A slave in the princess' service

"Get in line! Come on, stop moving around!" The chaperone says clapping her hands. A few eunuchs shove the girls together. "You are not kids anymore. Your life from before is gone. You are now the property of King Loras. You are his concubines. His women. You have to act accordingly."

Astrid feels nauseous. How on earth did this happen?

On a balcony, above the shared bedroom of the new girls, the favorites are staring down, laughing, and pointing at the skinny slaves. No competition for them, only maids to help around. After all, they are legendary beauties from the southern tribes. Those girls are nothing but northern savages.

"Is that the one?" A caramel-skinned woman, dressed all in gold asks the chaperone from above.

"Your Grace! Is...this is the... girl." The chaperone answers with a trembling voice.

The woman approaches Astrid slowly, her steps so light and inaudible that she seems to be floating. Once face to face, the two women look at each other.

"How dare you, girl? Bow your head in front of Lady Tamara!" One eunuch shots at Astrid.

"No need." Lady Tamara answers. "You can't expect them to know the rules of the court. They are northeners after all."

She smiles at Astrid and although her words stung a bit, she does seem... almost kind.

"Lady Chaperone, put this one in my service." Lady Tamara requires throwing one more look at Astrid.

"But, Your Grace... She was noticed by the King, she may be asked to..."

"I will talk with my brother if necessary. For now, she is in my service."

With that, Lady Tamara leaves the room.

Before Astrid could say anything, she is rushed out of the room, into the bathhouse. Where the Lady Chaperone began showering her with instructions:

"You do not talk without permission, you bow your head to everyone, you leave the room when you are asked and you run when you are requested. You do not question any order Lady Tamara gives."

"No!" Astrid answers as a few maids hurry to wash her body.

"What?"

"I won't do any of those things. I don't want to serve a murderer's family. I prefer to die." Astrid says.

The Lady Chaperone sighs, looking at the girl.

"Leave us!" She asks the maids and they all hurry to comply. "Girl, do you think you are the first who says that to me?"

Astrid looks at her curious. Why would that matter?

"I was one of the girls who said that, once. A really, really long time ago."

"And what happened?" Astrid asks as the old woman seems caught in her bad memories.

"The Lady Chaperone that was here at the time, after a few days seeing me struggle took me by my shoulders and told me: Girl, this palace is either a heaven or a hell and it is on you to choose which of the two. But remember this sad truth..." She says, looking in the distance. "You are here, you already lost everything. But the girls that will come to replace you did not. They have what you lost. They were you from a month ago. So you can either try to live life as it is or die, leaving them to take your place. Over and over again."

"Why would I care?" Astrid asks, but knowing she wouldn't want this fate for anyone else.

"Because your death will change nothing. But your life has a chance to save many." Lady Chaperone answers and the weight of her words fall on Astrid's shoulders.

She says nothing else for the rest of the day. She listens to the instructions, she does what she is asked, she holds the cups, the plates, the clothes the jewelry as she is instructed to.

Her soul died. But if her body keeps moving around she can save others... Well, she considers it.

In the evening, she is brought into a luxurious room. The colors are not as opulent as in the rest of the palace and the tones are warmer.

"Your Grace, the maid you required." Lady Chaperone says and Astrid bows her head.

Lady Tamara is sitting on a couch with a comfy blanket wrapped around her shoulders. So much different from her elegant appearance earlier.

"Come, sit next to me." She invites Astrid gesturing at a pillow on the floor.

When Lady Chaperone leaves them alone, she smiles to Astrid.

"What is your name?" She asks.

"Astrid."

"A beautiful name. It suits you."

"Why did you pick me?" Astrid asks directly and Tamara chuckles.

"Being this direct cand bring your death here. But I find it refreshing, so you are in luck. I insisted to have you in my service to protect you. You have no idea how many you have offended with your simple presence. They would have killed you in your sleep in a blink of an eye." Tamara answers.

"Who?"

"Who would have gotten to you first ? Lysa, the king's favorite. You saw her fist in the throne room. Sansa, my older sister, who wants to keep the favorites' number down so she won't lose her influence. Or Tommen, the king's half-brother, who wants to ensure the only women in the harem are the ones he sends. He already has too many heirs to worry about for his liking."

"And you?" Astrid asks. She heard stories about the palace. Everyone follows their interests.

"My brother has been miserable since Luna died. His misery was bad enough while he was a prince. But a miserable king... I haven't seen him show any emotion since her funeral. Until today."

"Luna?"

"His first love." Tamara answers, suddenly saddened. "She died giving birth to her first child. The little prince died shortly after. And my brother's heart froze."

"I don't think I can do anything about it." Astrid answers dreading the thought of replacing someone close to the king. She can follow orders like a maid, but being with him... No!

"I know you hate him now. His coronation is the reason you are not with your family and..."

"My family is dead, because they tried to hide me." Astrid answers, mad at Tamara's sugar-coated version.

"Oh... I am sorry." She seems sincere and Astrid calms down a bit, after all, it's not her fault. "I knew the slave-hunters became more and more aggressive, but I didn't know it's like this... An empire reflects his ruler and with my brother in this state... I fear the worst is yet to come."

"So you care about commoners? How noble." Astrid answers rolling her eyes.

"I show you respect. Do the same." Tamara answers with a scolding look. "Believe it or not, most of my family does. That's the purpose of the harem. The mothers of the royals are always commoners. They keep their children grounded."

Astrid keeps her mouth shut. She was rude enough and the princes seems to only want to help. She will deal with her ulterior motives as they come.

Tamara asks a few more questions. All while she analyses Astrid from head to toe. That is to be expected though. Everyone wonders what the king saw in this slave girl so fast that he would accept all the northern girls without a second thought.

And certainly, Astrid is not a breathtaking beauty. She doesn't have voluptuous curves or round and firm breasts. Neither long and fit legs or a flat belly. She looks mostly normal. Like any other common girl that you pass on the street only to forget a second later. Her parents called her Astrid, with means divinely beautiful, but her only feature that may hold on to that name is her eyes. Kids in her village used to mock her big grey eyes. They said her look can bring storms and chaos.

Tamara sighs.

Astrid was caught in her own thoughts and lost track of what the princess was saying.

"I was planning to organize some entertainment for my brother tonight, but I don't think you are ready to seduce him."

Astrid grimaces and Tamara laughs.

"I will not force anything on you. God knows, this palace will crush you enough without my help."

Before Astrid can answer, a eunuch comes in and whispers something into Tamara's ear.

"Already?" She asks and the eunuch nods.

Tamara gets up and rushes out the door, after telling Astrid to stay where she is. Not like she has anywhere else to go. But as minutes go by, she notices that the halls that seemed quite busy and noisy earlier are now deathly quiet.

It's not that late yet, as the sun had barely left the sky. Maybe the dragon court goes to sleep early? Should she make the bed for the princess?

While she thinks about that, the door slowly opens.

"Tamara? I mean... Your Grace?" Astrid asks.

A maid with a covered face jumps at her with a rope from behind the door.

Astrid screams and pushes the maid that falls on her back. While she gets up, Astrid runs into the other room. There's nothing around that she can use to protect herself. The maid runs after her as Astrid rushes to the balcony.

"What d... do you...?" Astrid tries to ask, but the maid doesn’t answer. In a blink of an eye, Astrid flies through the cold air, into the abyss of night. Pushed over the edge on her first night after deciding to live. How ironic.

But death proved enough times that doesn't want her.

The air trembles as a huge black beast rushes through the air, straight to Astrid. She can't figure out if it's a dream or not until the cold scales of the dragon touch her skin.

The last thing she sees before everything goes black is the face of the murderous king grinning at her.