“No, you’ll get used to it. Your body will adjust.” Mayra bowed her head and said a silent prayer to the gods of Territh to come and find her. To send the savior Terap promised.
“I don’t think so.” The creature had tears in its eyes as Mayra glanced up.
“Don’t cry. It’s hard to get your body to adjust, but here. Take my food for today, and then maybe tomorrow just half of my food so you can wean yourself off of eating like you have in the past.” Sickness rolled through her at the thought of giving up her one meal that day, but there was no way she could sit back and let someone suffer, especially not if her goodwill had the power to create a bond between them.
“Really?” The creature reached across the table and grabbed the bread and milk greedily before inhaling it. “They said a few tears would move you to kindness.”
“What?” Mayra jerked back as the girl stood and rolled her shoulders.
“You’re an idiot. Kindness will get you killed. How many times have you given up your dinner?” She sneered and moved across the room as a group of slaves erupted in laughter and pointed toward Mayra.
She’d been fooled, and it hadn’t been the first time.
After locking her facade into place, she stood and carried the empty dishes back to the line, thanked the kitchen servant for a delicious meal, and walked out of the servants’ dining hall. Waves of sadness rolled through her, bringing up memory after memory of laying herself prostrate for someone in the castle—slave and royalty—only to be slapped back down, kicked, and made fun of.
“Where are you going, slave?” A male guard stepped up and glared down his short nose at her. He might try to look fierce, but something about his feline features left her not quite able to fear him.
“To the garden. I need to meet with Terap. Excuse me.” She moved past him and slipped out into the night. The dark purple sun sat high in the sky, casting a violet hue over the land. It was comforting in the midst of her turmoil. She tugged her overcoat off and tied it around her waist as she moved to the edge of the garden and dropped down beside the ornate water feature that Demaylia loved so much.
“I have to get out of here. I can’t do this anymore.” Tears blurred her gaze as her stomach rumbled angrily. She moved forward and stifled the scream trapped behind her teeth. How anyone could repay kindness and sacrifice with malice was beyond her. She hated herself more in the moment than the girl who’d effectively stolen her dinner. How ignorant could she have been to let hope seduce her? Nothing existed for her but servitude and solitude. They were masters that had been far harsher than the royal family could ever conceive to be.
She pressed her palms to her eyes as the sob slipped through her lips. Where was justice and freedom? Hope? Why did it belong to some and not others? Had her parents offended the gods? Had her mother done something as the Great Oracle of Territh to be blinded to a future where Mayra would be enslaved, or had she known?
Mayra clutched at the blue charm hanging from a chain around her neck. It was the only thing she had from her life before slavery, a life she couldn’t remember. She’d been told by Terap that her mother had bestowed it on her before she’d allowed Mayra to be taken.
“She had to know.” Mayra sat on the ground to press her back to the stone structure behind her, and she wiped at her tears. “She was the oracle. How could she not know? Why would she let them take me? Was I that bad? That ugly? That horrid?”
A gasp left her as light brighter than anything she’d ever seen before flashed in her face. One moment, she was sitting in the Highland Garden just outside the king’s castle, and the next, she was surrounded by darkness. The smell of sulfur filled her nose and mouth, and she turned and gagged several times before she could get her bearings.
“I can almost hear you.” The voice was nothing more than a whisper. A male. A human?
“Where are you? Who are you?” She wiped at her eyes as they burned. “I can’t see anything.”
“There is no sun in here.” His voice was so weak and seemed to be below her. On the ground? Was he on the ground? “Did you bring a light with you?”
She knelt in place and tried to see through the darkness, to no avail. A light? She didn’t have a light with her. There was no need for one in Vanfia, with the sun being as bright in the evening as it was in the morning. As she bent closer to the voice, she felt the chain of her necklace move around her neck.
“My charm,” she whispered. Mayra had had her necklace all of her life and had long ago discovered the small recessed button that illuminated the charm. She pressed the button and the space around her lit up, but only a small amount. “Where are you?”
“Just in front of you, but don’t shine it on me please. Just keep it there so I can see it for a minute. I want to remember what it looks like.”
Tears blurred her vision again as she moved to her knees fully and scooted forward until the outline of a man lying naked and prostrate on the ground filled her vision. His skin was chalk white outside of the bruises and cuts. His dark blond hair was long and covered his face.
“Dear gods,” she mumbled and moved toward him as the light blinded her again. “Wait. Wait. I need to help him. Wait.”
She stood up in the garden again and turned around in circles as horror violently besieged her. He needed someone to get him out of the darkness, to bind his wounds, and help him up. Who was he? Who’d done this horrible thing to him?
She jogged toward the palace as another question slammed into her, almost stealing her breath.
“How long have you been down there?”
