doesn't run out of the room. She doesn't run or hide. Her steps are slow and guided as she goes back on the Golden Path, as she would try to prolong the feeling she has.

Her lips seem frozen in a smile and her body feels like it’s floating.

Until she meets with Lysa.

Astrid bows down, out of habit, but this time Lysa doesn't stop her. Favorites don't bow to each other, but Lysa sees herself above anyone else anyway.

"Don't get your hopes up, little slave. After tonight, he will forget about you."

"Tonight?" Astrid asks, confused.

"Tonight is a full moon. The sacred night that the king can spend only with his most favorite in order to conceive a blessed child. And once I touch him again, he will erase you from his mind completely."

Astrid doesn't say anything and simply takes her leave. The king asked her to prepare, but maybe he forgot what day it is? She feels her heart aching at the thought of him sleeping with Lysa, but she has to remind herself he is the king. He has a harem by law. He has to have many children to secure the dynasty.

All she can be is another woman... Will she be able to be happy with only a piece of him? Or will she crumble and have nothing?

With that in mind, she opens the door to her room, only to see Tamara there.

"That excited to find out what happened?" Astrid asks.

"I could hear the laughter from my balcony in the morning, I have enough. I wanted to apologize. I pushed you even though I promised I won't. And I want you to know that I didn't do it because I don't care about you, but because I can see you like him too and I would hate to see you throw that away for people that wouldn't do the same for you. That being said, I am here to gossip, not as his sister, but as your friend." Tamara says, with a solemn tone.

Astrid hugs her. She is grateful to Tamara. And she knows the princess actually cares for her beyond being a tool for her own schemes. She saw the way Tamara treats her maids and the other slaves. She is kind with everyone and is a genuinely good person.

They sit down and talk for a while. Tamara doesn't ask too many questions and Astrid doesn't give a lot of details.

"And he said he will send someone tonight."

"Tonight?" Tamara asks and her jaw drops on the floor. "You sure you heard him right?"

"Yes." But Astrid leaves out the part where she asked to see him tonight. "Although when I met Lysa in the morning she said she is the one going tonight so I don't know what to think."

"We have to wait and see, because if he sends for you tonight..."

"On the sacred night?"

"Not only it's the sacred night. It would be the third night in a row. It's not something that happens every day. My brother likes solitude. He usually can't stand to not have any moment alone more than a day or two, so he never calls anyone three times. Not even Lysa."

"But what is Lyas though? Everyone keeps calling her the most favorite. It's that an actual position?"

Tamara looks like you just squeezed a lemon in her mouth.

"The mother of the heir is called a faustia, which means the most fortunate in the old language. The faustia is a rank. The leader of the harem. Lysa calls herself the most favorite and not the most fortunate to point out that the king favors her, not fate."

So Lysa truly has more rights to go there tonight than Astrid's.

Tamara is fast to notice that Astrid got saddened by it.

"Don't worry. In the harem, everything can change so fast. It's all about what the king wants. No laws can impose anything. Not who can go on the sacred night. Not who can be named faustia."

Still, Astrid's hopes are not very high. Lysa is beautiful and she knew him for so long. Astrid is a girl he met a month ago, who doesn't want to sleep with him. Anyone can do the math.

Still, what can she do except for getting ready and waiting.

And wait.

And wait...

And wait until almost midnight, when the palace is quiet and everyone had went to sleep.

He said evening, so it's obvious he won't call for her at this point. But she can't change. Her heart refuses to take down the dress and the jewelry. She refuses to slip into her nightdress and climb into bed like promises weren't made in the morning.

A solitary tear smears her makeup.

Could she? Could she fall in love so fast? She didn't want to... But the heart can't be controlled.

She walks out on the balcony to get some fresh air and clear her mind. She didn't expect to see him.

He doesn't notice her right away, instead, he stares in the distance, lost in his own thoughts, with a small smile hanging on his lips. Astrid wonders how such a beautiful smile can be so heartbreaking when his eyes suddenly fall on her.

She bows down, respectfully, and he nods in her direction. Astrid tries to read his face but now it's cold as a stone.

"Lady Astrid?" A eunuch appears from behind and scares the living days out of her.

"Yes?" She tries to pull herself together.

"The king requested your presence."

Astrid is shocked and turns back to look at Loras, but he has already gone back inside.

At this hour? Why so late? Was Lysa there earlier? No... He wouldn't. That's disgusting. I mean, maybe she can accept to share him, but two women in one night. Is he that type of man?

A million questions race through her mind as she stares at the now-empty balcony, but she won't find the answers there.

This time, her way on the Golden Path is more tense and is paved with uncertainty, doubts and hope.

She can only pray it won't be the last time she sees those halls.