Whatever It Takes 3: Love in Chains - EXCERPT

Chapter 8

Laina spent most of her life in the royal palace in Vantia and then a few weeks in Hayden’s palace in Ebris, which was considerably larger and more beautiful. Still, it looked like a disheveled shack in comparison to the beauty of the Blessed District.

Rayeed led her to one of the smaller gates and exchanged a few friendly words with the guards, who let them in without any issues, not even sparing a closer look at Laina. It was as if they had entered into another world. The noise from the streets around didn’t reach behind the thick, tall wall, and the entire area was quiet and peaceful. There were lots of buildings within the District, and Rayeed gave her a brief rundown of what was where.

On the outside edges of the walled area, there were stables and various storage rooms, conveniently located near the gates so the supply wagons didn’t have to travel far and disturb the silence by wobbling over the beautiful roads. Closer to the center stood buildings for the staff. Spacious barracks or a large lodging where all maids and servants had their tiny rooms. Slave quarters.

After giving Laina a moment to admire the wonderful park surrounding the large building in the very center of the Blessed District, the royal palace itself, Rayeed directed her to the slave quarters. It was a low and ugly building, skillfully hidden from direct sight behind a line of trees and bushes, so the emperor's noble visitors wouldn’t be insulted by having to look at it. The few windows were covered by metal bars and the thick doors had large metal latches from the outside.

The inside of the building didn’t look much better than the outside. The air was stale and smokey and the smell of unwashed bodies reminded Laina of the pirate ship so much she shuddered. There weren’t even any rooms, just one big space with ragged sleeping mats and thin blankets. Lovely.

“Don’t leave anything here,” Rayeed warned her. “Food, any trinkets, or whatever else you want to keep, carry it with you, or the others will steal it. This building is just for women, men are on the opposite side of the District but don’t let that fool you. Only the tough survive here. And some of the women are just as bad as the men.”

Great. Laina hoped to make some friends but so far it seemed she was going to have to fight for her life even against the other slaves.

“When you hear the bell in the morning,” the man continued, “be quick, or there will be no food left for you. Don’t trust anyone. Stay out of everyone’s way. Never look any of the masters in the face. Keep your head down, and stay quiet unless they ask you a question. Whatever they order you to do, just do it without hesitation or you will get whipped. You mess something up, you will get whipped. You mess something up big time or try to escape, well… you have seen that.” Rayeed sighed and ran his hand through his long hair. “It’s a shitty life but it’s life.”

Laina couldn’t exactly agree with that. It didn’t sound like a life. It sounded like being in hell. Why was Rayeed still here? It was bugging her but she didn’t dare to ask him. It seemed that he was free to move around for the most part, why not take advantage of that and escape? “Thank you,” she said instead, grateful for knowing a kind soul in this hellhole.

“I wish I could help you more but…” he trailed off and shrugged.

There really wasn’t much more to say, it was obvious Laina was on her own. Her thoughts briefly wandered towards Lamar but she chased them away. First, she had to save herself, then she could go look for him. Even though she had no clue how or where. But that was a problem for another day. Right now, she needed to make sure she survived this day without ending up on the Square of the Crescent Moon.

“Come on,” Rayeed turned around to leave the building. “I’ll take you to Teng. Whatever you do, do not make her your enemy. Seriously. She is the one who assigns work to female slaves. If you get on her wrong side, you will end up with the worst possible chores for the rest of your short life.”

Teng was a short, elderly lady that reminded Laina of Oscar’s old maid Friska. Only instead of a warm smile, she gave Laina a tight-lipped frown. There was a ribbon tied around her neck which looked more like a choker necklace than a slave collar and her clothes looked to be made out of a decent-quality material. Especially compared to the rags the women ferociously scrubbing the floor under Teng’s careful watch were wearing.

"A new one, huh?" Teng eyed Laina with contempt. "Doesn't look like much. Did you pick her up in a whorehouse?" She probably thought Laina wouldn't understand her.

Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Rayeed frowned at the woman. "Don't be a b***h, Teng. This one survived on the Dragon's Fortune for almost two weeks, she's tough."

"Hmm. So she is a whore." Looking less than amused, the old lady sized Laina up again. "Is she going to cause trouble?"

The way they were talking about her as if she wasn't there was beyond annoying. "I'm not going to cause trouble," Laina said in the calmest voice she could manage given the situation, earning a dismissive scoff from Teng when the woman realized Laina understood what they were saying. "I'm not, madame." A bit of groveling couldn't hurt, right? "I'm not a w***e and I'm used to working hard. My name is Laina."

"I don't give a s**t, k'oxa," Teng sneered at her. "Survive a week here and then I might bother learning your name. Until then, get on your f*****g knees and start scrubbing the floor."

Oh, great, it seemed Laina had earned herself a charming nickname. It was hardly even fair, there were a lot of other foreigners among the girls around her. But, remembering Rayeed's warning about not angering the old woman, Laina just mumbled a quiet "yes, ma'am" and grabbed a spare scrub from a bucket with filthy water. As she got down to start working, she caught a glimpse of Rayeed's apologetic smile in her direction before the man left the building.

Laina has worked for most of her life. But, unsurprisingly, being a maid to a princess was far off from being a slave. Before the day was over, she could barely feel her arms and her back ached in ways she never thought possible. It was way worse than being forced to spend the day in a saddle. She knew exactly what potion to take to ease the pain and what ointment to rub on her sore muscles but, sadly, all her medicinal supplies remained in her cabin on the Western Wind. Which probably didn’t even exist anymore, since she heard captain Ersey ordering his men to set the cargo ship on fire.

So, instead of having a hot bath and soaking her aching body in precious oils, she curled up on a smelly thin sleeping mat, covered herself with a smelly thin blanket with so many holes it barely even made any difference, and tried to fall asleep among the quiet sniffling, crying, and hushed conversations.

In the morning, she grasped the true meaning of the words “be quick”. She barely managed to wipe her eyes when the bell rang, it was still pitch black, but the other women had already rushed out of the room. There was a bucket full of plain oatmeal ready for them outside and before Laina could even get to it, there was nothing but a few disgusting burnt spoonfuls on the bottom. A sympathetic smirk quickly flashed over one or two of the faces around her but nobody offered to share their bowl with her. Every woman for herself, no camaraderie. Great.

With her stomach rumbling, she spent all morning washing sheets and covers, the skin on her hands all red and cracked from the aggressive soap she had to use to get the stains off. No lunch. Of course, why would you keep the hard-working people well fed, right? You can always go to the market and buy new ones! Stupid country.

As if her suffering wasn’t bad enough, Teng sent her to the kitchens for the afternoon, and Laina was forced to stir a huge pot of deliciously-smelling stew for almost an hour before the other servants came to take it to the barracks. Laina wasn’t stupid, it was obvious the old b***h was testing her. Slaves were forbidden to touch any food in the kitchen, so, despite her insides twisting painfully, Laina stood by the pot and stirred it, not once raising the wooden spoon to her mouth, not even when it seemed she was left alone for a few moments. A quick lick wouldn’t sate her hunger anyway and it wasn’t worth getting whipped over.

The dinner consisted of a bowl of watery soup and a piece of stale bread. How were they supposed to keep up their strength with just that? It was impossible. At least she was so exhausted she fell asleep seconds after her body touched the sleeping mat.

The laundry duty actually wasn’t so bad. The thing they called soap here was horrible and made her skin itch, yes, but at least she got to wash herself a bit and nobody stood above her, watching her every move. Usually. There were only three or four of them on a regular day and the other women were used to singing as they worked. Quietly, nobody wanted to draw any extra attention to themselves. The majority of the women were from Cchen-Lian and Laina rarely knew any of the songs being sung. Even the tunes were completely new to her but, after a few days, she found herself humming along.

The weak didn’t survive around here and Laina was anything but weak. Starting from the second morning she was there, she taught herself to jump up the second she heard the bell and head straight for the oatmeal bowl. Regardless of who was standing in her way. Her elbows were sharp, her tongue even sharper, and even though she had earned a lot of scowls and angry glares (and a black eye from a fistfight with a woman a foot taller than Laina), she never had to work hungry again.

It sucked. She wanted to make friends, they all had a common enemy after all, but it didn’t seem the other women were interested. At best, they just ignored her. At worst… Let’s just say that Laina had a pretty good idea who pissed all over her sleeping mat. And let’s just say that the particular person had “accidentally” spilled a bucket full of water right on Teng’s dress and got slapped hard and assigned extra duties. Nobody dared to piss on Laina’s sleeping mat after that.

It has been more than a week and she barely even had time (or energy) to look for a way out. Perhaps this was a part of the whole trick, to keep the slaves so exhausted they would use every spare moment trying to get some rest or rustle up some food instead of planning an escape. But no matter how hard she tried, Laina couldn’t figure out anything even remotely useful to get her away from this hellhole.

The Blessed District was an impenetrable fortress. From the outside in, naturally, but sadly also from the inside out. All gates were guarded and the men were vigilant, not letting anyone pass through. The slaves had some freedom of movement while performing their daily duties but they could only move among the few buildings assigned to them. Getting closer to the walls meant they were either beaten up by the guards or straight out arrested and flogged unconscious.

They were trapped in an endless circle of hard work and restless sleep, starved out, exhausted. Laina tried to fight it but it was getting to her as well. Her brain seemed to have switched into a more primitive survival mode where the only things that mattered were to get some food and avoid the beatings. The thought of Lamar did cross her mind from time to time, especially when she woke up to the sounds of people crying out from their sleep, but there was no way she could find out where he was or if he was even still alive.

On day twelve (probably, the routine was so mind-numbing Laina wasn’t sure anymore), she and a few other women were in the kitchen. They were usually sent there to help out with simple tasks like peeling and cutting vegetables or cleaning up the mess. Laina was just scrubbing a huge pot, desperately trying to hurry up because it had to be ready before the cooks started preparing dinner for the soldiers and other servants. There was no way she could finish it in time. Laina knew that and that b***h Teng must have known it as well, but she still sent the girl there. And now Laina was going to get whipped for disobeying orders. No matter that the orders were impossible to obey in the first place.

“Hey, you!” Someone shouted behind her and Laina picked up the pace, hoping the overseer was yelling at someone else. “K’oxa!” Yes, the name stuck. “Come here!”

Laina suppressed a sniffle. “Please, master, if you could just give me a few more min-”

A strong hand grabbed her plaited hair and yanked her backward. “I. Said. COME HERE!” The man yelled straight into her face, holding her up by her braid. “You don’t get to talk back to me, Orellian b***h!” He shoved her away and she tripped and fell, curling up on the ground just in case he wanted to kick her stomach. That was a reflex she picked up quite fast.

“Orellian, hmm.” Laina couldn’t see the speaker but the overseer swiftly turned around, stuttering a few incoherent words while dropping down to his knees, immediately lowering his head so it was touching the floor. Footsteps sounded in her direction and Laina quickly tried to repeat the overseer’s movement and get into the same position. Never look at them.

His boots were leather and shiny and no doubt incredibly expensive. They stopped in front of her and Laina shivered in fear. This kind of attention couldn’t be good, especially if it was because she was from Orellia. “Get up.” The order was stark and it was obvious that the man giving it was used to people immediately doing whatever he said.

Laina got up, staggering a bit but, fortunately, she managed to stand up straight, keeping her head down. Never look. Never.

“Look at me.” Well, crap.

Reluctantly, she raised her head. Orders were orders. The man was wearing a military uniform and there was a victorious smirk on his face. Laina didn’t like him one bit, he reminded her of that bastard Ersey too much. Not in what he looked like but in the way his eyes were cold and void of any emotions.

“You, worm,” the tip of his boot poked the overseer that was still kneeling on the ground. “I’m taking this one. Let Teng know.” Crap. “And you, follow me. K’oxa,” he chuckled. “I like that.” Of course he liked that.

The man didn’t try to protest. “Yes, general Xiang.”

General Xiang? f*****g hell. Laina had to forcibly stop her jaw from hitting the floor, quickly following the man out of the room. He didn’t even give her time to wash the grime and filth off her hands and arms. The highest commander of the entire f*****g army of the empire of Cchen-Lian headed straight towards the royal palace, not even bothering to check whether Laina was following him or not. It wasn’t like she could afford to disobey an order, let alone order from this man.

She was incredibly out of place in those wonderfully decorated hallways with dirt covering her skin and ragged clothes. Some of the people they walked around gave her disgusted scorns but nobody tried to say anything, all of them quickly lowering their heads in front of Xiang. They passed around so many guards Laina stopped counting them. There was no way she was going to get out of there. The only question was what the general was going to do to her before killing her. Could he have known about who she really was? Or rather, who she used to be?

Before she could come up with more questions for which she had no answers, the general stopped in front of a large, ornate door and knocked. It opened by a crack a few moments later and a maid peeked out. “I have a gift for her,” Xiang grinned and moved forward, pushing the maid aside and entering the room. Laina hesitantly followed him inside, stopping right behind the door, wishing she could become invisible.

The maid scurried away and, after a few minutes, someone else came into the room. “What the hell makes you think you can just barge in here?!” Laina was keeping her head down again so she didn’t get a good look at the woman but if she could afford to scold the general like that, she had to be someone very important. Laina had an idea but prayed to the gods she was wrong.

“Don’t b***h around, Yo. There’s nobody around who could hear us. I brought you a gift.”

The woman scoffed and Laina felt the piercing gaze sliding over her body. “Where did you dig up that filthy slut? In the sewers? Why would I want something like that around?” It was humiliating but Laina couldn’t exactly blame the woman for her words. Yes, she was dirty and probably didn’t smell like flowers.

“In the kitchen, actually.” The general didn’t seem phased by the woman’s disgust. “But that is not important. The important part is that this little k’oxa is from Orellia.”

That seemed to have caught the woman’s interest. “Hmm,” she mused and the fabric of her gown shuffled over the floor quietly as she moved to Laina. “Is that true?”

“Yes, mistress.” There was no point in lying.

A finger under her chin forced Laina’s head up. The woman was beautiful, her long black hair was braided in a traditional style, her complexion pale and flawless. The gown she was wearing was exquisite, it seemed even richer than the dresses the royal designer tried to force on Karina when she became a queen. Laina knew who this woman was. And she knew she was royally f****d.

“Very well.” A disgusted smirk on her face, the lady pulled out a small tissue and wiped the finger with which she was touching Laina. “Thank you, general. A slave like this will surely come in handy.” They exchanged a soft chuckle as if remembering some inside joke and Xiang bowed his head. “Liu!” The woman yelled and the maid from before rushed back into the room. “Clean this… thing up and give her some decent clothes. She will be my new slave.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” the maid quickly nodded and tugged on Laina’s hand.

Your Highness. There was only one person in the Cchen-Lian royal family that could use that title at the moment. Laina was right. The woman was princess Yoshimi, the niece of the emperor himself and his only living relative. And, as Lamar bluntly described her, the b***h who tried to weasel her way into king Hayden’s bed once and got furious when he rejected her. A woman who passionately hated Orellia and anyone connected to that country. And Laina just became her little plaything.

Well, f*****g f**k.

***

Next update: Monday