Filed to story: The Alpha Kings Hated Slave
“Your father is a good man,” she let out softly.
He acknowledged with a nod, pain flashing in his eyes. He blinked it away and continued. “Anyway, that was how Anarieveta began working in the palace. She was this bright girl. So bright, so innocent, always happy.” He raised his hands and stared at them. “She was just like your Sally. If not more.”
“Really?” Somehow, Danika couldn’t see the bitter mistress being like her Sally once upon a time.
“She was,” he confirmed. “I always watched her after trainings with my father. I would go out on a walk, and there she was, with other slaves…playing. Laughing. She taught the slaves how to play a lot of outdoor games.” His eyes glazed over in memory. “It was always fascinating watching her because she was a happy slave. It is hard to see a happy slave.”
“It is,” she seconded, thoughts of her lovely Sally filling her mind.
“I got close to her. I asked my father to put her directly under me so she would serve me alone, and she would not have to work the mines. He granted my request. We had two years together. She was seventeen and I was twenty when Cone struck.”
So sad. So alone. So pained. That was how he looked. His face stoic and inscrutable, and yet, she saw the raw pain behind that expressionless mask.
“At first, when she kept offering herself in place of me, in slavery, I thought it was because of the love she had for me as her master-just like Baski and Chad did.” He swallowed. “But she kept going to extremes. More extremes, just to make sure I did not suffer. It didn’t take long for me to realize that she had feelings for me. Womanly feelings.
“Slavery broke her to pieces, Danika. After she killed Yeaha Raskin, she cried for several days. That woman was good to her when she was still under their family, and Cone made her kill the woman. She never recovered from that. But it didn’t take long before Cone announced that he had found the perfect weapon for murder. Vetta was beautiful, and she had someone she wanted to protect at all costs. That made her the perfect weapon.
“Vetta stood in that podium and swore that she would rather die than kill another person for him. Cone only laughed.” Rage darkened his eyes at the memory. Danika shifted uncomfortably in her chair. This would be bad. “They prepared another torture session for me, and in the middle of it, she hopped in on one foot, and screamed at them. ‘I agree! I will do it!! Just leave him alone, please!’ she screamed repeatedly.”
The king’s eyes found Danika’s. “I…I know she let go of her humanity then, like I did mine, a long time ago. She began killing for Cone. Anybody who opposed him in court, he would send out Vetta to seduce and kill the aristocrat. Her deal with him kept me from tortures for four months. The longest of itskind since we came to slavery. Time enough for my body to recover from all the past tortures.”
She’d promised herself that she would be strong, but this was too much for Danika and she began crying-soft weeping she could no longer contain. It was too much. It was more than she expected.
“I, more than anybody, know that Vetta went to extremes to keep me alive. I can tell you so much more, but we would stay here all night if I do that. I was so selfish because I know she loved me in her own way. And I cared for her in my own way. But I have been so selfish, Danika.” His voice broke.
He was on the verge of tears. The thought of a strong and powerful man like him reduced to tears hurt her so much. More tears slipped from her eyes. She wished she could go hold him, but she was almost sure that he wouldn’t appreciate that at the moment. But even as she felt so much for him-for Anarieveta-she needed to know something.
“Because you…care for me? Is that why you feel you have been so selfish?” The answer would hurt like a knife to her heart, but Danika needed to know.
He shook his head. It made her relieved.
“I have been so selfish because I was so engrossed in my own pain, I forgot that she went through so much like me-if not worse. She was broken to pieces, and yet she was so strong even after slavery because she made me the center of her world. She buried all the memories of her life and channeled all her energy and her whole life to being with me. That was the reality she used to escape her past, and that was also why she held onto that reality for so long because she knows that if it goes, she has nothing else to hold on to. Nothing else to escape to. I didn’t realize this on time.”
“Oh, Lucien…”
“I was so engrossed in myself, I did not see what was happening beneath my nose. If I hadn’t neglected her so much, I would have realized what she was doing on time and try to stop her-to help her. If I hadn’t neglected her so much, I would have known that she is extremely broken and hiding from it all. I would have known that she has gone toxic in time. I would have realized that Anarieveta has become so bitter that she will go to extremes just to hold on to her reality.”
“It is not your fault, Lucien. Please, do not blame yourself for that.”
“You have no idea the extent she has gone, Danika. You have no idea how much bitterness she has inside her now. The look in her eyes as she vented out her anger.” When he looked at her, Danika saw knowledge.
There was so much he wasn’t telling her. He knew so much.
“Do you know what hurts most?” he said.
Danika shook her head.
“That everything Cone told her the day she staggered in to save me turned out to be true.”
She lowered her head and wiped her tears. Where did she start trying to make this better? It was too much.
He finished. “And now, I ask myself
:
What am I going to do about her? Is it too late to help her?” A tear slipped from his eyes.
IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.
Coza lived in a cave. He had been here for so long, waiting for the perfect opportunity.
That night, he sat and waited for her to arrive. She had not reported to him and it was well past time. He was getting angry and anxious.
It was unlike her to be late.
The prince thought he killed him five years ago. But he was not so easy to kill.
He was almost giving up hope when he heard movements outside his cave. Then she entered.
“You are late,” Coza spat accusingly. He was angry.
“I am so sorry, Master. It’s hard getting out of the palace this days,” she said.
“Update me on what is happening now. I heard the Vetta is in the dungeon?”
“Yes. The king has not decided her fate.”
“The bitch made her mistake years ago. I offered her Heaven and she declined because of the prince. Now look where she is,” he snickered. “Update me on everything,” he ordered.
The girl did, going over all the details she knew.
“Alright. Keep me updated,” he stated after several minutes.
“I will, Master. I must go back now before someone n-notices my absence.”
He nodded. “That would be a bad thing. The prince will kill you for being a traitor. Especially if he digs into your case and realize that you have a hand in his cousin’s death.”
The girl shuddered just at the thought of that. She knew she could easily lay the accusations on the mistress, but she hoped she could be able to avoid such encounter.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?