“I came here to help,” he said gazing at the large expanse of land.
“Help?” I quipped, laughing.
“Lady Nydia will be very unhappy to see that you have done nothing but sleep all day,” said Tyler.
“That is her problem; even if I had started at the crack of dawn I would not be halfway through,” I pointed out.
“It is not about clearing the grass. It is about building endurance and strength. Stand up, let's get our hands dirty,” he said, tapping me so I was forced to sit up.
“Did you bring a book with you?” I held out a little hope in my voice.
“You only get it after the day's work,” he replied and I groaned.
“I hate you,” I said as I joined him in weeding the meadow.
********#*********
I found that Tyler held strength in his arms. He had done most of the work and while we were far from clearing the meadow, we had made significant progress.
“Pete will be here soon, you should go,” I prompted him. The sun was beginning to disappear behind the clouds and I remembered Pete's promise to come and fetch me. I had no doubt that he was a spy for Lady Nydia and would not hesitate to tell on me if he saw me with Tyler. The thing was that in the past few weeks, Tyler and I had developed a bond akin to siblings. We were good friends with no romantic interest in each other. The idea of romance between us was rather gross to think about. But we cared deeply about each other. I had not known before now that I was capable of loving someone this way or that I could care for anyone really besides Camille.
“I will see you another time then, my lady,” he said, tipping his hat at me.
However before he could walk away, I grabbed his shirt.
“You can't go. You have not given me the novel,” I reminded him of his earlier promise.
“Once you have slept away the bags under your eyes, I will have one delivered to you,” said Tyler and before I could say more he walked away. I scoffed as he departed. I should have known that he had no truth in him.
“My lady,” I turned to see Pete behind me but the expression on his face was not encouraging.
We walked back to the palace in silence where Diane was waiting for me in the long corridor that led to my room.
“What's the matter, Diane?” I asked as the look on her face made me anxious.
“Oh, my lady! I should have known, I should have known,” she sobbed quietly as she led my confused self to the entrance of my room.
“What is happening here?” I asked, shocked to see two guards ransacking my things and lady Nydia standing in the middle of my room.
“It is good that you are here. You have a lot of explaining to do,” said Lady Nydia.
I was quite confused. What did she mean by that? Was a dead body found in my room? To my knowledge, I had nothing hidden in my room that could get me into trouble.
“She found your books and the… the… money,” Diane whispered to my ears in a shaky voice.
“So?” I said that out loud for all to hear. Was it a crime to read books here? If it was, no one had shared the memo.
“So it means that you are a thief. I should have known when I began to miss things from my room. You have been stealing items from me to resell them. No wonder I thought Lady Francesca’s bracelet looked very much like something I owned,” said Lady Nydia in a serious tone.
This was absolutely ridiculous. My room had basically been upturned without my consent and she was accusing me of stealing. I had not even been near her room the whole time she had been fine with Alpha Dagen.
The money she spoke of was my prize money from horse riding and I had been saving up for plan B in case I had to run for my life.
“The money is mine,” I said in an even but firm voice. I had won that money through my hard work and there was simply no way I was going to allow anybody to steal my hard-earned money.
“Yours? How so?” she asked with a cruel smile.
I gave her no response; I already knew what she would say next and did as I had thought she would.
“Nothing in this palace belongs to you, not even your life,” Lady Nydia said in a harsh voice.
“I won the…” The impact of her palm on my face reverberated through the glass windows in the room.
“You do not even own your voice, if I do not ask you to speak, you do not speak, understood?” she shouted in my ear.
“Yes, my lady,” I said in a low tone.
“Drag her to the center of the room and make her kneel,” Lady Nydia commanded the guards. Upon her orders, I was dragged roughly to the center of the room and pushed onto the ground so I was kneeling.
“Take off her clothes,” she commanded Diane.
A startled Diane exclaimed, “My lady?”
“I SAID TAKE OFF HER CLOTHES,” trembling, Diane moved closer to me and with shaky fingers she began to strip me. I passed her an encouraging smile to let her know it was alright.
Once my clothes had come off, she ordered the guards to beat me with a whip. They stood frozen at this order.
“My lady, she is the Alpha's Luna, I dare not touch her or behold her naked,” said the guard who had turned his face away from me as soon as Diane had begun to take off my clothes.
“DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH? I SAID WHIP HER.”
“Yes, my lady,” came the guards’ reluctant response.