Mimbi felt that if her mother were here to see her, she'd be ashamed of her daughter and heiress.
When Lord Galax had used her as food, all she did was wince. She took in the pain and anger and shoved it deep inside her.
She wanted to live, and she was in no position to fight. So she would shut up and let herself become food, be bossed around, and comply with Lord Galax's wishes. Because that was the only way he wouldn't kill her.
When Lord Galax realized that Mimbi's blood tasted different from the other girls', he had only smiled and said: "Let this be our secret. I hear anyone mention something about you being a witch, and you're dead. You set anything on fire, and I will kill every single one of the girls. Do you understand?"
And Mimbi had nodded like an obedient child.
She supposed it could be worse. She was set up in a tent next to Lord Galax's, with a soft bed and a little table to take her meals. But then again, that only made her fee
Marcellus really didn't want to have to do this, but he had no choice. If he wanted to save this stupid girl's life, he had to get the poison out of the wound. And it happened that he had a pair of fangs that could perfectly tear into flesh. The problem was that he'd have to bring himself to stop. He'd spent so long without drinking human blood that he wasn't sure he'd be able to resist it. If he couldn't, he'd be betraying all the ideals he'd worked so hard to uphold. Humans weren't meant to be food. They were as smart as Hova, and if he was honest, much better than the people of his race. Humans worked together to make their lives better; the Hova lived their lives scared of one another, constantly vying for a way to get ahead at the cost of other people. Marcellus couldn't really blame them, though. It had been his father who made the Hova that way. His reign of terror was almost one hundred years old, and a century of living in fear could do things to you
After Scarlett was done eating, the pair set out immediately. She desperately wanted to bathe, but she wasn’t going to undress near Prince Marcellus. She didn’t trust him to look away or refrain from making crude jokes about her. They both moved silently through the forest. The sun was high in the sky, and all they could hear were their footsteps and the chirping birds. Scarlett’s thoughts drifted towards Mimbi. Was she still alive? Was she still on this side of the wall, or had they taken her and the other captives to Hovania? “Do you know where they were taking the girls?” she asked all of a sudden. It was hard for her to keep up with Prince Marcellus. He walked briskly, sometimes starting to jog, and then slowing down once he realized he was going too fast for her. Normally, it wouldn’t have been a problem. But after two days of being out, she was still a little weak. “They are taking them to Lady Numia’s estate. It’s the closest castle to the wall
They got their first glimpse of civilization after walking for more than six hours. The main road diverged into narrower roads, and inns, small houses and villages came into view. It had begun to rain almost as soon as they had reached the road, and everyone in the mismatched group was drenched. Their spirits were just as damp as their clothes. When her fever died down, Scarlett had ridden up to Luca, trying to explain why she had sided with Prince Marcellus in the woods. But he only grunted and made his horse go faster, leaving her behind. A wagon carried the bodies of two soldiers who had died during the skirmish back in the forest. One had received an arrow in the neck, and the other one got hit by an axe in the head. They were covered by the tents they had managed to get out of Karai, but they were already stained copper by the blood. So, Scarlett understood Luca’s sour humor. After all, they had left their homes to reach Tupa. And
“At ease,” said Queen Edda, and everyone stopped being statues who were looking at the floor and went back to what they were doing. They seemed to purposely avoid glancing in her direction. Luca rose but bowed his head again once he looked at his Queen. She in turn, kept looking at Scarlett while she spoke. Scarlett was dumbstruck, having had no time to react with the Queen’s sudden appearance. She never imagined that the Queen would be in the muddy courtyard, especially with the soft rain. “I thought you were dead. Why didn’t you send a messenger? Who are these people?” said Queen Edda, finally looking away from Scarlett. “Your majesty, we… suffered a few incidents. I’d prefer to speak of them privately if you will let me. The women are Karainas,” he said, stepping aside as to let the Queen get a better view of the girls. Pakuri and Voty were still on their rheas behind Scarlett, so they moved to the side and nodded their heads in ack
Scarlett was having a hard time understanding the concept of maids.Several women showed up in her room, carrying buckets of warm water meant to fill the tub in the washroom. She thanked them and waited for them to leave. But the women just stood by the door, waiting for something to happen.“I will bathe now,” said Scarlett tentatively, hoping that would make them go away. But instead, the maids went to the washroom.Were they supposed to watch her bathe?She walked in cautiously, not knowing what to say. She didn’t want to offend them, but there was something in this ritual she was obviously not understanding.After a few minutes of silence, one of the maids diverted her eyes from the ground.“Miss, we are here to assist you. You don’t have to be shy,” she said, blushing.“Oh, no! Thank you, but I don’t need any help to bathe. I’m fine. Did they tell you I was sick?”
Luca leaned in, grabbing Scarlett’s jaw with one hand bringing her face close to his. She looked into his eyes and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. When Luca moved in to kiss her again, she moved her head to the side and started kissing his lightly stubbled chin, then his cheek, moving onto his neck. While she did that, she began to remove his armor. It was heavy, and it made a clang on the floor when it fell to the ground. Luca let himself be kissed, feeling Scarlett’s skin beneath his hands. He caressed her back, slowly moving his way down towards her bottom. This time her senses were alert and not muddled from the ale. His coarse hands moving through her body made Scarlett shiver with pleasure. When the last piece of Luca’s armor fell on the ground, it seemed like a weight had been lifted from him. With one swift movement, he took off his white shirt and grabbed Scarlett, picking her up by her butt cheeks. Scarlett wrapped her arms and legs
When the three girls entered Queen Edda’s dining hall, Scarlett understood why the Queen had gone through so much trouble to get them to dress accordingly. A long mahogany table stood in the middle of the room, with eight seats on each side of it. And almost every seat was filled, except for the one in the head of the table, evidently reserved for the queen. At the opposite end of the table, there were four places missing too. Those had probably been meant for them. The unfamiliar faces in the room belonged mostly to men, except for one woman who was the oldest person Scarlett had ever seen. All of them except her stood up once the large door opened, and Scarlett, Pakuri, and Voty walked in. Of the three, Voty seemed the one more comfortable in her green flowery dress. It complimented her reddish hair and dark eyes, making her look a lot older than she was. Pakuri, on the other hand, had said none of the dresses fit her, so she wore a suit similar to Gr
This time, Prince Marcellus's hands were bound by chains. He took slow steps towards the table. The closer he got, the more the people at the table stirred. One man even pushed his chair away and stood up. “This means…” “He’s Davorin’s heir!” “Why is he still alive?!” “Send back his head!” “Silence!” said the Queen. Prince Marcellus just looked bored, as if this were all beneath him and a waste of time. In fact, Scarlett thought the same thing. What was the need for so much protocol and dining? It would have been easier if they had all just sat down to talk. There were much more pressing matters than having to entertain these old men. “Queen Edda,” Prince Marcellus said all of a sudden, slightly bowing his head. “Explain to my council why you’re here,” said the Queen. “King Davorin has been sending troops to this side of the wall for some time. They move around, so it’s hard for them to be spotted. The at
Mimbi woke up from the best sleep she had had in a while. She had lain down on the bed after eating the food Lord Galax had gotten her and pretty much passed out, waking up freezing in the middle of the night and crawling under the covers in a daze.It had been such a long time since she had slept on a real bed, with sheets and a soft and fluffy pillow. Somehow, feeling so good made her miss Scarlett and her mother even more. It reminded her of the times when she'd wake up to the smell of food downstairs, and Scarlett and Grina would be arguing about something silly.The sun was barely peeking out from behind the mountains, and she really wished she could go back to sleep. She couldn't remember what she had been dreaming about, but it had been a good dream. And anything was better than her reality now.On the other hand, she was really curious as to why Lord Galax wanted her here. Something was off, not only about the fact that he whisked her a
"We have to stop them," Scarlett said, more to herself than to anyone. She turned, looking at the ground she had stepped on. Every step she took had left a solid piece of glass on the dirt."See, now maybe you'll be good for something," Pakuri said to her in a mocking voice, walking up to her.Voty soon joined them, still holding out her wounded hand. The two kept their distance from Scarlett, but at least they weren't looking at her with fear or hatred. Marcellus stopped next to her, looking out towards the hills."Voty, I'm so sorry. I didn't know... I have no idea what is going on to my body," Scarlett pleaded. "I...""We'll worry about this later. Right now we have to help Luca." Voty smiled at her in her customary sweetly manner."Where are my swords?" Scarlett said."Here's one," Marcellus said picking the Hova sword up from the ground and handing it to Scarlett. It was stained with blood."Whose...""Yo
Scarlett didn't know where she was, but she felt the freezing air swirling around her. She tried to remember what had happened to her, but her mind was blank. Had she fallen asleep? Would she be late for training? No, this couldn't be Karai. It was never this cold here. She tried to move but her limbs didn't respond. Was she dead? She felt her mind begin to recede as if lulling her to sleep, and sleep sounded like a good idea right now. It would be easy, letting go. But just as her mind began to shut down, her field of vision was flooded by a white, blinding light. And she felt... something. As if someone had placed a warm fire next to her or taken her body out to the sun. She smelled something delicious, like sweet nectar. Then she tasted it, and the warm liquid passed through her throat, filling her stomach. One by one the feeling came back to her body. There was solid ground beneath her, and she moved her tongue. The nectar flowed from whatever her lips were holdi
"The inn! It was the inn!" someone cried out as Marcellus grabbed his head. The explosion had sent him flying towards a lamp post. He stood and turned to see where Scarlett had landed, only to see that she wasn't close by. She wasn't anywhere in the street. "Scarlett!" he cried out, lifting a wooden sign to search under the pile on which it stood. This girl was going to drive him insane. They hadn't even left Arandana, and she was already missing. His eyes widened when he saw the house she had thrown up in. There used to be a two-story building next to it, and now there was only one enormous pile of steaming debris in that same place. No, no, no. She couldn't go dying on him yet. He ran to the pile and began to climb, searching for the general spot where he had left her. "Scarlett!" he yelled. "Can you hear me?" "Hova!" someone cried out, and Marcellus ducked just in time to dodge an arrow coming his way. A middle-a
Luca couldn't help but think of Scarlett as the procession slowly advanced towards Hovern's field. The place wasn't a field, really, but rather a garden, where Queen Edda had opened up a conservatory and a museum. That was one of the first things she had done when she took the crown, turning the place into a beautiful place where people could gather to learn about plants and Arandana's history. She was fond of saying that she'd live there if she could, but one of the agreements the council put in place ages ago was that the monarch of Arandana had to reside in the castle. At least, now in dead, that was where she was going to be laid to rest. Most of the Arandanians stood silently at the side of the road, but some were shedding tears and not holding back their sadness. Most of them had arun lillies in their hands. Yes, Queen Edda had been good to them. Luca knew of so many kings and queens who used their citizens as cash cows, taking more
"What... what is that?" Voty said, stammering and sneezing almost at the same time.No one felt the need to answer her question because just as she asked it, hundreds of horses ran out of the smoking ruins in line, heading east. The black and silver flags they carried told them who they were.The Hova."We have to go back and evacuate the city," Xander said, already turning back his horse."What about the people there?" Scarlett made Sunu step in front of him. "Send Frank or the other soldiers. We have to go see if there are any survivors."Prince Marcellus only watched the scene below them with a frown."Why don't you make your prince go stop them? Get out of the way," Xander said to Scarlett.Without saying a word, Marcellus made his horse gallop straight towards the village on fire. Pakuri followed him in her rhea, and so did Voty.The soldiers all began to turn their horses back, and Scarlett wished she could hu
Scarlett met with Voty, Pakuri, and Marcellus in the stables, where Sunu and the other rheas had been staying. The birds looked ecstatic to see the girls again, pecking at their human companions affectionately. Luca hadn't been in the room when she woke up, and she didn't think there was more they could say to each other, so she hadn't gone looking for him either. It was a dismal day; grey and foggy as if the sky itself was mourning Queen Edda. When she met up with the girls, they informed her that the funeral procession was already underway, so it would have been impossible to find Luca, anyway. "I missed you," Scarlett said to Sunu, brushing her white feathers with her palm, and the bird dug her beak into Scarlett's stomach. "They're not a very talkative bunch," Marcellus said all of a sudden, joining the girls on a black horse. He cocked his head to the right, where four of Luca's soldiers sat on their mounts. One of them mo
The previous interruption from the other day seemed to have incited Luca to not take any chances this time. A split second after kissing Scarlett, he was already taking off her clothes as she backed up towards the bed, fumbling with his buckles.He sat her down on the bed and kept kissing her as his fingers moved towards her thighs and then inside of her, caressing her softly and then with more intensity.Scarlett couldn't think of anything but the pleasure he was giving her. Then he abruptly stood and finished the job she had started, taking off his clothes and tossing them behind him.A long while later, they fell asleep in each other's arms, exhausted and sweaty.Scarlett woke up when the sun was beginning to come out, only to feel his hardness close to her back. She turned and climbed on top of him, waking him up."You're insatiable, Karaina," he said to her teasingly, slowly opening his eyes."Well, something told
The second Lord Galax had left, Mimbi's legs buckled under her, sending waves of pain through her body. She accidentally knocked the table she was holding onto, sending a white vase rolling across the room. It was sheer luck that it happened to roll over the think patterned carpet, or else it would have shattered.She heard quick footsteps running over."Oh, dear! Are you all right, miss?" Lorna stopped when she saw Mimbi on the floor and then ran to her, immediately grabbing her under her arms and helping her stand."Yes, thank you," Mimbi said, but she wouldn't be able to stand for much longer, let alone climb the stairs without feeling excruciating pain."You're freezing," Lorna said once she pulled away from Mimbi.A second later, Mimbi's legs began to shake again, threatening to drop her again."Oh dear, something is really wrong. Can you stand at all?" Lorna said, putting one of Mimbi's arms over her shoulder. "Let me help