THE MOON'S FALL

Chapter Eight

Adriana's Pov

'I'll wait to see how far you can go. It'll be entertaining watching you break ' keeps replaying in my head as we are escorted out of the hall.

We are led down the corridor by the soldiers in the courtyard. He stops in front of a door and says " 1. Lights out is by 11, make sure your not caught wondering after 11.

2. You must be punctual to all your duties.

3. Do not ever look at any creature here in the eyes unless you want to be a meal.

Finally, never speak unless spoken to" he flashed me a look before pushing the doors open.

We all walked into the room. There are a lot of beds . Girls were running around trying to pick a spot.

I look up to see Mira waving at me from the end of the room. I walk up to her to see the space she picked.

I like my spot beside the window. It's a nice view. " You all should be up and ready by 7 am tomorrow morning. Try not to get killed on your first day" the guard announced before walking out of the room.

" So this is the new reality we always feared" I say to Mira. There's a weird look on her face. " what's the problem?" I ask .

"Did you want to get yourself killed today. Why on earth would you challenge Jeffrey like that knowing the power he holds" she whisper yells at me

"I loathe him isn't that good reason enough. Asides that, there was no way on earth I would let you get sent off to god knows where to be f****d by a bunch of vile creatures" I say to her then take her hands in mine.

" I'll try my possible best to keep you safe for my brother and yours too" I promise her.

" Who will keep you safe? You need to be careful. I'll never forgive myself if any harm comes to you because of me" she says amidst the tears pooling down her face.

" We'll be fine. Let's just hope the guys are alright and still here" I try to encourage her.

People were trying to get along making small conversations with each other while I lay on my bed. Many thoughts are spiralling in my head.

'How did they enter?' I ask myself blocking out the noise from the girls talking at random. This whole thing doesn't make sense. They've been launching attacks on our borders for a while now and none were able to penetrate so why now.

'What exactly happened?' i try to answer the questions but not seems to fit in the puzzle. I am brought out of my thoughts by a tap on my back.

I turn to face Mira, " you need to sleep. We all need the rest cause neither of us know what tomorrow brings" she says with a serious tone.

She is right. Today is the end of our past, all we've been used to. Tomorrow becomes our present. A new life with little to no hope for a better future.

I finally let my head rest and block out the thoughts. In less than three minutes I was out. Sleep had arrested me.

The Next day,

I wake up to the sound of a very loud bell. "What the hell, my ears would f*****g bleed if I have to hear this every morning" I whisper yell at Mira annoyed.

"Let's just go get ready" she says to me with an emotion I've seen to frequently, Fear. It was evident in her eyes.

I take her hand in mine and squeeze it a little trying to ease off the nerves. " Let's get ready" I say to her before pulling her off the bed.

We take our baths and dress up in the maids attire that was dropped in the lockers. The whole arrangement is weird. The bathing area is very open. There are no curtains or veils, everybody is bare to each other.

Those of us that were ready just sat on our beds waiting for the next set of instructions.

After what seemed like forever, the doors of the dormitory were pushed open and an elderly lady walks in.

We all stand up in unison. " My name is Hilda and I'm in charge of all the activities in this house. I give directions and you follow without question. Disobedience or any unruly act would not be permitted. Every offence comes with a strict punishment. Lastly, don't you ever try to escape, I can promise you won't survive the attempt" she says moving back and forth in the room.

"If you've been assigned to grounds follow the guard on my left. Housekeeping to the guard on my right. Kitchen duty follows the young lady( she says pointing at a young lady by the door)" on hearing the instructions, people start moving to their designated places. Mira waves at me before following the guard and the other girls out of the room.

Once they were all gone, it was just Sarella and I left with the woman.

" Where were you assigned?" She asks. I am trying really hard to hold back my laughter cause what is Sarella going to say, 'oh madam, I wasn't assigned any job. I'm just a booty call to a mother fucker' I thought to myself.

The cat seemed to have got her tongue cause she isn't saying anything. I decide to speak up first " I was assigned the duty of the king's personal servant" There is no way in hell that I would call myself a slave. Call it pride or whatever but I still had my self respect.

"Your the king's personal slave" she repeats like she is trying to register what she just heard. For a swift moment I notice the change in her expression unfortunately I can't really read what it is but it looks somewhat like pity.

" I'll put you through the generals later. The king would tell you his specialties in person, What's your name?" she asks

"Adriana" I answer, then turns to Sarella. "What were you assigned?" She asks.

I maintain eye contact with Ella. I really want her to feel uncomfortable. She looks away from me and to the ground " I'm Jeffrey's woman" she says. I scoff unconsciously.

"You don't call royalty by their name especially not as slaves. I'll let it pass for now but don't try it ever again. Anyways your duty is to warm his bed without question. Keep it at the back of your minds that you no longer have a will. If your told to jump, you Jump first before you ask how high. Understood " she warns. We both nod in affirmation.

" Good. Until when you are asked for by the king you work directly under me in the kitchen" she says pointing at me.

" You will work with housekeeping till your summoned by your master" she tells Sarella the turns and walks out of the room.

I follow behind her cause I'm not interested in getting into any form of conversation with Ella. As we enter the kitchen, I assist the other ladies with getting breakfast ready. Their meals seem very similar to what we humans eat. The main difference is the amount of meat they consume. Then there's this red liquid in a chalice on every tray.

The meals were finally ready. Miss Hilda is giving directives on how the food would be served.

I could already guess who I'll be serving. I walk up to her to get clear instructions " This is the king's tray don't ever forget that and you'll be serving the king henceforth. Do not ever serve any man that's not the king. Do you understand " she says pointing at the tray.

" I fully understand " I want to add a rude remark but I decide against it. There's no need to be rude or vile to the woman cause she's actually been a bit nice to me.

They carry the trays and head out of the kitchen into the dining room.

The food was served, they finished eating and we cleared up the plates. We were given our breakfast which could hardly count for food. The taste wasn't bad but the quantity is a little more than what prisoners are given.

After eating we returned back to our room.

I just lay on my bed trying to get some rest. The doors were pushed open and we all sat up to see who it was.

The same lady from earlier stood in front of the door. " Adriana you've been summoned by the king" she announces. I have this weird feeling in my gut.

I stand from the bed, dust my clothes and follow behind her.