- Maybe… - I replayed with caution.
- I understand your father is a very influential man here in Mor... – Fester purred.
That was cruel enough... why did she bring it up? How they discovered the root of my internal scarring?
- Of all the Clarus our dearest Kristma's father is the most important... is Vastus his name?
Shit! It's can't be true! How did she find out his name? It can only mean... my mother...
- After his first lady died by mysterious causes he replaced her with a Clarus pallaki then he took to himself her caste… did you know that kris?
Tears flowed from my face. It was too much for me. My mother was dead, my father's scoundrel on the rise and the worst... for mysterious causes which is only a popular name for murder… he killed my mother! After selling me, abandoning me, torturing my mother several times while I cried hiding under my bed now he kills her!
Suddenly a buzz takes shape behind the doors. Fester, Suzan and the other pallakis perceive the same movement and immediately they return to their neutral countenances.
Of all the people who composed the choir afflicted Cael's voice was more desperate than all.
- Here she is? Here is Ilyada? No Bruyel! Don't tell me this!
- But my Master… - A calm and timid male voice whispered in response to Cael's uncontrolled voice.
- I don't wanna hear you more!
With a single punch Cael opened the door and entered the dining room with impetus.
- Fester!
- Yes my Master…
- Did you see Ilyada?
- How? No… when I got here and I didn't see her I thought she was with you, my lord…
- Do you see her here? Do you see her with me?
- No my lord…
- So stop saying nonsense and answer me. Have you seen her?
- No my lord…
- That… Ilyada told me she wanted to meet to talk about the pallaki Eleonor... I think...
A middle-aged man with black hair emerged from among the men who accompanied Cael.
- I'm sorry my lord… but… one of the carriages was stolen.
- What? Which carriage?
- The first lady carriage…
- The storeroom is empty, my lord! - A young guard who was getting rid of the crowd surrounding Cael announced- And also the jewels and clothes of the first lady and the pallakis Eleonor and Liliane also disappeared.
- Are you kidding me? Bryel ! How could you let this happen? You only had one function! One fucking job! - Cael's cries were like the roars of an angry lion.
- Sorry my lord… I got careless… I.
- Shut up! I don't want to hear your excuses I want my first lady and my pallakis here now! Warm Aurélius that there has been an incident... and warm him that Eleonor will be given to him as soon as possible…
When this burst of Cael's anger ended, he tried to calm down massaging his left temple with the fingertips.
- All right my lord!
- The Emperor had asked me to buy her but after this escape I'll have to give Eleonor as a gift to him…
My blood froze. Could not be the same Eleonor. That delicate and extremely injured girl that I met a few hours before the before daybreak.
Anger, worry and fear ran through my veins. Did Emperor see her crying while we were in that room dominated by the light of a few candles? What about Ilyada and Liliane? They didn't tell me anything! The jewels, the clothes and the stolen groceries... She must have run away!
- Kristma! - Cael's voice once again broke the buzz of battered voices and cunning assumptions.
- Yes my master…
- We'll go to Nekrós after breakfast. Wincon! Wincon!
- My lord? - A bald man of short stature, broad body and oily face answered.
- You and Bryel solve this problem, Ilyada should return today to organize my agenda! She has a lot of work to do, Eleonor has to be delivered to Aurélius and that other pallaki…
- Liliane my lord?
- Yes! Liliane! You can send her to the pornes area! She'll be more useful as a pornes…
Fester and Suzan were overjoyed, the news of Ilyada's disappearance had paved the way for the first lady's post in that house and they were not too concerned to hide all the excitement and smiles of happiness.
- Finally… - Whispered Fester.
Cael ignored or just missed the little expression of jubilation on Fester and Suzan's lips.
- My ladies! If you find anything, don't hesitate to let me know! Understood?
- Yes my lord! - All of us responded in a single choir laden with fear.
Cael abandoned us as hastily as he entered, leaving us all alone with that information which gradually caused a series of diverse reactions in all the pallakis around the ornate table in copper and ivory tones.
- What is happening here?
Suzan's voice was more excited than her surprise expression and a slight smile on her face.
- Didn't you hear your beast blindfolded? They ran away!
- I was already missing your delicacy Ive... - The girl of lazy smile, fox eyes and angelic appearance that who flaunted the copper of her hair and the many brownish freckles scattered on the top of his little snub nose laughed in derision.
- By the way Suzan – Yolanda hummed with poisonous glow in his eyes - The way is clear for Cael's next First Lady…
- I don't know if you noticed... but your beloved future husband is desperate to get her back…
- This despair will disappear Ive... It's only a matter of time... just a matter of time... Fester! Suzan! Do you have any idea what I should do when I become the first lady of our beloved Cael?
Fester and Suzan automatically recalled the true leader in that place and what the real danger she posed and then recorded their eyes on me like two lionesses lurking at their next meal.
- When Liliane will be sent to the pornes wing she'll feel very lonely it would be great for her to have company... what do you think Fester?
- I think it would be a great idea Suzan... and about you Ive... what do you think?
- I think that's the perfect idea! We even have the perfect candidate to keep Liliane company…
Suzan, Fester, Ive and Yolanda squirmed in laughter. Some Pallakis accompanied them and their strict laughter, some pallakis among them looked with fear on their faces. Perhaps fearing the same fate or in sorority to Liliane and me.
Thee doors opened once more and rekindled a faint flame of hope in me. Maybe all this was just a mistake and at that exact moment it was her, it was Ilyada opening the door and explaining to us that she was right there and that Liliane would not go to the wing of pornes and Eleanor won't to be delivered to the Emperor.
My hope lasted only five seconds and soon after that short time reality woke me again. Cael entered more irritated than before and came marching towards me. A film went through my head. The night before, Eleonor, her cuts, her tears, the flaunted ... it all came back in form of an indictment.
- Kristma, get up! You'll have breakfast after... - Cael shouted towards me.
- Yes my lord…
I lifted my body from the chair while all pallakis looked at me. Cael was impatient and with a sudden movement he held my arm with too much force dragging me toward the exit door of the dining hall.
The doors closed behind us and we rushed down the long hall with practically gleaming marbles were scattered in all directions.
- I changed my mind about our trip to Nekrós... We're going right now! I'm not hungry and if you want I can stop to buy something for you on the way.
- All right... I'm not hungry...
I lied shamelessly to Cael guided by the survival instinct that made me retreat and shrink my body in the face of the explosion of fury that condensed into drops of sweat that ran through Cael's body.
He looked like a beast ready to devour anyone who crossed his path. It was as if the possible escape of Ilyada with Eleonor and Liliane had awakened a revolt monster who's always been asleep in the back of his mind.
With each step we took against the white and black marble the knuckles of the angry version of Cael closed even more around my thin and delicate arm.
I felt all that strength and emotional uncontrolled in my skin, in every purple mark that was forming in me.
Many hypothetical assumptions floating in my mind.
That guy could not be the Cael with whom I danced for hours last night, that was not the kind and smiling man that I met.
Was it this side of Cael that Liliane knew and it was because of this temperament that Ilyada decided to escape by dragging Liliane and the traumatized Eleonor with her to free her from the Emperor?
Finally, the last big pair of doors opened. I passed through the golden portal stumbling and pulling towards the carriage covered in matte leather aged by the wind and rain that were waiting for us amid the snow and ice that framed of the garden.
We fought violently against the drizzle and the cold wind that shivered my skin until we reached the door of the carriage.