Dark Lord (18 page)

“Yes, that would be the best case scenario,” Valencia said.
“She would bear
the scars of battle and that would finally earn her some respect.”

“The Countess had the nerve to promote her to safety officer!”
Harlotta
cried.
“Can you believe that shit?
I told Nefertiti that she didn’t deserve a promotion, but she refused to heed my advice.
Nefertiti is wasting her time trying to make something out of that good-for-nothing sister of hers.
Once she is gone, the Countess will
remember my existence.”

Harlotta
was jealous of her, it seemed.
Briella
didn’t understand why the woman
would view her as a threat.
Nefertiti had no love for her.
She couldn’t stand to listen to their vicious tongues any longer.
She turned down the hall and took a different route to the training room.
Despite her expectations of failure, she knew she didn’t have a choice but to prepare for the battle.

When she entered the training room, the other people inside the room vacated at such a rapid pace that she felt like a walking contagion.
She picked up a sword and swung it a few times.
Already her arm ached from the weight of it.
The thing must weigh at least thirty pounds.
She discarded the heavy steel and looked for a lighter sword.
When the door opened, she looked up and saw one of the eunuch soldiers.
It was her teacher and soon-to
-b
e executioner.
He helped her chose a
lighter
weapon and he worked with her the rest of the afternoon and night.
“Do I have any chance at all?”

“No, Lady Avenal.
You lack the strength to wield the sword properly and you
lack training.
All of our eunuch soldiers spend ten hours a day sharpening their skills and they have had decades of training.
You neglected your training entirely,” the eunuch said.

She had known it was hopeless, but his lack of faith in her abilities increased her anxiety tenfold.
“What
advice to you have
for me, then?”

“You should not accept the
bloodmatch
.
It is the only way you will live.
The soldiers have already been chosen by the Countess and she selected our best warriors.
I spoke with them earlier and they are uncomfortable with the task given them, but they will perform it with honor.
They are resigned to the fact that they will soon kill you.
If you accept the challenge, you should not delay in making final preparations.
Say your goodbyes to those you love.”

She nodded and left without saying another word.
She wasn’t ready to die with honor.
If she died in the ring,
Harlotta
and
Valencia would never pay for what they had done to her.
There would be no retribution or vengeance.
She walked silently to her room and sat in a chair, debating whether to bother with the goodbyes.
Who would miss her when she was gone?
She couldn’t say her farewells to
Triniti
because she was still locked in the tower.
She stiffened when she heard the knocks on her door.

Harlotta
opened the door and peeked through the crack.
“The Countess requests your presence for the nightly entertainments.”

Briella’s
body was sore and she felt exhausted.
If she only had
a couple more days to live
, she didn’t wish to spend it with
Nefertiti.
She pulled a random gown from her closet and dressed with haste.
She decided to attend the dreaded event anyway because she didn’t want
Harlotta
to think she was cowering in her room.

As she entered the main hall, she was met by sidelong glances and the occasional
smirk.
Briella
tried to ignore
Harlotta
, Valencia, and Samantha and took a seat between Portia and
Audrelia
.
The two ladies chatted with her in a light, carefree manner, as if it was just an ordinary night.
It made her realize they were ignorant of
her dilemma a
nd she was glad that
the news had not spread throughout the entire household
.

She stared unseeingly while Nefertiti engaged in her favorite sport, which was copulating with her harem lords.
Afterward, she drifted with the others into the Red Salon.
She poured herself liberal amounts of punch and hoped it was spiked.
She wasn’t planning to stay much longer, as she needed to wake early in the morning to start her next lesson in the training room.
She saw Devereux heading her way and she felt herself heat with anger.
She knew it wasn’t his fault, but she was being
wrongfully
condemned
for crimes against
his family
.
His uncle would return soon to pronounce judgment.

Devereux approached and stood beside her.
“I wanted to apologize for my behavior the other night.”

His apology had the ring of sincerity and she should have accepted it gracefully.
Instead, she was filled with irrational anger.
She couldn’t look at him without thinking of him as a Langley
, and that family was intent on destroying her, thanks to the lies of
Harlotta
and her cronies.
She had not voiced words against the Queen, but she
feared
the royal family would treat her harshly because some of the statements made about them
could very well be
true.
Dev
had revealed that information to her when he had gone hybrid on her.
She had not repeated what he had said about hybrids to anyone, but he would not believe her to be innocent.
She was in this mess because his family
had
conspired with hybrids in the past.
Since
Harlotta’s
lies happened to contain a shred of truth, they would respond by silencing
the supposed teller of tales
.
“You cannot help
what you are,” she said nastily.
“
Do not bother to apologize for being
a
monster.”

“I’m not your enemy,
Briella
.
In time you will come to realize that.”

She watched him walk away from her
as
she contemplated his words.
She didn’t have
time
.
He obviously didn’t know that her days were numbered.
She thought about walking over
to
apologize
, as she had done such a poor job of
accepting his apology
.
Instead, she kept her distance and held her tongue
.
There wasn’t much point making amends with anyone when she wasn’t going to be on this Earth much longer.
A better woman would end
her
days with more honor, but she couldn’t get past her
outrage.

Briella
spent the next day in the training room, but her efforts yielded only minimal improvement.
There wasn’t enough time to mold her body into that of a warrior.
She practiced throughout the evening and skipped the nightly entertainments.

The next morning,
Alyntine
arrived.
Briella
was ushered into a conference room to receive her judgment.
As expected, the Queen had found her guilty.
Her punishment would be to serve a ten year indenture.

“
Briella
can remain in Avenal if the Countess chooses to purchase her indenture, but her status as a lady will not be restored to her until completion of the indenture period.
By
Flourdan
law, no criminals are to be afforded any of the special protection or privileges that noblewomen enjoy.
She will n
ot be able to act as an advisor,”
Alyntine
said.

Briella
had heard stories about noblewomen forced to serve indentures.
Often, a lady of good birth was kept isolated in the family home to serve as a lady’s companion or servant until her indenture period was completed.
However, if the family repudiated the woman and refused to pay the indenture fee, the indenture was sold.
Those ladies usually wound up serving
indentures on their backs and were used in lieu of concubines.
If
a lady’s
status was removed,
she
was treated as a peasant.
Peasants had only limited rights.
They belonged to
a peer, usually whichever one was tied to the land upon which they lived.
This peer had complete authority to direct the work of the peasant.
I
f the peasant was chosen to be a concubine, refusal of the position was not allowed.
The
Flourdans
used female concubines and slaves to control their male population, to appease them and keep them content enough to accept their role as subservient to female rule.
Even Nefertiti used the gifting of concubines whenever the harem lords grew discontented.
The noblewomen didn’t consider the use of concubines by harem lords to be sex.
They considered it another form of masturbation.
It was strange reasoning, but the noblewomen didn’t consider peasants fully human.
They were of a status one level higher than a pig or goat.
If a lady was ever lowered to such a status, she would find it difficult to ever recover.

“I object!” Nefertiti said.
“If she loses her status as a lady, she will be ruined.
However would she make a good match?
None of the other noblewomen will match their sons with a woman who
is not a lady
.”