The confrontation
1432 Words
Episode 9
He turned and Looked at me, another smile appeared, not cold, not cruel.
Mischievous.
Like he’d been waiting for me to say it. “Good,” he said.
That was all.
One word.
Then he turned and left. The door closed behind him. And that one word made it clear. I’d made him happy. I’d given him exactly what he wanted a chance to have another child.
To me, it meant only one thing. Another night with him. My legs went numb. I dropped into the chair behind me before I hit the floor and my hands were shaking.
What have I done? I just asked for another Mooring.
I knew what it required. I knew the pain. The horrors i went through that night.
I sat there. Thinking. Trying to understand my own decision. Trying to breathe through the fear.
Then the door burst open.
“Lady Mia! Lady Mia”
It was one of the Celines, I turned to her. “I did it,” I said before she could speak.
She blinked. Confusion. “Did what, my lady?”
“I asked for another Mooring,” I said.
She gasped. Her hand flew to her mouth. Shock.
“This is Good news, my lady?” she said. “But Why do you look so pale? Why do you look so down?” she asked. Her happy expression turning to a concerned one.
I couldn’t hold it in.
“I don’t want to go through that pain again,” I said. My voice broke. " I'm just recovering from that night now I'm asking for it again. That’s why I’m… I’m regretting it.”
Tears threatened. I forced them back.
She sat down beside me. Took my hand.
“Lady Mia,” she said. “You did not make the wrong decision.”
“You chose to live, You chose to be alive. You chose to have another chance. To fight for your freedom.”
“Please don’t take it as a bad decision. Take it as the decision that will liberate you from this place.”
She squeezed my hand.
“And I will make sure,” she said, “I will try everything possible that you will not be like the women who died. I will make sure you are safe. That you live longer than they did.”
"Live longer than they did".
"Not live". "Not leave this place alive".
"But longer than they did"
She didn’t believe I would make it past three months.
That was the truth she just gave me.
And it was worse than the pain I was afraid of.
“Come. Let me take you to your room. You need to rest. And get prepared.”
She paused.
“To have another Mooring by this sundown.”
The moment she said it, my heart fell, like a stone in water, I felt pale and weak.
The thought of getting another Mooring made my blood run cold.
But I had no choice.
Either I chose the Mooring and leave this place alive…
Or I chose to die here. In a place no one knew. A place where no one would ever say my name again, and what will become of my mother?
So I strengthened myself.
I accepted it.
She lifted me up gently, she placed my hands on her shoulder and we began to walk out of the hall.
But the thought of walking through that hall again… the distance, and the weakness I felt discouraged me from going further, then I stopped.
I said. “Please. Can you take me back the way you usually do? The quick way?”
She understood.
“Alright, my lady.”
She took my hands. Closed her eyes.
So I closed mine too.
One breath, then light, I opened my eyes, and we were in my room, just like that like a film had skipped forward.
I looked everywhere, walls, bed, window yeah we were back in my room.
I turned to her.
“How did you do that?” The question was out before I could stop it. “Is that your power? Why does everyone here seem to have magic?”
She smiled.
“My lady,” she said, “we should sit if you want me to tell you about our powers.”
I sat down immediately.
“Tell me,” I said. Waiting for the story. For the gist
Immediately her smile faded.
“I’m sorry, my lady,” she said. “I can’t tell you anything. Not until your Reveal Day.”
My chest dropped.
“Reveal Day?” I said, discouragement hit me hard.
“Why?” I said. “You don’t have to tell me the whole truth. Just a little. Please.”
She shook her head. Gentle, but final.
“We get our power from—”
Right as the Celine was about to speak,
The door flung open.
No hand. No knock.
Just air moving, and then...
Lady Grace.
She walked in with two of her maids. The ones in black. Black hair, black dresses, faces like knives.
Her eyes found me immediately.
And they were not kind.
“So,” she said. Her voice cut the room. “You have accepted another Mooring.”
It wasn’t a question.
She stared at me. Hard.
“Why did you decide to get another Mooring?” she said.
The words were sharp. Ugly.
“You should have allowed yourself to die,” she said. “And let someone new come. Someone who is strong enough to bare it.”
The word hit my face like a slap, they were hurtful. It was obvious that she believed I was weak and wouldn't survive in this place.
I couldn’t breathe, I didn’t reply. I just kept quiet and my lips pressed together.
Because what do you say to that?
She wasn’t done.
“How could you,” she said, stepping closer, “ask for a Mooring when it has not even lasted for a month in your body?”
Her voice dropped.
“You’re weak, Mia. Weaker than all of them.”
I just sat there. Between Grace’s hate… and sundown coming fast.
Her eyes were locked on mine.
“So what makes you think this Mooring will last in your body?” she asked.
I didn’t answer.
She got closer.
“Answer me, you wretched human.”
I looked at her. Straightened my eyes.
“And what is it to you if the Mooring lasts or not?” I said.
The words came out before I could stop them.
“The Mooring is not in your body. I am the one suffering the pain. I am the one who decided to get it. So how does it affect you?”
The room went still.
Then—
A loud sound.
A slap.
It landed on my face so hard I felt my cheeks turn red that instant.
Pain bloomed across my skin.
“Never,” she said. Voice like ice. “Never in your entire miserable life speak to me in that tone.”
The two Celines in my room gasped.
They fell to their knees immediately.
“Lady Grace, please,” one of them begged. “Do not be afraid of her behavior. Forgive her, for she does not know what she is doing. She is new here. She has not been taught our etiquette. Our ways of living.”
They begged for me.
I looked around.
And it came to me.
Every Celine feared this woman.
I didn’t know her status. I didn’t know her position.
But from the way they shook, from the way they bowed… her position was higher than I thought, way higher. And that meant I should fear her too.
I didn’t say another word, I just let tears fall down my eyes.
Then she spoke again.
“Look at me, you wretched human,” she said.
“If you take this Mooring and your body begins to reject it before three sundowns, I will make sure that I myself will kill you with my two bare hands.”
A pause.
“You are under my control. Everything I decide on you will be done.”
“For goodness’ sake,” she said, “why did the Crown Lord accept to give you another Mooring? He should have killed you. He should have taken another human to replace you.”
She turned.
Anger in every step.
And the two maids who followed her went after her immediately.
The door closed behind them.
- Writer
