Then he suddenly pulled her to her feet by the hair. They started kissing intensely. I knew it was hopeless trying to tune them out when a strange moan escaped her mouth as his lips trailed down her neck, cupping her breast with his hand. I tried conjuring up movies my mother used to watch when she thought I was in bed, using the sounds of sex scenes that came on to play in my head and pretending it was what I heard.
He flung her around, making her bend over as he trusted her. A scream escapes her mouth, and I don’t know if it is from pleasure or pain. It didn’t last long, and when they were done, I could feel myself breathe again. My cheeks were flaming hot with embarrassment.
"TThanks; now see that you get lost.” He said shortly, and Morgan left back through the hidden door, leaving me with the pervert.
“ Next time it is your turn.” He said, and I froze. There was no way in hell I was going to do what Morgan did to him. I would rather sleep in the dungeon again.
I was so happy when he left that I went over to the bed and fell down relieved. I was happy that I didn’t have to spent another night in dungeon but wasn’t about to sleep in this bed again.
Who knew how many mistresses that pervert had in this bed before, and how filthy this bedding was, so I grabbed one of the pillows and out fell the black book I hidden in the pillowcase. I picked it up from the ground and a blanket that was on the bed and lay on the big windowsill.
It was dark outside. The sky once again, was starless, nothing but a thick dark cloud covering everything. What messed-up place was this where the king forced women to be sex slaves. Why didn’t these people leave if their king treated them so badly. Did they have some border control under heavy guard. It was the only thing I could think of.
Turning my view away from the window and down to the book on my lap. There wasn’t a description on the cover except for the dragon. I gently open the leather exterior, revealing the description on the inside. It was gibberish at first, but then the words just mysteriously puzzled themselves together, revealing the name of the book.
THE CURSED KING
AND
HIS HIDDEN SECRETS ABOUT DRAGONS
The book must be centuries old judging by the leatherbound exterior with painfully detailed dragon carved into the cover. You could tell this book was ancient as the paper fell thin, fragile and dusty. Pages yellowed from many years of aging. The pages had a scroll like boarder with a rough texture, almost like handmade paper. The boarders had some kind of ancient symbol and swirls. The description was all written by hand. I was hesitant to touch the pages, afraid that it would crumble away from the slightest touch. So, gently I grasp the pages between two fingers and turn it gently. Most pages had illustrations of different dragon species with their types of traits, weaknesses and strengths. As I continued flipping carefully through the pages, I fell upon a page that chilled me to the bone and robbed me of all the air in my lungs.
It was him !
I went ice cold. There…On the page… Was a sketch of the king who was the cause for dragons extinction. His name was, ‘ Kyrell, ‘ The cursed king, Known as The Dark Lord, none other than the exact same king’s castle I am held captive in.
This can’t be the same King. But the picture is identical.
I look at the picture one more time, to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me, but they weren’t. It was him, alright. How old would that make him if dragons were extinct for centuries now. I shiver at the thought. No wander his skin was pale like death.
The next day I was exhausted from reading the book until late at night, and not to mention that I haven’t slept much since I arrived. Too many things rolled through my head; bad things, like what would this king do to me if I didn’t eventually give in to him. I couldn’t see a silver lining around this dark cloud either. There was no silver lining.
I wanted to sleep a little longer, but the young girl who rarely spoke, unless she had to, came in to pour me a bath.
“ What is this.” I asked confused, cause she never pours me a bath unless the king was planning to visit my chambers at night, and it wasn’t even noon yet. Besides, he already got his satisfaction last night from Morgan.
“ The king is going to the Harvesting.” She said casually, as if I was supposed to know what this harvesting was. But, how bad could a harvesting be? Not that I saw any crops in the bare lands on our way here to the castle.
As the girl was busy doing my hair, I summon the courage to ask her out a bit.
“ I have never asked you your name before.” She looked at me with a hesitant glance, her face a mask of awkwardness.
“ No one has ever cared for my name.” She said harshly.
“ Well, I do.” I gave her a friendly smile to show her that I am sincere.
“ Cassie, my name is Cassie.”
“ That is a beautiful name, it suits you.” Her mouth turned crooked from a smile she tried to form with much struggle.
“ Cassie, could you tell me more about this Harvesting we are heading to, so that I could be prepared on what to expect.” She hesitated for a moment, but then she spoke.
“ The nobles, like the king and his son, Hezron.”
“ Wait.. What? The king has a son?” I interrupt her. I was shocked. Who would have a child with that man.
“ Yes, he has a son.” She said, and then continued. “ The nobles get front seat to the harvesting. It is not kind to watch. Some of them are only children, but rather cheer for the ones that are older, and try not to do anything if a child gets picked. A lot of people fallen in despair, so they fall into this sick game. So, whatever you do, laugh, be happy, try not to see what is going on. There is no way around it. I beg of you, don’t show any emotion. Be strong during the harvesting, and cheer when the creatures shred them to pieces.”
“ What! Shred whom to pieces? What creatures?”
“ The Wendigo creatures.” I still didn’t know what creature she spoke about, and I couldn’t dare to ask, as I was supposed to know this. My mind was raging with thoughts of some sort of a sacrifice, but it wasn’t a sacrifice at all.
“ The only emotion you can show at the feast is to pretend you are having the time of your life.” I nodded. Still, I was silently raging with confusion about creatures slaughtering kids. This was sick and something I was going to have to watch.
“ I am not a fan of these feasts either and some have tried to save some of the kids, but they were slaughtered as well.” I swallow hard on the lump in my throat.
“ How do the kids end up in these Harvesting?”
“ Their parents die, and they are left to choose between starving, or trying to fight for their life to win a bit of food. There aren’t a lot of option around here for survival. If you want a full belly, then you become someone’s mistress, or work in one of the noble’s houses, or you can do the King’s evil bidding on a daily basis, take what is not yours, enforce the law, which is quite messed up, or you become a thief, and steal, kill, and end up in the harvest.”
She explained it to me as if she knew I wasn’t from here at all, and I was grateful for that.
“ I know it is not fair, but it is how it is done here. Anyone who has tried to stand up to them has died. I have seen it thousands of times over the years. There is no use trying to change it when so many has failed, even the queen paid with her life when she stood up against her own husband. He mercilessly threw her into the harvest to be torn to shreds, and he and his son just watched.”
“ I am so sorry to hear that. I wish there was something I could do.”
“ It is how things are. How they have been for a long time. There is no escape, believe me, we have tried.” I nodded, because that was all I could do. I was speechless, shaken to the core.