Page 106 of The Queen’s Shadow

My mother had raised me in Lust’s palace, with the other royal children. Ash Nevra, Zayne, Vespara and I had more or less grown up together. However, Ash Nevra had always made it a point to ensure that I knew my place. As children, she and Vespara had been thick as thieves. The two of them had reveled in tormenting me, when my mother was not around to put a stop to it.

I had known I was a bastard child, as did Ash Nevra, though this fact had largely been kept a secret from the rest of court. My official on-paper parents had been hand selected by my mother, and I had been given the title of Lady from a young age.

My adoptive parents had been cold, though not cruel. I was sure Anjoilie had something to do with that. The more I learned about my birth mother after her death, the more I had come to realize that she had not been a kind daemon. She was ruthless and conniving, and she was the reason The Dominion was in the state it was today. However, as a child, I had thought that she had hung the moon. Despite her flaws, I knew that she loved me, and perhaps that is why Ash Nevra hated me as much as she did.

The moment Anjoilie had been killed, my life as I knew it had ended. With her protection gone, Ash Nevra wasted little time ensuring that I would never threaten her position. When the news had made it to The Court of Lust, my immediate thought had been ‘she is going to kill me.’

I had tried to run, but I was stopped at the gates… By none other than Prince Zayne and his horrible father, King Titus. My own ‘parents’ had sold me out to them.

I’ll never forget the way Zayne looked at me that day. I begged him to let me go. We had grown up together. He knew me. We hadn’t been friends, but we hadn’t been enemies either. I didn’t expect him to help me escape, but to stop me? To force me into slavery?

He hadn’t said one word. He just watched me with a disgusted look on his face as I sobbed on my knees before him. His father bound my wrists and called me a filthy bastard whore, before spitting on the ground I knelt upon.

That was the first time I had ever been called a whore. It was certainly not the last.

Shortly after, Ash Nevra went to work enslaving the rest of The Dominion. She of course started with her own court. I was forced to kneel by her throne like a favored dog, day in and day out, as she enslaved her allies and her court.

King Titus had knelt before her to accept his slavery bond as if it were the greatest honor that someone could bestow upon him, despite the fact that he was stripped of the title of King, and officially named Prince. His wife, Adahra, had received hers next. Vespara had nearly skipped to Ash Nevra, throwing herself at her feet with a manic smile, accepting her slavery bond just as eagerly as her parents. Zayne had been the only one in their family that seemed to have reservations.

If I hadn’t known him my entire life, I might have missed the slight stiffness to his spine, and the tight set of his jaw, as he stepped forward to receive his bond. I did not miss the way his gaze flicked to his father’s. Cold determination permeated his person as they exchanged a glance. I didn’t understand the look. I just knew that whether Zayne wanted the bond or not didn’t matter for him anymore than it had for me.

Freedom of choice was now a privilege. One that even the wealthiest couldn’t afford.

There had been a feast that night, to celebrate. I remembered feeling as though everyone had lost their minds. They were celebrating their enslavement? Were they blind? Was I the only one who could see this for the atrocity it was? Perhaps it was because not everyone had been exposed to Ash Nevra’s cruelty as I had. They did not know her, or what she was capable of the way I did.

When the dancing had begun, I had been forced to stay where I was, kneeling at the new Queen’s feet. I noticed that Zayne did not participate. He stood at the edge of the dance floor, his face closed off and angry, as he sipped from his golden cup. He had not been scarred yet, and his perfect, bronzed skin had flickered in the candlelight, as his eyes met mine across the room.

Though I hated him, I found some solace in the fact that there at least seemed to be one other person here, who felt the same way.

Ash Nevra kept me close to her, in the early days of her reign. She worked towards ensuring that the tiers of authority over each bond were clear. Princes and princesses had the authority to manipulate and control the bonds of their people if they so chose to. They could also grant and remove these authorities to lords, guards, and ladies as they saw fit. Of course, Ash Nevra could remove these privileges at any point if she so chose. Over the course of several weeks, The Dominion fell into this new way of life.

The night I had been sold to The Court of Greed, Ash Nevra had been holding court in the Great Hall of The Origin’s castle, with me at her feet. She had taken to meeting with guests in a large throne-like seat at the head of the hall, surrounded by her slaves.

The entertainment varied from night to night. Some nights we would watch as her Shadow tortured daemons that had been identified as rebels.

Although Prince Amon and I had been friendly with each other as children, he had grown dark and cold over the years. Now, I tried to avoid him as much as possible. There was something to be said about the fact that he was the one daemon she couldn’t enslave, and he still mercilessly did her bidding without question. I had seen him do horrific things without blinking an eye.

When the Queen’s Shadow was not torturing ‘rebels’, we were to observe orgies, or sadistic duels in which slaves were ordered to fight to the death.

That night, I had been forced to watch as a female was thrown on her knees and ordered to pleasure a seemingly endless line of males. Ash Nevra claimed the female was a traitor to the crown, and this was her punishment.

I didn’t see how that was possible, when literally no one but the Queen had the free will to commit a treasonous act, even if they wanted to. The female’s soft sobs and the lewd grunts of the males that manhandled her echoed through the halls as Prince Titus and his children approached. I tore my eyes away from the horrific scene before me as the royal family of The Court of Greed came forward. I tried not to flinch. The way Vespara was staring at me, sent a chill down my spine.

“You’ve done well, Prince Titus.” Ash Nevra had said, “The Court of Envy has finally sworn complete fealty, thanks to the efforts of you and your children.” The three of them bowed low before her. Envy had been especially difficult for Ash Nevra to get under control. The Obsidian Sea had been a significant obstacle for her army of slaves to overcome. Finally, with the help of Titus and his children, the Island Court of Envy had fallen. “Cerenah, get our guests some wine.” The Queen had snapped.

Startled at the sudden order, I glanced at her with wide eyes. This was the first time she had spoken to me since enslaving me. I had not been permitted to speak, touch, or interact with anyone. It had been the loneliest kind of torture, one that had left scars across my mind.

I got shakily to my feet, and moved to walk past Titus and his children, to get the pitcher of wine on the other side of the dais.

“A reward is in order. What would you have?” She asked Titus as I poured the wine.

“You are most generous, my Queen.” Prince Titus bowed. I winced at the oily sound of his voice. He was physically attractive, as most daemons were, with gold-streaked chocolate hair and olive skin. However, the way he held himself, and the way he spoke, had always reminded me of a snake, or a spider.

I balanced three cups of wine on a tray, and silently moved forward. I handed one to Titus, who accepted it without looking at me. Next, I moved to Zayne. His eyes met mine as I passed him his cup, and he gave me a minute nod of acknowledgement. Suddenly, Vespara’s hand closed around my wrist. She jerked me away from Zayne, and the remaining cup on my tray fell to the ground. Red wine exploded out of it, spattering across me like blood.

With a screech, Vespara threw me to the ground and grabbed a fistful of my hair, pulling my head back. Her face was inches from mine, fury written on every feature.

“You keep your whore eyes off my brother!” She spat into my face, grabbing my cheeks with the hand that wasn’t tangled in my hair.