Lilac
I slipped in and out of consciousness, and when I finally came to, bright lights were assaulting my eyes sharply, right before I was roughly tugged out of the sack I was trapped in for what felt like ages. A pained cry left my lips as pain instantly shot through my body, licking through my veins with a deep intensity. The wound over my back from the lashings I got was burning like acid got poured over them.
I was so focused on the pain filling every inch of my brain that I didn't realize I wasn't alone till voices pierced through my brain.
"This is her?" A sharp, feminine voice demanded, making me recoil in fear on realize I was the one being referred to. I blinked my eyes multiple times to clear the haze over it, and that was when I recognized the two masked men who made that wretched deal with my uncle in exchange for me. Between them stood a short and curvy woman who had a very disappointed look across her face.
"Yes. What do you think?" One of the masked men responded just as he tugged his mask off. I was instantly taken aback by how good looking he looked, with sharp piercing eyes, a sharp nose and sharply outlined jaw.
"She's so short! Why is she this short? The Grand King likes tall girls, with skinny features!" The woman bit out and I winced through the pain wracking through my body.
"Lady Beatrix, this was the best we could find. Only the king we succeeded in making the deal with was willing to part with her. And to top it off, She's of royal blood." The second man who still had his mask on explained, voice gruff and clipped like he wanted to be anywhere but here.
"Very well then. Send her off to the feeders. They'll take care of her… shabby appearance, then once it's time tonight, she'll be presented to the grand Grand Kingas a gift from the kingdom." The woman announced and the two men nodded tensely as she began to walk past me. She stopped at the sight of my bloodied back, making a disgusted sound.
"Is this her time of the month…" she was still speaking when the first man responded.
"She was whipped as punishment before we got her, that's why." He explained and the woman scoffed, sounding annoyed.
"I hope she doesn't have scars all over her body? Did you undress her to check for that before purchasing her?!"
The two men were silent before the one with the mask nodded, voice biting. "Yes, we did. We know our job, Lady Beatrix."
A gasp caught in my throat. They had just lied. They didn't undress me to check! If they did, they'd have realized that I wasn't a girl.
"And were they any more scars?" The woman demanded.
"None," the masked man bit out again.
"See that the whip marks her healed till not a scar is left, she needs to look flawless for tonight, never forget that."
With that, she stormed off, leaving me frozen in fear, while I silently asked myself what it was that I had gotten myself into just because I wanted to protect my sister.
~~~
The two men who bought me instructed one of their guards to bring me along with them, and they began to walk through a narrow walkway. My heart was in my chest the entire time and I kept trying to connect dots together.
They bought me to present me to an Grand Kingtonight. As what? A sex slave? The thought made my head pound really hard.
So far, I haven't encountered anybody that resembled a monster. I expected to be rushed by one as soon as we arrived here, or that the two men who brought me would instantly morph into scary monsters and gobble me up like a meal. In fact, this place doesn't resemble the habitat of deranged, mindless monsters so far… which was making me grow more confused by the second.
"Where are you taking me?" I forced the word out through my tight chest, but no one bothered to respond to me.
"Please, I beg you… where are you taking m–" the word instantly died in my throat when the man whose mask was still on whirled around, his eyes blazing with anger as he leveled me with a pointed look.
"If you make this harder for us than it's supposed to, I'll wring your neck till it breaks." He warned in a low voice and I didn't doubt those words for a moment, because I could just tell it was something I could do.
I swallowed the next words on my throat, hands trembling as I clutched my ruined dress.
"Once we get to the feeders, they'll get you ready, and you'll not give them any problems. If you do, consider yourself dead." He continued before whirling around and resuming walking. I remained frozen in the same spot, forcing back the words struggling to come out.
I was about to tell them the truth, that I was actually a boy- because that sounded like the safest thing to do, considering the fact that apparently they plan to use me as a slave slave.
But I was too scared to speak after his warning.
As the guard kept tugging me along with the two men, I sucked in a deep breath while my stomach clenched tightly with cold fear.
When we finally arrived in front of a large gate, three knocks had the door swinging open, then two women were kissing the two men's hands while bowing, right before they stepped aside for the men to pass through. I frowned in confusion as I got dragged along, through the gate and past some trees till we stopped before a large building occupied by women.
Half naked women.
I instantly averted my gaze, feeling extremely uncomfortable. I've never been comfortable in the presence of a naked woman, so this wasn't surprising. The two men who bought me didn't seem to have that problem, seeing as they were hugged by most of these women.
"Sorry girls, we're not here to play right now." The man whose face was unmasked drawled and the girls whined in disappointment.
"Here." The masked man gruffed before I was being wrenched forward by a strong grip on my arm, thrusting me before the half naked women.
"Clean her up— thoroughly, and get her prepared for tonight. Heal her wounds, and put her through the basics. She'll get presented to the Grand King tonight, so make her… flawless."
The girls all nodded and practically grabbed every inch of my arms, making panic hammer against my ribs as I got dragged away from the masked men, all the way into the building. The interior was bright, with white lights shining from the roof of the building. The girls didn't stop dragging me till we stopped inside a large room.
Was this supposed to be the bath house?
The floor was dry, and there were certain things I didn't recognize, or understand— like why water was able to pour out from a silver object connected to the wall, as soon as one of the girls went to fiddle with something on top of it.
Was this a different kind of water manipulation technique?
And what's that large, round furniture in the middle of this spacious room? It almost resembled a tub for bathing, but compared to the one we had back home made from mud, and smaller in size, this was completely different.
A different girl went to fiddle with something else, and soon, the thing which I assumed was a tub began to fill up with water, shocking me further. It was all happening so smoothly, without maids having to fill up the tub by going to fetch water from a wall.
"Take off your clothes, sweetie." One of the girls finally addressed me, staring at me eagerly. I remained frozen, my heart slowing to a stop in fear.
This is it.
I'll get busted!
"Wait, you can understand me, right?" She asked slowly and I could only nod, tongue heavy in my mouth.
She smiled softly, to probably help with my nerves.
"Want me to help you undress?" She offered and I shook my hand frantically.
"Honey, we're all women, okay? There's no need to feel shy." She offered and I didn't know wether to laugh or cry.
She reached for my clothes again and I reared back, inching away from her. She let out a reluctant sigh before whispering something to a different girl. That one left and returned moments later with a mean looking matured woman who stalked towards me.
I inched away from her but she grabbed me, ordering the girls to hold me as she began to strip me. I was exhausted after losing so much blood from those wounds over my back which were hurting really badly, so the fights I attempted to put up probably weren't anything. My protests were ignored and in moments, I was stark naked.
The women all gasped, staring at me in utter shock, mouth gaping.
"He's a boy?!"
"But he's dressed as a girl?"
"I don't understand…"
"Were the royal messengers not aware?"
They were all speaking at the same time, and I desperately wished I could just disappear right now.
The whole room was in disarray and I crouched on the ground retching. My eyes grew blurry and I couldn't register all that happening around me till fingers were roughing pulling on my hair till I cried out, tears instantly springing into my eyes. It was one of the men who bought me, the one who still had the masked on.
"You're disguised as a boy this whole time??" He roared into my face and I flinched, sobbing harder.
The second man ushered all the women out and shut the door, then he was crouching beside us, a grim expression on.
"Answer me! Was your king aware?? Did he swindle us on purpose? Speak before I break your bones!" He bit out and I struggled to speak, while trying to ignore the pain shooting through my scalp and battered back.
"I'm sorry, I tried to tell you back then!" I sobbed but he only got angrier as he let go of me and swore loudly while starting to pace.
"So, you've been disguising? Did the king know?" The unmasked men still crouched low spoke this time and I coughed before responding.
"Yes, I have since I was little… and the king isn't aware." I whispered shakily and the masked man swore loudly while pacing. He paused moments later and bit out.
"We're so fucked, Nikolai. So fucked! How would we fix this? We literally that bitch we thoroughly checked before making the deal."
The one who apparently went by Niko sighed and pulled on his hair. "There's not even enough time to return back to that kingdom. The party would start in a few hours. We'd have to work with what we have."
The masked man finally stopped pacing.
"What do you mean?"
The one crouching shrugged before pointing at me, making my breath stumble to a stop as he spoke.
"I say we clean him up, dress him up and present him to the Grand King like that. The Grand King would be drunk out of his mind when fucking him so he wouldn't notice he's not fucking a girl, right?"