تسجيل الدخولVeroni reached the gates of the Palace and hesitated. Her heart in her throat. So much guilt in her heart. Beware of the Three W. If her Queen had known that it means, beware of the Three Witnesses that witnessed her compromising position with the former Slave Trainer, would it have changed a thing? Veroni’s mother, the King and his mistress had witnessed that day in the storeroom. The day that changed everything. Would it have changed a thing? norna had told her in those tiny voice of his that it’s not her fault, and it wouldn’t have changed anything.She gathered enough strength and walked into the gates of the Palace. She went straight to her mother’s bedroom.Bami and Emily just got back from the forest, they just spent hours picking different kinds of leaves and seeds.Emily was helping her grind the seeds, and Bami was stirring the mixed leaves when the door opened and Veroni stood behind it, looking so lost."Veroni!" Bami gasped, letting go of the stirring wood as if i
He's still hurting about the incident with Lyra. With time, he will change. "I can take care of your needs, I'm already taking care of them. You don't need a—another mistress." She stuttered out, the idea throwing her off-guard. She never expected it. "I think I'm damaging you, Scarlett. It's the most reasonable thing to do." "No! I'm fine. You know how much I enjoy being with you." She'd reassured him, hiding her pain very well. "Scarlett—-" "Can't you c-curb your needs? You are giving in to your mind's twisted demands about being a monster. Lyra's father made that man. You are not that man." She breathes sadly. He'd flinched slightly at the mention of her name. Then, he'd walked out of the bedroom. Scarlett sighed at the memory as she say on her bed, waiting for the maids to run her a bath. She'd gone to Bami for the past two days to get herbs and be treated after every bed session with the King. Bami always took pity on her whenever she saw her body, her herbs have
Emily was devastated hearing it, she'd cried all the way to the Palace, but there was no way to see the King because he refused to see any visitor. Not even Vane. So, she'd gone to her Princess's dungeon. At the sight of her, Lyra had teared up instantly, not to mention Emily. They'd cried together, clinging to each other through the bars that separated the cell from the outside. Lyra told her everything that happened, Emily couldn't stop crying when she saw how complicated the situation is. How does her princess get saved from this? She'd stayed with Lyra all day, reading to her and telling her stories of her married life just to take her mind away from her situation. And when she went home in the evening to her husband, she kept begging him to find a way to speak with the King. Vane tried and tried for the couple of days, but the King wouldn't allow visitors. Only his mistress was in and out of his Chambers from time to time. She always comes out looking like she fought a
Inside the inner bedroom of the King's Chambers, a huge figure was seated at the floor of the Library, his head supported by the shelf behind him. The King did not know how long he sat there...might have been since he dismissed Scarlett in the morning. His back aches. His butt aches too. They are nothing compared to the ache in his heart. If he doesn't know better, he would say that he has developed a chest problem. He knows better, but the knowledge does not help. The headache pounding the back of his head was too severe, he drank from the bottle of whiskey in his hand and lowered his head. The bottle empty, he dropped it beside the seven empty other bottles and picked up a new bottle. He was tipsy, but he isn't drunk. He never gets drunk and he hasn't drank in years. Not since his sixteen birthday when he got drunk and wasn't able to protect Aisha. She skinned her knee while playing, and cried her heart out. The sound of her pained cries stayed with him for months, since
The palace was unusually quiet.Not the peaceful silence of a resting kingdom, but the suffocating stillness that came before a storm. Servants walked with lowered heads, soldiers avoided unnecessary conversations, and every corridor echoed with whispers that died the moment someone approached.Lyra's execution had already become the talk of the palace.Some believed she deserved it.Others remained silent, afraid that speaking her name would draw the King's wrath upon themselves.Only two people refused to give up on her.Bami hurried through one of the palace's hidden passageways, her breathing uneven after leaving the dungeons. Sally was already waiting near the old laundry room, nervously wringing her hands.The younger maid looked up the moment she saw Bami."What did she say?" Sally asked anxiously.Bami's face was grim."She almost lost the baby."Sally staggered backward as if someone had struck her."No...""The collar's punishment was too much for her body."Tears instantly
The sun hung low over the outer perimeter of the capital, casting long, bruised-purple shadows across the dirt roads of the lower district. Dust kicked up by passing wagons choked the humid air, but Bami hardly noticed. Her cloak was pulled low over her face, obscuring the distinguished apron and silver-threaded collar that marked her as a senior servant of the royal household.In the palace, time moved like an hourglass leaking venom. Every hour spent away from the dungeons was an hour Lyra spent bleeding on cold stone, her throat parched, her body breaking under the weight of a stolen child and a stolen future.Bami knew she had at best two days before Veroni crossed the provincial border. A young maid traveling alone with a pouch full of royal gold was either a target for highwaymen or a nervous wreck hiding in the nearest hole. And Bami knew Veroni—the girl was fragile, driven by fear, not greed.She ducked into the dark, pungent interior of *The Rusty Anchor*, a low-ceilinged tav
A knock came to the door and King Ryker gave approval for entry. Bami i entered, "I have gotten her to her room and I have also" "I don't need the details, Bami. I don't care." He stated curtly, scribbling down on the scroll. "Yes, your highness." Bami said immediately. "How's veroni?" Bami
His cold eyes finally met hers. "You, Lyra, might not be enough, but you'll do. Now, remove your underthings."Lyra's ears still rang from everything he said to her. Her eyes still stung with tears. Why did her father have to do all these? Why did he have to be addicted to gaining power?Her hands
Lyra was finally taken away from her cage immediately after the king's visit. She saw places again that isn't her cold barren cage and it made her feel better. But her heart still beat faster whenever she remembered the reason she was taken out of her cell for the first time in two weeks. She was
Lyra huddled down in her cell. Empty.Cold. Lonely.She has been here for two weeks. She paces outside… anywhere. Anywhere at all. That’s why this cold, lonely place only one bunk bed occupied the side of the room.She hasn’t seen her captor in the past two weeks, and that was the time he walked up







