Chapter 10 Ten.
The sun is already rising yet I could barely sleep through the night as my whole body aches. My eyes remain glued to the window in the hopes of some miracle lifting the barrier away will happen. Just as I attempt to stand up from the bed, a pain shoots through me, a reminder of the event that occurred yesterday night. An event I don't want to remember.
Behind the door, there's a sudden shuffling that earns my attention. I look up just in time to see Isadora and three women enter. I can tell they're palace maids with how they're being herd by Madam Leticia — the same one who had come to prepare me last night with two other maids.
“No sleep for the wicked. Rise don't shine,” Leticia bellows, clapping her hands together as she drags the bed cover off me and throws me off the bed like I'm nothing but a ragdoll.
I land on my feet. The silver shackles around my ankles rattle as I find my balance. I try not to make a noise. Not to show weakness. Still, I let out a groan when a dull pain shoots through my body, especially my private part, but I don't let it show on my face as I watch Leticia inspect the bed while the other maids enter the bathroom. Isadora remains at my back, unmoving, but I can feel her gaze on me.
“You bled,” Leticia remarks, holding up the sheet she’s pulled from the bed. My blood has dried on it in a strange pattern, like a map of the Kingdom of Eris before the fall. “Purity from a Fae? How unexpected. I’ve always known your kind to be promiscuous, unloyal, and lovers of defilement. Most were also into sodomy. How crude.”
“Enough, Leticia,” Isadora cuts her off, her tone firm. She steps forward, standing opposite Leticia. “I brought you here to show her how to prepare her bath herself and how to go about certain duties in the palace, not to mock her or her kind. She’s now a maid of the King.”
“A slave, you mean, Isadora. Slaves are to be mocked. Don’t tarnish the image of the palace maids by lumping a Fae slave in with us,” Leticia sneers. She throws the sheet to the ground, then squares off with Isadora. “And let’s not forget—I’m the head maid. Catering to the needs of a slave is beneath me. I’m here only to fulfill Alpha King Sven’s request.”
“You said it yourself, you're the head maid, but you seem to be forgetting who I am, Leticia,” Isadora replies, voice as cold as a glacier as she crosses her hand over her chest. “I am the beta of the Kingdom of Māui, much higher up the chain of command compared to you. I give you the orders, and if you don't listen it's considered insubordination which is punishable by the guillotine. I'm sure you won't want that, right, Leticia?”
“Threatening your own kind all because of a Fae, Isn't that breaking a code of conduct? I wonder what King Sven would think of this coming from his own beta,” Leticia's eyes are stone cold as she retorts with a smirk. “Or are you suddenly feeling sentimental for the Fae, Isadora? This is why I was against you being beta. Women aren't built to be betas or even warriors. I wonder what King Sven was thinking when he appointed you!”
“Firstly, the Fae has a name. And it's Olivia,” Isadora's voice is deadly. Like the calm before the storm. And I'm also taken aback by the fact that she knows my name considering I don't remember ever telling her what it is. “And questioning King Sven’s choice of appointing me as Beta, or women as warriors, is tantamount to questioning his rule as Alpha King. That’s treason, Leticia. Pick your battle—should I report you for treason, or will you quietly do your job?”
Leticia's eyes remain stone cold as she opens her mouth, but nothing comes out of it. There's a stand off between her and Isadora before she eventually falters and looks to the ground.
Isadora offers her a tight smile. “Now that we’re clear, how about you pick up that sheet and send it to the laundry room?”
Leticia doesn't say a thing as she picks up the sheet from the floor and leaves the room, but not before passing me a hardened glare.
Left alone with Isadora, I suddenly feel self-conscious. I’m standing naked before her, while she’s fully clothed. But the shame I might have felt before is gone. I’ve lived a week completely nude under the watchful eyes of palace guards, and I’ve been paraded in front of the council and dignitaries from the Kingdom of Nyxara. This is nothing compared to that.
“I’m sorry about Leticia. She’s always been hot-headed,” Isadora says, breaking the silence.
I take my gaze up to her, and pass her a small smile even though there's really nothing about my life to smile about. I'm now a literal slave. My twin brother is still missing or maybe… dead. Everything about my life almost makes me want to bite through my tongue and stop breathing. “Nothing I haven't heard before,” I reply, noticing the sudden softness in her eyes. “You didn't need to defend me from her.”
“I wasn't defending you from her,” Isadora says with a shrug. “I was merely putting her in her place. Sometimes Leticia acts so immature, it's laughable.”
“You seem to know her well.”
“Well, what child doesn't know her mother?”